Antichrist and propagated the salutary doctrine. "I am frequently
accustomed to say," he declared, "that, even if he should call me a
devil I would accord him the honor of acknowledging him to be an eminent
servant of God." In the original the remarkable words of Calvin read as
follows: "_Sed haec cupio vobis in mentem venire, primum quantus sit vir
Lutherus, et quantis dotibus excellat, quanta animi fortitudine et
constantia quanta dexteritate, quanta doctrinae efficacia hactenus ad
profligandum Antichristi regnum et simul propagandam salutis doctrinam
incubuerit. Saepe dicere solitus sum, etiamsi me diabolum vocaret, me
tamen hoc illi honoris habiturum, ut insignem Dei servum agnoscam, qui
tamen, ut pollet eximiis virtutibus, ita magnis vitiis laboret_."
(Gieseler 3, 2, 169; _C. R._ 39 [_Calvini Opp._ 11], 774.)

However, though he admired the personality of Luther, Calvin, like
Zwingli and Oecolampadius at Marburg 1529, revealed a theological spirit
which was altogether different from Luther's. In particular, he was
violently opposed to Luther's doctrines of the real presence in the
Lord's Supper and of the majesty of the human nature of Christ.
Revealing his animus, Calvin branded the staunch and earnest defenders
of these doctrines as the "apes" of Luther. In his _Second Defense_
against Westphal, 1556, he exclaimed: "O Luther, how few imitators of
your excellences, but how many apes of your pious ostentation have you
left behind! _O Luthere, quam paucos tuae praestantiae imitatores, quam
multas vero sanctae tuae iactantiae simias reliquisti!_" (Gieseler 3, 2,
209.)

True, when in Strassburg, Calvin signed the _Augsburg Confession_ (1539
or 1540), and was generally considered a Lutheran. However, in his _Last
Admonition_ to Westphal, of 1557 and in a letter of the same year to
Martin Schalling, Calvin wrote: "Nor do I repudiate the _Augsburg
Confession_, to which I have previously subscribed, _in the sense in
which the author himself_ [Melanchthon in the _Variata_ of 1540] _has
interpreted it. Nec vero Augustanam Confessionem repudio, cui pridem
volens ac libens subscripsi, sicut eam auctor ipse interpretatus est._"
(_C. R._ 37, 148.) According to his own confession, therefore, Calvin's
subscription to the _Augustana_, at least as far as the article of the
Lord's Supper is concerned, was insincere and nugatory. In fact Calvin
must be regarded as the real originator of the second controversy on
the Lord's Supper b