Or maybe Calvin would have been a patriot...

Calvin's Institutes (1559)
Book 4 of 4 - External Means by which God Invites Us into the Society of Christ and Holds Us Therein

Chapter 20 - Civil Government

30-32 - lesser magistrates ought to check tyranny; obey God first

30. In Scripture, God often avenged tyranny using other nations, or judges. The former had evil intentions of conquest, while judges were self-consciously carrying out God's command. Both got the job done.

31. So "let the princes hear and be afraid." But "let us not at once think that it is entrusted to us, to whom no command has been given except to obey and suffer. I am speaking all the while of private individuals." Lawful, subordinate governments may withstand evil kings. "If they wink at kings who violently fall upon and assault the lowly common folk, I declare that their dissimulation involves nefarious perfidy."

32. "Obedience [to evil kings] is never to lead us away from obedience to [God]" See Dan 6:22-23, where "the king had exceeded his limits, and had not only been a wrongdoer against men, but... against God." Israel wrongly willingly followed evil laws - Hos 5:11. Courtiers cloak their evil in the bad laws of the king. Sin's old excuse is, "but it's legal." The king's wrath can be great, in lawfully resisting him - Prov 16:14 - but "we must obey God rather than men" - Acts 5:29. We must "suffer anything rather than turn aside from piety."

Calvin ends the Institutes with "GOD BE PRAISED."

What about Obama? Or, Calvin would have been a Tory...

Calvin's Institutes (1559)
Book 4 of 4 - External Means by which God Invites Us into the Society of Christ and Holds Us Therein

Chapter 20 - Civil Government

22-29 - Obedience with reverence due even unjust rulers

22. From magistrates, to laws, now to the citizen's duty. First, we must honor the office. Some think it just a "necessary evil," but 1 Pet 2:17; Prov 24:21; Rom 13:5 say otherwise.

23. We must also obey them. Rom 13:1-2; Titus 3:1; 1 Pet 2:13-14. Included in this is abstaining from harassing public officials. Let them do their jobs. "Let [citizens] not raise a tumult."

24. So far, we've been assuming the ruler is a "father of his country," as Homer put it of Odysseus. But some "drain the common people of their money, and afterward lavish it on insane largesse... plundering houses, raping virgins and matrons, and slaughtering the innocent."

25. We are subject to "all who, by whatever means, have got control of affairs." "They who rule unjustly and incompetently have been raised up by Him to punish the wickedness of the people.... a wicked king is the Lord's wrath upon the earth." See Job 34:30; Hos 13:11; Isa 3:4; 10:5; Deut 28:29. "Let us... pause here to prove this, which does not so easily settle in men's minds." [No kidding].

26. God "removes kings and sets them up" - see Dan 2:21, 37; 4:17, 14. When Samuel warns the people about asking for a king, he basically says, "The willfulness of kings will run to excess, but it will not be your part to restrain it" - see 1 Sam 8:11-17.

27. Jer 27 is especially pertinent. See verses 5-8, 17. "We see how much obedience the Lord willed to be paid to that abominable and cruel tyrant for no other reason than that he possessed the kingship.... those seditious thoughts [should] never enter our minds that a king should be treated according to his merits...."

28. This is not "peculiar to the Israelites." See Prov 28:2; Job 12:18. Jer 29:7 also commands Israel "to pray for the prosperity of their conqueror." David dares not touch Saul's head, as Saul was God's anointed - 1 Sam 24:6, 11; 26:9-11.

29. Rulers do owe subjects just rule, "but if you conclude form this that service ought to be rendered only to just governors, you are reasoning foolishly." What if children decided their parents were too harsh, and thus didn't obey? We ought "not to inquire about another's duties, but every man should keep in mind that one duty which is his own." In the face of wicked rulers, "it is not for us to remedy such evils." God will avenge. See Ps 82.

Christians in Court?

Calvin's Institutes (1559)
Book 4 of 4 - External Means by which God Invites Us into the Society of Christ and Holds Us Therein

Chapter 20 - Civil Government

14-21 - Public law and judicial procedures

17. Some say the magistrate is unnecessary for Christians since we may not go to court - 1 Cor 6. But God gave him to us - Rom 13:4; 1 Tim 2:2 - and he "may without impiety be called upon and also appealed to." But others have a "rage for litigation." "If one is permitted to go to law with a brother, one is not therewith allowed to hate him, or be seized with a mad desire to harm him, or hound him relentlessly."

18. Coming to court is okay if the intent is right: "to defend what is his by right... without bitterness," anger, vengeance, etc. This is virtually never the case, you say? That doesn't negate the fact that the magistrate is there to help in such disputes, and "we must more diligently guard against its becoming polluted by our fault."

19. To "strictly condemn all legal contentions" is to accuse Paul of fault in Acts 24:12; 16:37; 22:1, 25; 25:10-11. Vengeance is not allowed - Lev 19:18; Matt 5:39; Deut 32:35; Rom 12:17, 19. Going to court isn't getting revenge for ourselves, but getting the justice of God. "The magistrate's revenge is not man's but God's, which He extends and exercises... through the ministry of man for our good."

20. This doesn't conflict with Matt 5:39-40. We should rather endure double injury than strike back in retaliation. "We are not leading them away from this forbearance." But we can work to keep what is ours when others try to take it away unlawfully, remaining friendly and of goodwill to our adversaries. One bears with his adversaries with patience "to increase the number of good men - not to add himself to the number of the bad by a malice like theirs."

21. In 1 Cor 6:5-8, Paul condemns a selfish and litigious spirit, not all court disputes. "When any man sees that without loss of love he can defend his own property, the loss of which would be a heavy expense to him, he does not offend... if he has recourse to law.... love will give every man the best counsel."

Of the laws of Moses and nations

Calvin's Institutes (1559)
Book 4 of 4 - External Means by which God Invites Us into the Society of Christ and Holds Us Therein

Chapter 20 - Civil Government

14-21 - Public law and judicial procedures

14. After the magistrate, now the law. Cicero said, "The law is a silent magistrate; the magistrate, a living law." Some say the laws have to follow "the political system of Moses, and... the common laws of nations" to be "duly framed," but this is absurd. The judicial laws are distinct from the moral law. It is true ceremonial and judicial laws touch on morals, but this doesn't require adherence to Mosaic judicial laws to be moral.

15. The moral law is summarized by loving God and neighbor. The ceremonial law was Jewish training in worship, "foreshadowing in figures" the coming fullness - Gal 4:3-4. The judicial law gave "formulas of equity and justice." Just as piety could continue with the abrogation of the ceremonial law, so justice and love to neighbor can continue without the exact form of the judicial law in Scripture. So laws today may "vary in form but [must] have the same purpose." Each nation is thus free to form its own laws.

16. All laws should work toward the same goal of equity. But there will be a diversity of punishments for various crimes, depending on the circumstances and dispositions of various countries. "How malicious and hateful toward public welfare would a man be who is offended by such diversity, which is perfectly adapted to maintain the observance of God's law?"

Calvin on Politics

Calvin's Institutes (1559)
Book 4 of 4 - External Means by which God Invites Us into the Society of Christ and Holds Us Therein

Chapter 20 - Civil Government

8-13 - Forms and duties of gov't; war and taxation

8. It's hard to say what form of government is superior - monarchy, oligarchy, democracy - since they are all easily corrupted to tyranny or anarchy. But "aristocracy... far excels all others," since a king cannot control himself as easily without others checking his will. God ordained in Israel "an aristocracy bordering on democracy" in Ex 18:13-26; Deut 1:9-17. In the best government "freedom is regulated with becoming moderation," and the rulers are careful to not diminish those freedoms. But it is generally more harmful "to desire a change of government," when "it is our duty to show ourselves compliant and obedient to whomever he sets over the places where we live."

9. "The office of the magistrates... extends to both Tables of the Law" - 1st 4 commandments as well as the last 6. If laws "neglect God's right and provide only for men" they are "preposterous." Faithful kings restored the worship of God, but "because there was not king in Israel, each man did as he pleased" in anarchy - see Judges 21:25. Magistrates should do justice - Jer 22:3; Ps 82:3-4; Deut 1:16-17; 17:16-19; 16:19; Ps 101:4-7. They should "provide for the common safety and peace of all." They are given the power of reward and punishment by the sword to ensure this - Rom 13:3.

10. But if God forbids Christians to kill, how can pious believers order the death of men as judges? Because they act as God's agents, not on their own authority. "Nothing is done here from men's rashness." If magistrates want God's approval, they need to follow His law in carrying out theirs. See Rom 13:4; 2 Tim 2:15; Ex 2:12; Acts 7:24; Ex 32:27-28; 1 Kings 2:5-6, 8-9; Ps 101:8; 45:7; 44:8. These bloody deeds were required and they would have been unfaithful to leave them undone. Prov 16:12; 20:8; 20:26; 25:4-5; 17:15, 11; 24:24. We can't "favor undue cruelty" or require that clemency dilute justice in every case, though clemency is "the chief gift of princes." A Roman writer said, "It is indeed bad to live under a prince with whom nothing is permitted; but much worse under one by whom everything is allowed."

11. "Kings and people must sometimes take up arms to execute such public vengeance." A country must be protected from invaders, robbers, etc.

12. Some object that the NT gives no warrant for war. But John didn't tell the soldiers to quit the army, just to not exploit that position - Luke 3:14. "Everything else ought to be tried before recourse is had to arms." The right to wage war also applies to stationing troops and weapons, and making treaties.

13. "Tributes and taxes are the lawful revenues of princes." Using them "for the magnificence of their household" is allowed, to show forth the authority and dignity of their office. Scripture supports this in David and Solomon's palace, Ezek 48:21; Joseph and Daniel were "lavish at public expense" without fault. But the treasuries are not the private property of the magistrate. He must use them well, without waste. It is "tyrannical extortion" to impose taxes "upon the common folk without cause." Citizens must be careful not to "rashly and shamelessly decry any expenses of princes..."

Take heed what you do, magistrate

Calvin's Institutes (1559)
Book 4 of 4 - External Means by which God Invites Us into the Society of Christ and Holds Us Therein

Chapter 20 - Civil Government

3-7 - Need and call for civil government

3. It is as necessary as "bread, water, sun, and air." Gov't must prevent public sacrilege and ensure "that a public manifestation of religion may exist among Christians." We will treat 3 parts of gov't separately: the magistrate, the laws, and the people.

4. The magistrate rules in God's place, as inferred from Ex 22:8; Ps 82:1, 6; John 10:35; Deut 1:16-17; 2 Chron 19:6; Prov 8:14-16; Rom 12:8; 1 Cor 12:28. Rom 13:1-2 is even more clear. And several OT saints were civil magistrates: David, Josiah, Hezekiah, Joseph, Daniel, Moses, Joshua. This office is "holy and lawful before God."

5. Some radicals say they don't need civil gov't, "but they claim a perfection of which not even a hundredth part is seen in them." See Ps 2:12; Isa 49:23; Ps 21; 22; 45; 72; 89; 110; 132; 1 Tim 2:2, "in which the right of rulers is asserted."

6. Magistrates must be faithful, since they act in God's place. See 2 Chron 19:6-7; Isa 3:14-15.

7. Radicals claim Luke 22:25-26 rejects earthly authority over others, but Scripture elsewhere honors it - Rom 13:1; Prov 8:15; 24:21; 1 Pet 2:17 - even the power of one, a monarch, which is "least pleasant" to us.

Why a government at all?

Calvin's Institutes (1559)
Book 4 of 4 - External Means by which God Invites Us into the Society of Christ and Holds Us Therein

Chapter 20 - Civil Government

1-2 - How civil and spiritual government are related

1. We are under a two-fold gov't. One spiritual, the other regarding "civil justice and outward morality." We have to avoid the error of "overturn[ing] this divinely established order," and the error of flattering princes and letting them go "against the rule of God Himself." We may not mingle the spiritual and civil elements of government, though. "It is a Jewish vanity to seek and enclose Christ's Kingdom within the elements of this world." He makes clear in 1 Cor 7:21 that "spiritual freedom can perfectly well exist along with civil bondage" [sorry Patrick Henry!]

2. Civil gov't is distinct from spiritual, but "they are not at variance." The magistrate must protect the worship of God, defend sound doctrine and the sound church, "to adjust our life to the society of men, to form our social behavior to civil righteousness, to reconcile us with one another, and to promote general peace and tranquility." Some say the church should be sanctified enough to handle all problems, but mankind is too depraved and needs the power of the sword to punish and deter our evil.

Send them to a mental hospital

Calvin's Institutes (1559)
Book 4 of 4 - External Means by which God Invites Us into the Society of Christ and Holds Us Therein

Chapter 19 - Rome's five other "sacraments"

34-37 - Marriage is no sacrament

34. It wasn't treated as such until the time of Gregory (400s). It is a sign of union between Christ and His church. But if we make every sign a sacrament, everything will be a sacrament, even theft - 1 Thess 5:2. The one who calls them all sacraments "ought to be sent to a mental hospital."

35. The mystery (sacramentum) of Ephesians 5:32 is the spiritual union of Christ and the church, not earthly marriage.

36. Rome insists on the latin word sacramentum there in Eph 5:32, but not in 1 Tim 3:9; Eph 1:9; 3:3, 9. They call marriage a sacrament, but also polluted by lustful copulation. They say the Spirit is conferred in sacraments, but "deny that the Holy Spirit is ever present in copulation."

37. They multiply regulations about marriage, taking it from the civil sphere, going "against the laws of all nations and also against the ordinance of Moses." Too much to go into, but at least "I have partly pulled the lion's skin from these asses."

We are all priests

Calvin's Institutes (1559)
Book 4 of 4 - External Means by which God Invites Us into the Society of Christ and Holds Us Therein

Chapter 19 - Rome's five other "sacraments"

22-33 - Holy Orders not a sacrament

22. Rome tries to make 7 sacramentlings out of this one, with 7 grades of priesthood. But their writers don't even agree among each other about the number or definitions or of each grade.

23. Their theory that Christ fulfilled all 7 grades of the office is too ridiculous to respond to. I can't read it without laughing, and can't believe they were written seriously. They say He was doorkeeper in cleansing the temple (John 2:15; Matt21:12) and in John 10:7, reader (Luke 4:17), exorcist (Mark 7:32-33), acolyte (John 8:12), subdeacon (John 13:4-5), deacon (Matt 26:26), and priest (Matt 27:50; Eph 5:2).

24. Those in the lower offices don't do their duties at all. Others do, or they go undone. Once they are ordained, they stop doing it! They are ordained "just to do nothing." The exorcists "cannot persuade the demons that they are endowed with such power, because the demons not only do not yield to their commands but even command the exorcists!"

25. They shave the top of the head, leaving a "crown" of hair, since we are kings and priests - 1 Pet 2:9. But this is true of all believers, not to be claimed only for the ordained priesthood. They say they do this to take vows of poverty, meditation and chastity, "but is there no class of men more greedy, stupid, and lustful?"

26. They say Paul did this in Acts 18:18, but he did this out of love for weaker brethren, not in worship to God [I'm not sure about this]. When they try to imitate the Nazirite vows of Num 6 today, they are "raising up another Judaism." [true]

27. This haircut began to distinguish from effeminate long hairstyles among men in the culture of Europe.

28. They ordain priests with all kinds of crazy ceremonies, giving the power to perform sacrifices, when Christ was the once-for-all sacrifice. Christ gave ministers to preach and feed, "not to sacrifice victims." We are all priests, in Christ - Rev 1:6; 1 Pet 2:9. This is a Scriptural command, to ordain elders, but not a sacrament since "it is not ordinary or common with all believers."

29. They breath on priests being ordained, as Christ breathed on the disciples in John 20:22. But this was not an example for us to follow. They "dare affirm that they confer the Holy Spirit."

30. Rome claims to get its priesthood from Aaron. But the Aaronic priesthood was fulfilled and done away with in Christ! "While they long to emulate the Levites, they become apostates from Christ."

31. The oil of anointing does not alone make a priest. As Augustine said, "it is the word that makes it a sacrament." Calvin: "What word will they show to accompany their grease?" If they point to Ex 30:30, then why don't they keep the whole Levitical law, of which it is a part?

32. They anoint deacons to the task of assisting priests with sacraments, liturgical service, "to dust images, to sweep churches, to catch mice, and to chase away dogs.... Is there one word here of the true ministry of deacons?" They are similar to the OT Levites, but Rome dresses deacons "in the plumage of others."

33. Subdeacons are ordained by receiving chalices, cruets, towels, manuals "and trash of this sort." There is no promise of God shown forth in the ceremony, which is what makes it a sacrament.

Merely playacting

Calvin's Institutes (1559)
Book 4 of 4 - External Means by which God Invites Us into the Society of Christ and Holds Us Therein

Chapter 19 - Rome's five other "sacraments"

18-21 - Extreme unction not a sacrament

18. Rome anoints the deathly sick with oil, praying for their forgiveness and healing. See James 5:14-15. This is "playacting... to resemble the apostles... without reason and without benefit." Jesus and the apostles healed with varying outward methods. The oil in James 5:14 points us to the source of healing and forgiveness, the Spirit - Ps 45:7. "That gift of healing, like the rest of the miracles, which the Lord willed to be brought forth for a time, has vanished away in order to make the new preaching of the gospel marvelous forever."

19. God still heals today, but not through the hands of apostles.

20. The criteria for a sacrament - "a ceremony instituted by God," with His promise - must also apply to us today. Circumcision doesn't count, since it has been replaced. Same with healing, which applied only in the apostolic age.

21. If they really have a sacrament of healing, "it is cruel of them never to heal in time," but only at the last life breath.

This feigned sacrament

Calvin's Institutes (1559)
Book 4 of 4 - External Means by which God Invites Us into the Society of Christ and Holds Us Therein

Chapter 19 - Rome's five other "sacraments"

14-17 - Penance not a sacrament

14. Public penance in the early church was a good thing - receiving back one who confessed with laying on of hands in the assembly. Later, the church added private confession and absolution. "Although I dare not disallow it or speak too sharply against it, I nevertheless deem [it] less necessary." Neither one is a sacrament commanded by God; both were "ordained by men."

15. A sacrament is "an outward ceremony instituted by the Lord to confirm our faith." There is no outward thing in penance.

16. Why not make absolution the sacrament, instead of penance, by their same logic?

17. But it has no special promise of God regarding the outward act, and the ceremonies are man-made. Baptism is the true sacrament of repentance - Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3.

An overt outrage against baptism

Calvin's Institutes (1559)
Book 4 of 4 - External Means by which God Invites Us into the Society of Christ and Holds Us Therein

Chapter 19 - Rome's five other "sacraments"

4-13 - Confirmation not a sacrament

4. The early church had a laying on of hands ceremony for those being restored to the faith who were already baptized (instead of baptizing them again). This was a good practice.

5. But Rome has made it into a sacrament all its own - confirmation - with no warrant for it in the Bible.

6. The apostles laid hands on the Samaritan believers and they received the Spirit. We no longer receive the Spirit in this way, though we still have the Spirit, our "guide and director." See John 7:37; Isa 55:1; John 4:10; 7:38. "But those miraculous powers and manifest workings, which were dispensed by the laying on of hands, have ceased; and they have rightly lasted only for a time. for it was fitting that the new preaching of the gospel and the new Kingdom of Christ should be illumined and magnified by unheard-of and extraordinary miracles. When the Lord ceased from these, He did not utterly forsake His church, but declared that the magnificence of His Kingdom and the dignity of His word had been excellently enough disclosed." Because this gift ceased, Rome can't claim anything in the sacrament of confirmation by laying-on hands.

7. Rome should not use oil in confirmation and call it the "oil of salvation," as they do. This violates Gal 4:9; Col 2:20; 1 Cor 6:13. "Who taught them to seek salvation in oil?"

8. Rome says baptism can't be complete without confirmation. "What wickedness!" See Rom 6:4-6. The council of Milevis is also against them on this point, anathematizing those who deny that baptism is "a help for grace to come." Rome's assertion draws us away from our baptism, against Gal 3:27. Confirmation is "an overt outrage against baptism."

9. They say you have to be confirmed to be a Christian, but this ceremony isn't in the Bible. And they let half their congregations be unconfirmed, stating by this practice that "it is not so important [even to them] as they claim."

10. They say confirmation is more important than baptism, since only bishops confirm while any priest may baptize. This gives the sacrament worth based on the worth of the minister, like the Donatist heresy. By the same token, if they restrict confirmation to the bishop, why don't they restrict the bread and wine to them?

11. They say confirmation is more important than baptism, since only the top of the head receives water in baptism, while the forehead is smeared with oil in confirmation. This is "trifling, foolish, and stupid." Their oil is "not worth one piece of dung."

12. Not having the Word of God, they claim the antiquity of the church's practice, as usual. And they did lay hands on corrected heretics to receive them, but not as a sacrament. "What else is laying on of hands than prayer over a man?" Augustine asked.

13. Calvin wanted this confirmation recovered in the form of catechism. Formulate "a manual... containing and summarizing in simple manner most of the aritcles of our religion, on which the whole believers' church ought to agree without controversy. A child of ten would present himself to the church to declare his confession of faith, would be examined in each article, and answer to each..." This "would certainly arouse some slothful parents, who carelessly neglect the instruction of their children as a matter of no concern to them; for then they could not overlook it without public disgrace."

What makes a sacrament a sacrament?

Calvin's Institutes (1559)
Book 4 of 4 - External Means by which God Invites Us into the Society of Christ and Holds Us Therein

Chapter 19 - Rome's five other "sacraments"

1-3 - not authorized in the Word nor used in the early church

1. They may call these other 5 practices sacraments all they want. But neither command nor promise are attached to them.

2. Only God's Word makes a sacrament a sacrament, as Augustine said. We have to distinguish between a sacrament and any religious practice, or everything we do can be called a sacrament.

3. Augustine lists only baptism and the Lord's Supper as sacraments - Rome can't claim the early church asserted 7 sacraments.

Be content with these two sacraments

Calvin's Institutes (1559)
Book 4 of 4 - External Means by which God Invites Us into the Society of Christ and Holds Us Therein

Chapter 18 - Rome's Mass a sacrilege

19-20 - Conclusion - only two sacraments

19. Baptism is a single entrance into the church; the Supper is a repeated feeding. There are no other sacraments, since the promise of salvation is always attached to a sacrament.

20. We should be content with these 2. Israel had various sacraments: manna, water from the rock, the bronze serpent. But we have 2 unchanging ones, because the unchanging Christ has been revealed in these last days. So we are not to go inventing new doctrines or practices. We need to stick with the Word, which makes a sacrament a sacrament.

As often as they find a buyer

Calvin's Institutes (1559)
Book 4 of 4 - External Means by which God Invites Us into the Society of Christ and Holds Us Therein

Chapter 18 - Rome's Mass a sacrilege

12-18 - Sacrifice in Mass and in Scripture

12. Before Christ, Israel had signs emphasizing the sacrificial nature of Christ's work. Now, after Christ, the church has signs emphasizing the benefits from that sacrifice. We have a table, not an altar.

13. There are sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving, and there are sacrifices of propitiation, seeking to achieve God's favor. OT sacrifices prefigured Christ's sacrifice of propitiation.

14. The mass is not a sacrifice that merits any favor before God, even if they claim the cross as the source of that favor. Then they claim to apply the benefits of a mass to a particular person, and sell the Mass "as often as they find a buyer."

15. In Plato's Republic, he mocks men who sacrifice to the gods and then think they can sin with impunity. This is what Rome encourages with the Mass.

16. Sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving include "all the duties of love." See Mal 1:11; Rom 12:1; 1 Pet 2:5-6; Heb 13:16; Phil 4:18. Part of this "reasonable worship" is the spiritual manner of NT worship, in contrast with "carnal sacrifices" in the OT.

17. The OT saints already understood this kind of sacrifice - Ps 141:2; Hos 14:2; Ps 50:23; 51:19; Heb 13:15. In this way we are a priesthood, and the Supper involves a sacrifice of praise, through the only mediator, Jesus Christ.

18. Apart from all the further corruptions of it, the Mass in its purest form "swarms with every sort of impiety, blasphemy, idolatry, and sacrilege." Kings and nations are drunk with it; Satan uses it to get men to trust it instead of Christ for their salvation. The Mass is the Helen for which empires fight with rage; it involves "spiritual fornication."

Mass-doctors

Calvin's Institutes (1559)
Book 4 of 4 - External Means by which God Invites Us into the Society of Christ and Holds Us Therein

Chapter 18 - Rome's Mass a sacrilege

8-11 - Early practice and rise of misconceptions

8. Private masses are forbidden, as Christ told us to take and divide the elements among ourselves - Luke 22:17; 1 Cor 10:16. Once they did this, they also started multiplying Masses all over, instead of bringing the body together.

9. Rome must show where this is required in Scripture or withdraw it, for obedience is better than sacrifice - 1 Sam 15:22.

10. They "thrust forward detached sentences of the ancient writers," but those ancients didn't hold to their view. They were careful when using the word sacrifice about the Supper to refer it back to Christ's cross, "as a memorial, an image, and a testimony of" it.

11. Some of the fathers referred to Communion as a "repeated or at least renewed sacrifice." They were all right in intent to interpret through the Old Testament, but wind up in error. "They have turned aside too much to the shadows of the law.

The Supper destroyed by the Mass

Calvin's Institutes (1559)
Book 4 of 4 - External Means by which God Invites Us into the Society of Christ and Holds Us Therein

Chapter 18 - Rome's Mass a sacrilege where Christ's Supper is not only profaned but annihilated

1-7 - Rejection of the Mass

1. Rome says "the Mass is a sacrifice and offering to obtain forgiveness of sins." It "buries and oppresses [Christ's] cross."

2. Christ is our priest forever - Heb 5:6; Ps 110:4 - and no priest at Mass is required. Posing as priests under Christ, they actually deprive Christ of His honor as our High priest, because Heb 7:17-24 shows Christ as our sole priest, in contrast with all the human old covenant priests before Him.

3. The cross is overthrown when an altar is set up. Heb 9:12, 26; 10:10, 14, 18; John 19:30; 1 Cor 5:7-8 all show that Christ's sacrifice was once for all. But if the Mass is a sacrifice, then the cross "lacked the power to cleanse eternally."

4. When Mal 1:11 speaks of the Gentiles offering an offering in every place, God is only referring to our spiritual worship in terms of the OT law. In the same way, turning to God is ascent to Jerusalem - Isa 2:2-3; Mic 4:1-2; knowing God more is dreams and visions - Joel 2:28.

5. The Mass makes us forget Christ's death, and look to the re-sacrifice in that Mass, instead. Is Christ slain, again (Heb 9:25-26)? They object that it is a sacrifice without blood, but men can't redefine "sacrifice" like that, and shedding blood is required for cleansing, anyway - Heb 9:22.

6. Rome says we are redeemed by Christ if we partake of Mass. But this means "we have been redeemed by Christ on condition that we redeem ourselves." This takes us away from the cross. "There is only one sacrifice, so that our faith may be made fast to His cross."

7. The Mass is a giving to God and expecting salvation as a result. The Supper is receiving from God salvation, with thanksgiving. The Mass undoes the Supper, in effect.

Give them the cup!

Calvin's Institutes (1559)
Book 4 of 4 - External Means by which God Invites Us into the Society of Christ and Holds Us Therein

Chapter 17 - The Lord's Supper; what it brings to us

47-50 - Keeping the cup from the people is wrong

47. Rome wants to keep the cup only for the priests, but Jesus commanded everyone to drink of it - Matt 26:27. They say the blood is in the body/bread, anyway, but "still they defraud pious souls of the confirmation of faith which Christ gives us as something necessary."

48. The Bible doesn't limit the cup to the apostles, and neither did the early church.

49. Gelasius as late as the 490s said the church is "either to receive the sacraments entire or to be entirely barred from them." How can they be strengthened to shed their blood in confessing Christ, if they don't first receive His blood? he argued.

50. Jesus says all should eat the bread, and all should drink of the cup. If only the apostles were to receive the cup, then by what right should anyone else receive the bread? Was Paul lying in 1 Cor 11:23-26?

Great pile of ceremonies

Calvin's Institutes (1559)
Book 4 of 4 - External Means by which God Invites Us into the Society of Christ and Holds Us Therein

Chapter 17 - The Lord's Supper; what it brings to us

38-46 - Miscellaneous points

41. Who is "worthy" to partake?

Rome says those in a state of grace, purged of all sin are worthy. This would leave everyone out. Or they say that examining ourselves to account for and confess all our sins makes us worthy [often the conservative Protestant view today!]. But this doesn't work "for consciences dismayed and defected and striken with the horror of their own sin."

42. Faith and love required, but not perfection

Rome deprives sinners of receiving benefit from the supper: assurance in conscience that we are God's. Worthiness is laying our sin before God and praying for His mercy to make us worthy. This is faith and love. We cannot expect perfect faith and love before partaking "for it is a sacrament ordained not for the perfect, but for the weak and feeble."

43. On the proper celebration of the Supper

It doesn't matter how the bread and wine are distributed, if the bread is leavened or unleavened, if the wine is red or white. Using unleavened bread is more of a novelty than helpful. The Supper should be administered "at least once a week." After prayers, a sermon, and the placing of elements on the table, the minister repeats the words of institution, recites the promises for us, fences the table from those unworthy, prays for the partaking to enrich us, and distributes. During this, "either psalms should be sung, or something be read." Afterward, an exhortation to faith, love and conduct, a prayer and song of thanks, and dismissal.

44. The Lord's Supper should be celebrated frequently

"that they might frequently return in memory to Christ's Passion." In the early church "it became the unvarying rule that no meeting of the church should take place without the Word, prayers, partaking of the Supper, and almsgiving."

45. Augustine bemoaned where the church was ONLY partaking once a week, instead of daily. Chrysostem said it was crazy to go to church but then not partake of the Supper: "I am unworthy, you say. Therefore, you were also not worthy of the communion of prayer..."

46. Partaking only once a year is an "invention of the devil." The guy who started this just wanted to get everyone to confess their faith all together and publicly once a year - a good idea. But now after they commune once they think "they have beautifully done their duty for the rest of the year, [and] go about unconcerned."

Sacrilegious impiety

Calvin's Institutes (1559)
Book 4 of 4 - External Means by which God Invites Us into the Society of Christ and Holds Us Therein

Chapter 17 - The Lord's Supper; what it brings to us

38-46 - Miscellaneous points

38. The Supper implies mutual love

The bread pictures unity, as many grains are baked indistinguishably into one loaf. "The Lord so communicated His body to us there that He is made completely one with us and we with Him." If we disagree with a brother, we disagree with Christ. If we love Christ, we must love His people.

39. The Supper can't exist apart from the Word

Promises spoken at the supper aren't directed to the elements, in consecration, but to the people receiving them. The minister should not be silent when administering the supper: "silence involves abuse and fault."

40. Unworthily partaking of the Sacrament

The Supper becomes "deadly poison" for the one who tramples upon it. The elements, entering a corrupt soul, "cast it down with a greater ruin." They "foully defile [the Lord's body and blood] with sacrilegious impiety." Defiling the Lord's Table is possible.

Fantasies of our own brains

Calvin's Institutes (1559)
Book 4 of 4 - External Means by which God Invites Us into the Society of Christ and Holds Us Therein

Chapter 17 - The Lord's Supper; what it brings to us

35-37 - Adoration of elements is a forbidden superstition

35. They say if Jesus' body is in the bread, then He is in the bread, so it should be adored as Jesus. But Jesus said to receive and eat, not to adore the bread.

36. It isn't safe "to wander from God's simple word to the "fantasies of our own brains." Instead of adoring the elements, we should raise our hearts to heaven, where Jesus is - Col 3:1-2. Adoring the elements violates Rom 1:25, and makes the bread "a hateful idol."

37. Superstition makes no end of sinning, once it gets "past the proper bounds." The words "This is My body" are to be defined in part by the following command to "take and eat." Thus we don't adore the bread as His body.

Partaking of Christ

Calvin's Institutes (1559)
Book 4 of 4 - External Means by which God Invites Us into the Society of Christ and Holds Us Therein

Chapter 17 - The Lord's Supper; what it brings to us

32-34 - True nature of Christ's corporal presence

32. I don't claim to understand His presence and feeding of our souls with His body. "I rather experience than understand it.... I reject only absurd things" about it. "From the substance of His flesh Christ breathes life into our souls."

33. The inquisitive demand an exaggerated mode of Christ's presence in the bread itself, but the Spirit unites us with Him. If He is present physically and automatically in the bread, then unbelievers could eat and partake of Christ without faith, just by eating bread. This can't happen. Eating and drinking judgment against oneself at the table (1 Cor 11:27) doesn't happen by eating, but by disregarding the Lord while eating.

34. Who receives the sacrament? Augustine said he "who eats with the heart, not who presses with the teeth." This is because the wicked can't be members of Christ - 1 Cor 6:15. Augustine again: "In the elect alone do the sacraments effect what they symbolize."