3. The Reformed Services
After Farel had
abolished the Roman mass in Geneva, Calvin instituted an independent liturgy in his
La manii're
de alebrer la ce'ne.
The Lord's Supper was to be
celebrated once a year, after a
sermon on its aignifioanoe and s prayer for worthy reception. The
service then continued with the reading of
I Cor. xi. 25-29
and an exhortation, which contained a
solemn excommunication of grievous sinners and
enemies of church unity, urged all to examine their
consciences carefully, and gave comfort to those
who were weak
in the faith or tempted to despair.
In the conclusion of this, the ancient Suraum
cords
was paraphrased according to Calvin's dogmatic
conceptions: " Let us lift up our hearts and minds
thither where Jesus Christ is in the glory of his
Father . . . for our souls will be well disposed to
be nourished and vivified by his substance, when
they are thus raised above all things earthly, to
reach heaven itself and enter into the kingdom of
God, where he dwells." Then followed the communion, with the provision that the minister himself should first receive it, then give
it to the deacon and then to the whole congregation, who were
to approach the holy table. The formula of administration was the following (in French): " Take
and eat the body of Jesus, which was delivered up
to death for you. Thin is the cup of the New Testament in the blood of Jesus, which was shed for you."
During the communion Psalm cwiii. wee sung,
followed by a prayer of thanksgiving, the Song of
Simeon, and the blessing. Calvin's type of service
wee followed by the scattered Reformed communities in
Westphalia and on the Rhine. In Switzerland
the Calvinistic and Zwinglian forms were
combined and modified in such various ways that
at least six different forms exist to-day. The order
of service drawn up in 1550 by Johannes a Lasco
(q.v.) for the Dutch refugees in England, the first
complete order for the Calvinistic Reformed body,
prescribes that on the day preceding the administration of the Lord's Supper, a sermon is to be
delivered. At the time of the celebration, four cups and
three pewter plates are to be set out on a table
covered with a linen cloth. Another sermon is delivered, ending with an exhortation forbidding the
approach of those who have not yet made their
profession of faith and put themselves under Christian discipline or who have not given notice of their
intention to receive. Then follow a prayer, the
words of institution, and an exhortation to aelfexamination, after which the minister reads
I Cor. v. 7, 8.
The communion has the character of a
family meal. The minister, elders, and members
of the congregation sit around the table, as far as
there is room. The minister
takes a piece of the
bread which is in the larger plate and, with the
words, "The bread which we break is the communion of the body of Christ," divides it into small
pieces on the other two plates, then handing it to
those who sit near him with the words, " Take, eat,
remember and believe that the body of our Lord
Jesus Christ was given up to death upon the wood
of the cross for the forgiveness of all our sins."
The plates are then passed to those who sit further
off and the same proceeding is observed in the administration of the cup, with corresponding words.
First the men and then the women take their
places
around the table in turn, while John vi. and xiii.xv. are read from the chancel. After the communion, the service closes with a word
from the minister, thanksgiving, a psalm, and the blearing. The
Dutch Reformed Church still maintains this order,
in which is obvious the attempt to assimilate the
celebration as much as possible to the brotherly
fellowship at the table of the original institution.
The Scotch Church also derives its form from the
order of Johannes a Lasco, and, like the Reformed
Church of France, gives a similar complexion to the
celebration.
