Institutes of the Christian Religion: The First English Version of the 1541 French Edition

by John Calvin

But a magistrate must be on guard against both of these two things: not to do more harm than good by disordered severity, and not to be cruel in his humanity because of a mad and superstitious pursu...

"it is bad to live under a prince who does not allow anything but it is much worse to live under o...

Calvin argues against the

traditional interpretation of the Mass, but he also includes anonymous critiques of fellow Protestants. On the Zwinglian front, the key teaching in view is the idea that sacraments are a pledge but not a means of grace. On the Lutheran front, the primary foci of Calvin's critique are the teaching on ubiquity, and what he considers an excessive identification of the body and blood with the elements, which allows the sacrament to be eaten without faith.