The Poetry of John Calvin

Without the gospel

All of us are useless and empty;

Without the gospel

We are not Christians;

Without the gospel

All wealth is poverty;

Wisdom is foolishness before God,

Strength is weakness,

All human justice is condemned of God.

But by the knowledge of the gospel,

We are made children of God,

Brothers of Jesus Christ,

Fellow citizens of the saints,

Citizens of the kingdom of heaven,

Heirs of God with Jesus Christ,

By whom the poor become rich,

the weak powerful,

the fools wise,

the sinners justified,

the desolate comforted,

the doubting certain,

the slaves set free.1

1.  John Calvin, Originally from the preface to Pierre Robert's French Translation of the New Testament, Neuchatel, June 4th, 1535. Cited in Ford Lewis Battles, The Piety of John Calvin: A Collection Of His Spiritual Prose, Poems, and Hymns [Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2009], p. 206