10 Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. 11 Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. 13 Therefore take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. 14 Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15 and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one;17 and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, 18 praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints."
Ephesians 6:10-18
We said in an earlier Note that there is a great need for Christian people to get down to basic study, in order to grasp the heart of the gospel and its deepest meaning, for it is those who have done this who tend to stand firm and follow on to know the Lord. By the same token, it is just those people who are most likely to show forth that basic integrity of life which is the indispensable hallmark of genuine Christian testimony. We have sometimes quoted a judgment passed by an eminent historian of a former day on Calvinism, and it makes this point unmistakably. What he said was:
'The Calvinists attracted to themselves every man in Europe that hated a lie .... They abhorred, as no body of men ever more abhorred, all conscious mendacity, all impurity, all moral wrong of any kind so far as they could recognise it. Whatever exists at this moment in England and Scotland of conscientious fear of wrongdoing is the remnant of the convictions which were branded by the Calvinists into the people's hearts.' (J. Anthony Froude)
This is a rather different assessment of the great Reformer and his teaching than the derogatory and even contemptuous view currently held by the decadent aesthetes of modem culture, but those who have actually read Calvin would hardly be disposed to disagree that the doctrines that he held and taught encouraged a profound moral earnestness. Truth of doctrine, truth of heart, and the one producing the other!