Today’s Readings Podcast Description

Calvin will not spend this last stretch on the traffic, the fees, the private stalls. He wants the mass in its cleanest dress, and still calls it Satan’s strongest engine against the kingdom of Christ—a Helen for whom men commit spiritual whoredom. Then he closes the two sacraments: Baptism once, as entrance; the Supper often, as the family’s food. No third. A sacrament is God’s promise with God’s sign. All the world together cannot invent a pledge of salvation.

Israel had extra figures because the better thing had not yet come. We have Christ. In him the treasures are already hid. To hunger for a new ordinance is to offend the Father who has spoken in the Son in these last days. Human additions dilute the wine. Pomp smothers the word, without which a sacrament is no sacrament. Baptism is barely seen under the ceremony. The Supper was buried when it became the Mass, and at best is hauled out once a year, torn.

### Today’s Readings:

John Calvin — Institutes of the Christian Religion, Book 4, Chapter 18, Sections 18–20

---

### Explore the Project:

Through the Church Fathers – https://www.throughthechurchfathers.com

Patreon – https://www.patreon.com/cmichaelpatton

Credo Courses – https://www.credocourses.com

Credo Ministries – https://www.credoministries.org

Donate toward publishing Through the Church Fathers in a Year – https://www.credoministries.org (click “Donate”)

#ThroughTheChurchFathers #JohnCalvin #Institutes #Sacraments #Baptism #LordsSupper #Mass