In Calvin there is the theologian, sometimes indeed the philosopher, although before all there is the Christian. He desires that every thing which may do men good should be offered to them. ‘But with regard to this dispute about predestination,’ he says, ‘by the inquisitiveness of men it is made perplexing and even perilous. They enter into the sanctuary of divine wisdom, into which if any one thrusts himself with too much audacity, he will get into a labyrinth from which he will find no exit, and in which nothing is possible to him but to rush headlong to destruction.’[181] We are not sure that Calvin did not allow himself to be drawn a step too far into the labyrinth. But we have seen the deep conviction with which he declares that _the gate of heaven is opened, that the will of God is that his grace should be known to all the world_. This is enough. Calvin did not, however, hide from himself the fact that a minister of God’s Word must look forward to many contradictions and struggles. Thus, in his sermon on the duty of a preacher, it is said to the minister—‘It is thy duty to prepare thy hand betimes, so that no assault should overcome thee. Thou must not retreat nor fly before the foe (_que tu placques làtout_), but take warning that henceforth thou must needs fight.’[182] Such was Calvin as a preacher. He points out the evils which are in man’s heart, but he proclaims still more loudly the love and the power of Him who heals him. He makes man feel that he is powerless, but he breathes into his soul the power of God. He casts down, but he also lifts up; and if he humbles, he is still more in earnest in getting men to run straight to the mark, in entreating them not to go astray in cross-ways, but to ‘get rid of all distractions.’ Forwards! forwards! he cries to the loiterers, and he shows them the means of advancing. [Sidenote: Calvin Not A Politician.]