From the conclusion of the editor’s introduction and background to the first time full translation of John Calvin’s ecclesiastical advice to the Reformed ministers of Montbéliard appearing in The Confessional Presbyterian 13. The letters contain his advice regarding the imposition by the magistrate of some of the old pretended holy days the Reformed church there had rejected. The introduction covers as much as could be found on this subject in Calvin's writings; some known, some less known. For the full material pick up a copy of the 2017 13th issue of The Confessional Presbyterian (link below).
“Calvin’s view from 1536 to as late as 1561 remained consistent. The feast days of the liturgical calendar were superstitious observances, and he actively campaigned throughout his ministry to remove them or curtail the superstitious nature of them as long as they were retained. Calvin’s advice to the Montbéliardians regarding the imposition of holy days occurred as he himself was involved in an effort to reform Genevan practice. To those that continue to try to adduce Calvin in defense of a cyclical liturgy built around such days, it must be queried as [George] Gillespie did: if Calvin believed that treating such days like the Lord’s Day made them superstitious; if pretended holy days are an idol from man’s imagination forged in God’s name; if we must “eliminate anything that might foster superstition;” if these days confirm error by their retention and use; if conformity to them is unedifying and an advancing of evil; if we should remove through the principle taught in Hezekiah’s destruction of the brazen serpent all superstitious filth from the church which stand in the way as a snare or covered pit to ever tempt back to idolatry and superstition; if it is not a good thing to have to put up with such “trifles,” as Calvin advised the Montbéliardians; and if once successfully removed as was done for centuries by Presbyterian churches, these observances should never be returned to use and should be ‘erased by disuse’—judge what approval, let alone endorsement, the observance of the old superstitious days of the liturgical calendar actually had from the Genevan Reformer. “In Translatiōne, John Calvin’s Letters to the Ministers of Montbéliard (1543–1544): The Genevan Reformer’s Advice and Views of the Liturgical Calendar,” The Confessional Presbyterian 13 (2017): 212. CPJ 13 is on sale now at http://www.cpjournal.com/store/
“Calvin’s view from 1536 to as late as 1561 remained consistent. The feast days of the liturgical calendar were superstitious observances, and he actively campaigned throughout his ministry to remove them or curtail the superstitious nature of them as long as they were retained. Calvin’s advice to the Montbéliardians regarding the imposition of holy days occurred as he himself was involved in an effort to reform Genevan practice. To those that continue to try to adduce Calvin in defense of a cyclical liturgy built around such days, it must be queried as [George] Gillespie did: if Calvin believed that treating such days like the Lord’s Day made them superstitious; if pretended holy days are an idol from man’s imagination forged in God’s name; if we must “eliminate anything that might foster superstition;” if these days confirm error by their retention and use; if conformity to them is unedifying and an advancing of evil; if we should remove through the principle taught in Hezekiah’s destruction of the brazen serpent all superstitious filth from the church which stand in the way as a snare or covered pit to ever tempt back to idolatry and superstition; if it is not a good thing to have to put up with such “trifles,” as Calvin advised the Montbéliardians; and if once successfully removed as was done for centuries by Presbyterian churches, these observances should never be returned to use and should be ‘erased by disuse’—judge what approval, let alone endorsement, the observance of the old superstitious days of the liturgical calendar actually had from the Genevan Reformer. “In Translatiōne, John Calvin’s Letters to the Ministers of Montbéliard (1543–1544): The Genevan Reformer’s Advice and Views of the Liturgical Calendar,” The Confessional Presbyterian 13 (2017): 212. CPJ 13 is on sale now at http://www.cpjournal.com/store/
