"You yourself know, or at least ought to know, what I am; that at all events, I am one to whom the law of my heavenly Master is so dear that the cause of no man on earth will induce me to flinch from maintaining it with a pure conscience."
Calvin was not only a man who said those words of committment, but who also lived them out practically. In response to a group of libertines who, despite their sinful life, desired to continue to be members in good standing with the church and receive the Lord's Supper, Calvin refused to indulge them. Instead he called for their discipline and refused to extend the Lord's Supper to them. The City Counsel felt otherwise and demanded that they be allowed to partake of the Lord's Supper with the rest of the church.
Well, assuming that the libertines were in attendance (which as it turned out, they were not), Calvin remained firm in his committment to not compromise the Scripture for safety and peace. He guarded the Lord's Table and exclaimed,
"These hands you may crush; these arms you may lop off; my life you may take; my blood is yours, you may shed it. But you shall never force me to give holy things to the profaned, and dishonor the table of my God."
Praying that God would make me unflinchingly faithful to Him and His Word in both words and deeds.
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