In our reading of Calvin's Institutes, I find that good old Jean grappled with the same church I grappled with as a young woman, and he often articulated, much better than I, the same realizations that, along with a godly husband, lead me away from the Roman church. In Book III, Chapter 20, Part 21, concerning the Roman practice of praying to saints, he had a couple of points that I had to "amen" right out loud as Dave read:
Now Scripture recalls us from all to Christ alone, our Heavenly Father wills that all things be gathered together in him. therefore, it was the height of stupidity, not to say madness, to be so intent on gaining access through the saints as to be led away from him, apart from whom no entry lies open to them.
...scripture offers him [Christ] alone to us, sends us to him, and establishes us in him. "He," says Ambrose, "is our mouth, through which we speak to the Father; he is our right hand, through which we offer ourselves to the Father. unless he intercedes, there is no intercourse with God either for us or for all saints."
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