One cannot help but be over­whelmed by the workload of the Reformers. From Martin Luther, Philip Melanchthon, Martin Bucer, Ulrich Zwingli, John Calvin, and so many others, there is so much that has been published of what they’ve written. Even now, over five hun­dred years later, there are still fresh publications of sermons and other writings which have been unavail­able for much of the intervening centuries.

The writings of John Calvin, though, make him stand out even more in this area. Very few others can match the output of what he wrote. And, also, of who he wrote it to. For not only were the invariable dedications in his commentaries and dogmatic works, but he also wrote to many people personally.

The ‘Selected Works’ of Calvin is a seven-volume set of what you would not usually read of Calvin. These are various tracts and letters that cover the span of his ministry. One in the first volume particularly stands out. In itself it would make small to medium sized book in our time. And then we note who it was addressed to, because in this case Calvin addressed a no less personage than the Holy Ro­man Emperor, Charles V.

This is representative of all his work. For Calvin had very much the sense of being God’s prophet for his age. In the crucial time in which Europe was at a cross-road, this Reformer put the Protestant case to the Emperor and his fellow rulers.

More significant, however, for the writing of this tract is the oc­casion to which its subject matter addresses itself. For this was writ­ten in connection with the 1543 Diet of Speier and the crucial issues be­fore it. In the insecure climate that was Europe at this time, this Diet was looked to with keen anticipa­tion. It was an opportunity which Calvin grasped, writing a solid de­fence of Protestant doctrine and practice.

But let’s also note the way in which he wrote. Here was preaching by letter. And it’s clear already by the way he begins. For he writes:

August Emperor, You have summoned this Diet, that, in concert with the Most Illustrious Princes and other Orders of the Empire, you may at length deliber­ate and decide upon the means of ameliorating the present conditions of the Church, which we all see to be very miserable, and almost des­perate. Now, therefore, while you are seated at this consultation, I humbly beg and implore, first of your Imperial Majesty, and at the same time of you also, Most Illustri­ous Princes, and distinguished Per­sonages, that you will not decline to read, and diligently ponder, what I have to lay before you. The mag­nitude and weightiness of the cause may well excite in you an eagerness to hear, and I will set the matter so plainly in your view, that you will have no difficulty in determining what course to adopt.

The Letter⤒🔗

We turn now to examining the tract itself. In doing that there stand out two central pillars for the founda­tion and maintenance of the Christian faith. These are, firstly: A knowledge of the mode (way) in which God is properly wor­shipped; and, secondly: A knowl­edge (from Scripture alone) of the source from which salvation is obtained. Calvin regarded these two as so crucial that he says, When these two are kept out of view, though we may glory in the name of Christian, our profession is empty and vain.

After these two come the Sacraments and the Gov­ernment of the Church. As these were instituted for the preservation of the two pillars of the faith, they cannot be used for any other purpose. Indeed, the only way of knowing whether they are administered purely, and in the right way, is to test them against the two pillars.

Calvin takes this basis and applies it in three areas:

1. In describing the evils which compelled the Reformers to look for answers;
2. In showing how the solutions of the Re­formers were both appropriate and beneficial; and
3. In the ne­cessity of an immediate applica­tion of these solutions.

Proper Worship←⤒🔗

We begin with the first pillar — the proper worship of God. As Calvin says,

Let us see now what is meant by the due worship of God. Its chief foundation is to acknowledge Him to be, as He is, the only source of all virtue, justice, holi­ness, wisdom, truth, power. Goodness, mercy, life, and salva­tion. In accordance with this, to ascribe and render to Him the glory of all that is good, to seek all things in Him alone, and in every want to go to Him alone. And so prayer rises up, and also praise and thanksgiving — these being evidence to the glory we give Him. This is that genuine sanctification of His name which He requires of us above all things.

It’s for this purpose that Calvin sees all of what is to hap­pen in public worship. And he speaks of how important to this is our humbleness. The believer in meeting with God has to say “no” to himself. We’re being trained to obedience and devotedness to His will, so that the deepest respect for Him lies in our hearts. That means we’re really asking the constant question: “How is God being glori­fied in this?”

And He gives us the way to this as well. For what pleases Him in a simple, spiritual worship. There must be that faith which is truly a matter of the heart, through the simple and direct power of the Holy Spirit. Calvin quotes here John 4:23: “Yet a time is coming and now is when the true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth...”

That was quite some word to a world where church services had become filled with all kinds of elaborate and extensive ceremo­nies! And it was all theologically justified! The Roman Catholic Church pointed to how the practice had been in the temple worship of the Old Testament, and how this had been further enhanced by what had happened up to and in the 16^th century.

But Jesus, in speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well in John 4, pointed to a time be­yond all kinds of ceremonies. All those intricate and involved details were pointing forward. They looked to the substance of which they were only shadows. While they had the Spirit outlined by the many figures in the Old Testa­ment, we have Him now in the full­ness of time very simply. Calvin described it vividly:

A new Juda­ism, as a substitute for that which God had very clearly wiped-out, has again been reared up by means of many puerile extrava­gancies, collected from different quarters; and with these have been mixed up certain impious rites, partly borrowed from the heathen, and more adapted to some theatrical show than to the dignity of our religion.

In our present age of inno­vative liturgical reform — with so many changes advocated for pub­lic worship — we too need to con­sider if we are beginning to do the same. It might seem and feel the right thing to do. People obviously are warming to them. But how do they help in the spiritual worship of God? We too might be able to bring in relevant quotes from the Old Testament. Yet how is the ful­fillment in Christ Jesus clearly shown?

John Calvin goes on:

...men pay no regard to what God has commanded, or to what He approves, in order that they may serve Him in a suitable way, but assume to themselves a licence of devising ways of worship, and af­terwards shoving them on God as a substitute for obedience.

It’s interesting, in this light, that the public worship of the Genevan church was very simple. There were no musical instruments, and only the singing of the Old Testa­ment psalms and certain songs from the New Testament. And this in an age when the Lutherans sang the hymns of Luther from the high organs of the former Roman Catholic churches, and the Anabaptists already had the variety that we recognize so much in their spiritual descendants today.

The Source of Our Salvation←⤒🔗

Calvin next moves on to the sec­ond central pillar. He comes to the source from which salvation is obtained. And as he begins this, he explains straight-away the three parts to our salvation that we recognize from the Hei­delberg Catechism and the Pre­paratory Forms for the Lord’s Supper.

First of all, there’s that sense of individual wretched­ness. We are filled with the sad­ness as if suddenly we are aware that we are spiritually dead. The Word strikes in our hearts that sense of our total in­adequacy.

Secondly, there is that turning to Christ. We can’t do anything else. His power alone can save. He is the only Priest who reconciles us to the Father. It’s His death which is the only sacrifice by which our sin was paid. He alone made us right with God.

And, thirdly, we rise to a firm and solid confidence in Christ. We’re open to being taught His grace, and to live His way in all that we do.

Of all these essential parts to a true faith Calvin find the church just before the Refor­mation lacking. For with the first aspect, there had been a real watering down of original sin. In fact, sin had been reduced to certain controllable outward lusts. Our whole sinful nature had become ignored — we actu­ally believed we were quite good. You know — you can do it! Think enough of the right thoughts and you’ll be alright! In regards to the second aspect, it was believed that turning to Christ was no longer an absolute must. Aside from going through Mary, or any of the huge lost of interceding saints, your own works were needed to help you as well!

No wonder that with the third part — that firm and solid confi­dence in Christ — there could only now be a situation of suspense and uncertainty. Purgatory demon­strated this superstitious religion very well. As Calvin further de­scribed this:

...it is not surprising that after they had once founded their hope of salvation on the merit of works, they plunged into all this absurdity. It had to happen — that from such a precipice they should have such a fall. For what can man find in his work but materials for doubt, and finally, for despair? We see thus how error led to error.

Perhaps this aspect of our salvation seems to have stayed intact. We certainly don’t believe in purga­tory. We hold dearly to the doctrines of grace — those five precious points of Calvinism. Or, do you? Could you, dear reader, just now recite those part of T.U.L.I.P. to yourself, let alone to your neighbour?

And having been refreshed as to God’s grace in our lives, do we actually live in that? Our period in church history has been described as one of the most spiritually impoverished. Although the Word of God us freely avail­able, we use it less than ever. Al­though personal communion with the Lord is unhindered, its practice of prayer have become at most the few rushed moments amongst the demands of modern living.

A local Lutheran minister even decried the loss of the minister study as a place of peaceful meditation and reflection. He be­lieves that it, too, has been taken over by telephones, computers, and fax machines. The time for genuine spiritual peace has been pushed aside. It’s that kind of busy­ness that so easily leads to believ­ing in ourselves, and in what we have. To be apart from God only leads to darkness, and already we cannot see it!

Because we are going through the motions things seem to be okay. All the activities of the church are being done. You go to worship, to fellowship, and drag the children here, there, and every­where! Of course we’re doing the right thing! Can’t you see it?

The Sacraments←⤒🔗

Yet the form without the content is meaningless. This is shown as the tract develops to speak about the sacraments. The sacraments — two gracious provisions from the Lord for preserving the pillars of faith. And, yet, what had they become?

Actually, no longer was there two. In addition to God’s stated two of baptism and the Lord’s Supper, five more had been added. The coverings of sin had become this bad! And even with the two which were biblically-based, there was no pointing anymore to what they really meant. Baptism had become a very involved cere­monial “christening”. And the Lord’s Supper? Why, that was not only corrupted on the outside, its very meaning had changed. Calvin protested:

What Christ com­manded to be done, and in what order, is perfectly clear. But in contempt of His command, a the­atrical exhibition was got up, and substituted for the Supper. For what resemblance is there be­tween the Mass and the true Sup­per of the Lord? While the command of Christ tells believers to communicate with each other in the sacred symbols of His body and blood, the thing seen at Mass ought to be called ex-communion. For the Priest separates him­self from the rest of the body, and eats apart that which ought to have been brought for­ward into the middle and distributed. Then, as if he were some suc­cessor to Aaron, he pretends that he offers a sacrifice to pay for the sins of the people. But where does Christ once mention sacrifice? He bids us to take, eat, and drink. Who author­izes men to change taking into offering?

Furthermore, Calvin argued against the lack of explanation. The peo­ple were being entertained with showy ceremonies, while not a word was said about what was meant. And, what’s more, it was an entertainment people were being charged to see! Yes, in many places, just to eat the so-called ‘host’ was costing money.

The Government of the Church←⤒🔗

This brought Calvin into the whole area of church government. An area in which his greatest sadness was the abuse and neglect of the pastoral office. Scripture, as we read in the letters of Paul to Timothy and Titus, clearly points to pastors and bishops — both names means the same, ‘elders’ – as being called to build up the church with sound doctrine. No man could be a true pastor of the church if he did not perform the of­fice of teaching.

Yet, at the time of the Ref­ormation, there was scarcely one in a hundred of the bishops who ever mounted the pulpit in order to teach. No wonder! These men had become no different than secular rulers and princes, lording it over the people with privilege and prop­erty.

But added to this was the disgrace those ordained brought to their calling. Calvin writes:

At a time when the corruption of the world is at its height, there is no order more addicted to all kinds of wickedness. I wish that by their innocence they would refute what I say. How gladly would I at once retract. But their depravity stands exposed in the eyes of all — exposed is their insa­tiable greed and extortion — and exposed is their intolerable pride and cruelty. The noise of indecent revelry and dancing, the rage of gaming, and entertainments, abounding in all kinds of excessiveness, are in their houses only ordi­nary occurrences, while they glory in their luxurious delicacies, as if they were distinguished virtues.

One’s mind is also cast back to more modern abuses, such as air-conditioned dog houses and thirty feet statues of Jesus! There is nothing new under the sun. And, yet, what is dangerous for us all is the devil’s lure of earthly power. It is such a fading pleasure and, still, it traps us so very quickly. As the saying goes: Power corrupts — and absolute power corrupts absolutely!

But there is still more. Cal­vin adds the absence of proper elections and appointments to of­fice. It all becomes hidden. What should have been something the church took pride in had become a dark secret. And it resulted in the most cruel tyranny over the souls entrusted to their care.

Laws have been piled above laws, to be many snares to the conscience. For they have not confined these laws to matters of external order, but ap­plied them to the interior and spiri­tual government of the soul. And they kept being added, until they amounted to a large multitude, which is now a labyrinth....

No wonder the comparison was drawn to the Pharisees of Je­sus’ time. They too held back the people from their covenant God. The Church had so quickly changed from the loving Body of our Lord, into a terribly insatiable monster, devouring more and more souls.

Yet it was in this awful time that the ever-gracious God raised up the Reformers. In the words of Calvin:

This much, certainly, must clear alike to just and unjust, that our Reformers have done no small service to the Church, in stirring up the world as from the deepest dark­ness of ignorance, to read the Scriptures, to work hard to make them better understood, and in happily throwing light on certain points of doctrine of the highest practical importance.

It seems that until they came little else was heard than old wives’ fables, and stories equally frivolous. The theological colleges resounded with bawling questions, but Scripture was seldom men­tioned. Those who held the govern­ment of the church made it their only concern that they did not lose any of their wealth, and accord­ingly, had no difficulty in allowing whatever gained for them even more money.

Even the most preju­diced, despite whatever they might say against us otherwise, admit that our people have in some de­gree reformed these evils.

Are we reforming still? Can we honestly say we have come a long way in sanctification since 1543? How do the unbelievers see the church? And how far have we extended the Lord’s influence in this world? Oh that the Lord would raise up Reformers once more! Men and women who are Spirit-filled to declare with their mouths and lives the glory of the great God! Believers who are joined so strongly to the source of true salvation. And a people of God who love His Word!

Can we share Calvin’s confidence? Together with him, can we say:

...let there be an ex­amination of our whole doctrine, of our form of administering the sacraments, and our method of governing the Church; and in none of these things will it be found that we have made any change to the ancient form, with­out attempting to restore it to the exact standard of the Word of God?

A Postscript←⤒🔗

There is a postscript to John Cal­vin’s letter. The expectation which the Protestants had for the Diet of Speier, though not fully realized, yet were not altogether disap­pointed. The Diet decreed that, in the meantime, Protestants should continue in the possession of their rights, and a promise was given by the Emperor that no time would be lost in assembling a General Council for the final determination of religious differ­ences. The Pope, Paul III, was horrified at these concessions. He was equally grieved and pro­voked at the threatened revolt of his “very dear son”, the Emperor. He wrote to him a Paternal Admo­nition warning him against his as­sociation with these heretics and strongly hinting at excommunica­tion.