Church Service Society Annual the Sunday Morning Service of The

16 Church Service Society Annual The Sunday Morning Service of the ` Book of Common Order.' Bibliography. Büchsenschütz, L. ' Histoire des liturgies en langue allemande dans l'Eglise de Strasbourg au seizième siècle.' (Cahors, 1900.) Brightman, F. E. ' English Rite.' (London, 1915.) 2 vols. Doumergue, E. ' Jean Calvin,' vol. ii. (Lausanne, 1902.) Erichson, A. ' Die calvinische und die altstraszburgische Gottesdienstord- nung ' ... (Strasburg, 1894.) Hubert, F. ' Die Straszburger liturgischen Ordnungen im Zeitalter der Reformation' ... (Gottingen, 1900.) Lacheret, H. Article " Des formes du culte " in ' Revue chrét.,' October and November 1886. Maxwell, W. D. The First and Second Editions (English and Latin) of the Service Book used by the English Congregation of Marian Exiles in Geneva, 1556-1559. (Thesis in Edinburgh University Library.) Smend, J. ' Die evangelischen deutschen Messen ... bis 1526.' (Gottingen, 1896.) Smend, J. ' Der erste evangelische Gottesdienst in Straszburg.' (Stras- burg, 1897.) LAST year in an article in the ` Annual ' entitled " Calvin's Attitude to Public Worship," I made the statement that " the main diet of worship with Calvin does not have its source in the Daily Offices or Choir Services, as has been frequently supposed ; nor does it find its origin in the Prone, as Brightman has been led to affirm. It is derived from the Eucharist." It has been suggested to me that this statement might acceptably be elucidated, especially with regard to its significance for early Scottish Reformed Worship. This I therefore propose to do in the article following, as far as space will permit. It is well known that the ` Book of Common Order,' which was the standard of worship in the Church of Scot- land for some eighty years after the Reformation, was in the first instance derived directly from the ` Forme of Prayers,' &c.,' used by the English congregation of Marian exiles in Geneva, of which Knox was one of the Ministers. This ` Forme of Prayers,' while first printed at Geneva in 1556, had been compiled almost a year before at Frank- fort-on-the-Main in March 1555 by a committee of five 1 Commonly known as the ' Book of Geneva.' The Sunday Morning Service 17 appointed by the English congregation of refugees gathered at that place. The committee had been instructed to prepare " an order meete for our state and time " as a solution of the quarrel then in progress over the order of worship between the Anglicans and Calvinists of the Eng- lish congregation at Frankfort. The ` Forme of Prayers,' however, did not prove to be the solution hoped for, and it was never used in Frankfort. Later in the year most of the Frankfort Calvinists withdrew to Geneva, where they were soon joined by other Calvinists from other towns, and an English congregation was formed there. To meet the needs of this congregation, early in the following year (1556) the ` Forme of Prayers ' was printed, and used with satisfaction and success as long as the congregation existed. At the accession of Elizabeth the congregation was disbanded, and the returning exiles carried their service book back to England with them, where it was used by the non-conforming Puritans till 1644. Copies also had dribbled into Scotland from 1556 onwards, and were in use in some of the Reformed congregations. In 1560, the first General Assembly directed that " the Sacra- mentis suld be ministerit after the Order of the kirk of Geneua," and this was confirmed in 1562 by another Assembly. In 1564 a further act was passed " ordaigning that every Minister, exhorter and reader shall have one of the Psalm-Books lately printed at Edinburgh, and use the order contained therein, in prayers, marriage, and ministration of the Sacraments." This " Psalm-Book lately printed at Edinburgh " was a slightly revised edition of the ` Forme of Prayers,' commonly known thereafter as the ' Book of Common Order.' The committee 1 which compiled the ` Forme of Prayers ' in Frankfort was composed entirely of Calvinists. As we should expect, therefore, the orders of worship were closely related to those of Calvin. With respect to the Sunday Morning Service, while following Calvin in the main, a certain measure of independence was shown on the part of the compilers. Many other parts of the ` Forme of Prayers ' are derived word for word from Huycke's English translation 2 (1550) of Calvin's Genevan ` La Forme ' of 1542 or 1548 ; but in the Sunday Morning Service, while 1 The committee consisted of Knox, Whittingham, Gilby, Fox, and Cole. (` Brief Discourse of the Troubles at Frankfort,' edn. 1846, p. xxxvi.) 2 Copy in the British Museum. It has not been reprinted. B 18 Church Service Society Annual Huycke's influence may be seen, he is not verbally followed. Valérand Pullain also, who was Minister of the French congregation of refugees at Frankfort in 1555, appears to have exercised a certain influence over the compilers of the Forme of Prayers.' The two congregations were on friendly terms, and were using the same church for worship, so this influence on the part of Pullain was a natural one. Pullain's order of worship was a version of Calvin's ` La Forme,' 1545 (Strasburg), as will later be indicated, and therefore his influence, too, would be of a Calvinistic nature. Thus we find that the general order of the Sunday Morning Service in the ` Forme of Prayers ' is practically that of Calvin from 1542 onwards : this will be demon- strated in detail in a table to follow. With regard to the separate parts of the service, the confession of sins is a translation of Calvin's confession, with a prayer for pardon added, this latter perhaps being remotely influenced by the confession and absolution at Mattins in the ` Book of Common Prayer.' The long prayer, however, which follows the sermon, seems to be entirely a product of the compilers themselves, having no verbal relationship to Calvin : at the same time, in actual scope and content it is very closely related to Calvin. There is also a confession of sins based on Daniel ix., which likewise appears to be an independent compila- tion. Nevertheless, in spite of these slight deviations from Calvin, it remains perfectly clear that Calvin's Genevan Sunday Morning Service was the governing influence and main source of the service outlined in the ` Forme of Prayers.' This is beyond all question of doubt. The question next arises, from what sources was Calvin's Service derived ? Calvin's service first took form while he was Minister of the congregation of French Protestant exiles at Stras- burg from 1538-41. Before Calvin came to Strasburg and was appointed Minister of the French Church, though the congregation had been in existence since 1533, the German magistrates had not permitted them to celebrate the sacraments, but only to have services consisting of reading, preaching, singing, and prayers, so they possessed no printed formulary of worship. But with Calvin's arrival the situation was changed ; and permission was given, The Sunday Morning Service 19 as a special privilege, to celebrate the Lord's Supper once a month. Thus it became necessary to have a book of forms embodying the rite they proposed to use. Accord- ingly, towards the end of 1539 (about a year after his arrival at Strasburg), Calvin published a complete service book, containing a service for Sunday Morning worship, orders for the celebration of the sacraments, various prayers, and a few paraphrases together with some of Marot's metrical psalms. The first edition has unfortu- nately disappeared, no single copy remaining extant. One copy of the second edition, however, is still in existence, and is now deposited in the Library at Geneva. This second edition was printed on 15th February 1542 after Calvin had returned to Geneva, under the direction of his successor, Pierre Brully, but it was appa- rently word for word the same as the first edition. It was entitled ` La manyere de faire prieres aux eglises francoyses,' &c., and the colophon stated that the book was " Imprimé à Rome par le commandement du pape, par Theodore Brüsz allemant, son imprimeur ordinaire." This was, of course, a mere ruse, for the book was actually printed at Strasburg by the printer Knobloch. Also, that it was in point of fact a reprint of Calvin's lost edition is made clear beyond all doubt by Brully's statement concerning it, as follows : " Ich habe die frantzösischen gesang psalmen, gemeine gebet vnd formular der Sacra- ment handlungen diser Kirchen alhie, weil keine büchlin mehr vorhanden, widerumb inn Druck verfertiget." Calvin's ` La Forme' 2 of 1545 (Strasburg edn.), which he had prepared upon request for the use of his old congregation at Strasburg, is really a third edition of his ` La manyere ' above referred to. Apart from the change of title, revision of the spelling, and one or two minor changes, the two books are liturgically identical. A fourth edition is to be found in Valérand Pullain's ` Liturgia sacra,' 3 London, 1551. Pullain had been a successor of Calvin at Strasburg, but continental troubles had made it necessary for him to seek refuge with his con- Erichson, ` Gottesdienstord.,' p. 10. 2 Texts of the ' La Forme ' (all edns.) are given in ` Calvin opera,' VI. (` Corp. Reform.,' XXXIV.). 3 For text the original must be consulted. A copy in British Museum. 20 Church Service Society Annual gregation in England, and there his ` Liturgia sacra ' appeared. So far as the forms of service are concerned, it is the same book translated into Latin, embodying a number of small modifications of phrase and order, and with rather fuller rubrics indicating more precisely the exact nature of the rite ; and because of these rubrics it is of very considerable value.

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