I’m reading a booked called ‘John Calvin - Selections from his writings.’ It is a collection of letters and other writings including the Introduction to his commentary on the Psalms. These writings give some insight into the heart of the man that shows warmth and compassion. Here’s an excerpt from the Introduction to his commentary of the Psalms. He calls the Psalms “An Anatomy of All the Parts of the Soul.”
“Although the Psalms are replete with all the precepts which serve to frame our life to every part of holiness, piety, and righteousness, yet they will principally teach and train us to bear the cross, and the bearing of the cross is a genuine proof of our obedience, since by doing this we renounce the guidance of our own affections and submit ourselves entirely to God, leaving Him to govern us and to dispose of our life according to His will, so that afflictions which are the bitterest and most severe to our nature become sweet to us because they proceed from Him. In one word, not only will we here find general commendations of the goodness of God which may teach people to repose themselves in Him alone and to seek all their happiness solely in Him, and which are intended to teach devout believers with their whole hearts confidently to look to Him for help in all their necessities; but we will also find that the free remission of sins, which alone reconclies God toward us and procures for us settled peace with Him, is so set forth and magnified as that here there is nothing wanting which relates to the knowledge of eternal salvation,”
