§ IIG. BAI'TiSM. 587
IV. He pleads for the simplicity of the ordinance against the adventitious medley of incantation, wax-taper, spittle, salt, and " other fooleries," which from an early age were publicly introduced. "Such theatrical pomps dazzle the eye and stupify the minds of the ignorant." The simple ceremony as instituted by Christ, accompanied by a confession of faith, prayers, and thanksgivings, shines with the greater lustre, unencumbered with extraneous corruptions. He disapproves the ancient custom of baptism by laymen in cases of danger of death. God can regenerate a child without baptism.
V. The mode of baptism Avas not a subject of controversy at that time. Calvin recognized the force of the philological and historical argument in favor of immersion, but regarded pouring and sprinkling as equall}^ valid, and left room for Christian liberty according to the custom in different countries.i Immersion was then still the prevailing mode in England, and continued till the reign of Elizabeth, who was herself baptized by immersion.
VI. But while meeting the Baptists half-way on the question of the mode, he strenuously defends psedobaptism, and devotes a whole chapter to it.'^ He urges, as arguments, circumcision, which was a type of baptism ; the nature of the covenant, which comprehends the offspring of pious parents ; Christ's treatment of children, as belonging to the kingdom of heaven, and therefore entitled to the sign and seal of membership ; the word of Peter addressed to the converts on the day of Pentecost, who were accustomed to infant circumcision, that " the promise is to you and your children " (Acts 2 : 39) ; Paul's declaration that the children are sanc-
1 IV. ch. XV. 19: " C<rterum meryaturne totus qui tingitur, idque ter an semel, an infusa tantum aqua asperr/atur, minimum refert : sed id pro regionum diversitate ecclesiis liberum esse debet. Quanquam et ipsum baptizandi verbum mergeke signijicat, et mergendi ritum veteri ecclesioi observatum fuisse constat." See above, p. 373, note. Luther held substantially the same view, v?ith a stronger leaning to immersion or dipping, which he prescribes in his Taufbiicklein, 1523. Hee vol. VI. 218 and 607 sq. - Ch. XVI. 1-32.
688 THE EEFORMATION IN FRENCH SWITZERLAND.
tified by their parents (1 Cor. 7 : 14), etc. He refutes at length the objections of the Anabaptists, with special reference to Servetus, who agreed with them on that point.
He assigns to infant baptism a double benefit : it ratifies to pious parents the promise of God's mercy to their children, and increases their sense of responsibility as to their education ; it engrafts the children into the body of the Church, and afterwards acts as a powerful stimulus upon them to be true to the baptismal vow.
§ 117. The Lord's Supper. The Consensus of Zurich.
I. Inst. IV. chs. XVII. and XVIII. Comp. the first ed., cap. IV., in Opera,
I. 118 sqq. — Petit traicte' de la sainte cene de nostre Seigneur Je'sus-Christ. Auquel est demontre la vraye institution, profit et utilite d'icelle, Geneve, 1541, 1542, 1549. Opera, V. 429-460. Latin version by Nicholas des Gallars : Libellus de Ccena Domini, a loanne Calvino pridem Gallica lingua scriptus, nunc vera in Latinum sermonem conversus. Gen., 1545. Also translated into English. Remarkably moderate. — The two catechisms of Calvin. — Consensio mutua in re sacramentaria Tigurince Ecclesia et D. Calvini ministri Genevensis Ecclesioe jam nunc ab ipsis authoribiis edita (usually called Consensus Tigiirinus), simultaneously published at Geneva and Ziirich, 1551 ; French ed. L'accord passe', etc., Gen., 1551. In Opera, VII. 089-748. The Latin text also in Niemeyer's Collectio Con/., pp. 191-217. A German translation {Die Ziiricher Uebereinkunft') in Bickel's Bekenntnissschriften der evang. reform. Kirche, pp. 173-181. Comp. the correspondence of Calvin with BuUinger, Farel, etc., concerning the Consensus. — Calvin's polemical writings against Joachim Westphal, namely, Defensio sanoi et orthodoxcE doctrince de sacramentis, Geneva, 1554, Ziirich, 1555; Secunda Defensio . . . contra Westphali calumnias. Gen., 1556; and Ultima Admonitio ad Westphalum, Gen., 1557. In Opera, IX. 1-120, 137-252. Lastly, his book against Tilemann Hesshus (Ilesshusen), Dilucida Explicatio sancn doctrince de vera participutione carnis et sanguinis Christi in sacra Coena, ad discutiendas Heshusii nebulas, Gen., 1561. In Oy^rra, IX. 457-524. (In the Amsterdam ed., Tom. IX. 648-723.) Klebiz of Heidelberg, Beza, and Pierre Boquin also took part in the controversy with Hesshus.
II. For a comparative statement of the eucharistic views of Luther, Zwingli, and Calvin, see this History, vol. VI. 669-682 ; and Creeds of Christendom, I. 455 sqq. ; 471 sqq. Calvin's doctrine has been fully set forth by Ebrard in his Dogma v. heil. Abendmahl, II. 402-525, and by Nevin in his Mi/.stiral Presrnre, Philad., 1846, pp. 54-67 ; and in the " Mercersburg Review" for September, 1850, pp. 421-548 (against Dr. Hodge in the "Princeton Review" for 1848). Comp. also §§ 132-134 below; Henry, P. I. ch. XIII.; and Stahelin, II. 189 sqq.