For the love with which He pleases His Father, may the Lord have mercy upon us all, and by His celestial light chase away all darkness, error and ignorance from our hearts, filling us with His grace and with His Holy Spirit. Thus, may He lead us into full confidence in all truth, and open to us the true understanding of His holy Word, so that it may not be corrupted by our carnal sense and understanding. Instead, may He give us the grace by which He spoke by His holy prophets and apostles, so that being led by the same Spirit, we may declare to His honour and glory and to the edification of all. And may we not listen only with carnal ears to our own judgment and condemnation like the infidels and hypocrites, but rather may we be enable to receive it in our hearts as true children of God, by a true and living faith, which will be efficacious and active by love.

-Pierre Viret

Pierre Viret (1511 – 1571 AD) was a Swiss Reformed theologian. Born to a devout middle class Roman Catholic family in Switzerland, he later converted to a Reformed understanding of faith. He was a close friend of John Calvin and was persecuted in Paris for his views.