John Calvin — "God's ultimate discrimination rests solely on the freedom and sovereign will of …"

"We shall never be clearly persuaded, as we ought to be, that our salvation flows from the wellspring of God's free mercy until we come to know his eternal election, which illumines God's grace by this…"

"It is by no means necessary that the righteous should be distinguished from the wicked by external signs."

"God, by a just and irreprehensible, but incomprehensible judgment, has predestinated some to eternal life, and others to eternal death."

"The Christian life is a perpetual exercise of repentance."

"Whence it is sufficiently plain that they are not chosen for their own merit, but because God has gratuitously chosen them."