The latest edition of American Theological Inquiry has an article on the Irish Baptist pastor and scholar Alexander Carson that is well worth reading.

Clary, Ian Hugh. “Alexander Carson (1776-1844): ‘Jonathan Edwards of the Nineteenth Century.’” American Theological Inquiry 2.2 (July 15, 2009): 43-52.

Calvin took his task as a preacher seriously. He saw the preacher as God’s ambassador to the church. Calvin thought that when he spoke as a preacher, it was God himself who spoke. This also meant that Calvin would have to account for every word he uttered. It was for this reason that Calvin could not ascend the pulpit without careful consideration, because he thought of it as ‘the throne of God, and from that throne he wants to govern our souls.’ The presence of the pulpit meant that at church the congregation would come face to face with God’s judgment seat, where guilt must be confessed and where forgiveness would be obtained. For the preacher it meant speaking only after first listening respectfully to his Taskmaster. This was true not only for Calvin but also for every other preacher. If a pastor did not first become a student of the Word, ‘it would be better if he were to break his neck while climbing into the pulpit.’ ‘For God there is nothing higher than the preaching of the gospel . . . because it is the means to lead people to salvation.’ Calvin had enough self-knowledge to realize that he himself had to be subject to the Word as well. ‘When I climb into the pulpit, it is not simply to instruct others. I do not exclude myself, since I myself must remain a student as well, and the words that come from my mouth are to serve me as much as others. If not, woe to me!’

Herman J. Selderhuis, John Calvin: A Pilgrim’s Life, 110f.

Moreover, they unjustly set the ancient fathers against us (I mean the ancient writers of a better age of the church) as if in them they had supporters of their own impiety. If the contest were to be determined by patristic authority, the tide of victory—to put it very modestly—would turn to our side. Now, these fathers have written many wise and excellent things. Still, what commonly happens to men has befallen them too, in some instances. For these so-called pious children of theirs, with all their sharpness of wit and judgment and spirit, worship only the faults and errors of the fathers. The good things that these fathers have written they either do not notice, or misrepresent or pervert. You might say that they only care is to gather dung amid gold.

John Calvin, “Prefatory Address to King Francis,” in The Institutes of the Christian Religion, ed. John T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles, (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1960), 18.

In the pages that follow, Calvin provides examples to substantiate his claim.