We ought diligently to ponder on the paternal goodness of God toward the human race, in not creating Adam until he had liberally enriched the earth with all good things. Had he placed him on an earth barren and unfurnished; had he given life before light, he might have seemed to pay little regard to his interest. But now that he has arranged the motions of the sun and stars for man’s use, has replenished the air, earth, and water, with living creatures, and produced all kinds of fruit in abundance for the supply of food, by performing the office of a provident and industrious head of a family, he has shown his wondrous goodness toward us.
But he was pleased to display his providence and paternal care towards us in this, that before he formed man, he provided whatever he foresaw would be useful and salutary to him…To conclude, in one word; as often as we call God the Creator of heaven and earth, let us remember that the distribution of all the things which he created are in his hand and power, but that we are his sons, whom he has undertaken to nourish and bring up in allegiance to him, that we may expect the substance of all good from him alone, and have full hope that he will never suffer us to be in want of things necessary to salvation, so as to leave us dependent on some other source; that in everything we desire we may address our prayers to him, and, in every benefit we receive, acknowledge his hand, and give him thanks; that thus allured by his great goodness and beneficence, we may study with our whole heart to love and serve him.
— John Calvin
(Cited from Institutes of the Christian Religion, 1.14.1, 22)
Calvin nails the goodness of God who being a loving Heavenly Father provides for His sons and daughters. He never leaves us in want of all things needed for our salvation. Not a corrupt father who abuses or abandons the children he sires, God through His wonderful acts of Creation displays the character of a quintessential Father.
John Calvin (1509-1564) is credited as the Father of Reformed and Presbyterian doctrine and theology. He studied to become a lawyer in Orléans and Bourge. During his time in Bourge, Calvin became a Protestant. Intolerance to Protestants in Paris compelled him to flee to Italy and then to Basel, Switzerland. There in Basel, Calvin put to writing his seminal theological work the Institutes of Christian Religion (1536). Calvin ministered in Geneva before being forced out, and then spent several years in Strasbourg, but returned to Geneva in 1541. He stayed in Geneva until his death. Calvin is one of primary influencers out of the sixteenth century Protestant Reformation second only to Martin Luther (1483-1546).
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