372 THE REFORMATION IN FRENCH SWITZERLAND.
The order of public worship in Calvin's congregation at Strassburg was as follows : —
The service began with an invocation,^ a confession of sin and a brief absolution .^ Then followed reading of the Scriptures, singing, and a free prayer. The whole congregation, male and female, joined in chanting the Psalms, and thus took an active part in public worship, while formerly they were but passive listeners or spectators. This was in accordance with the Protestant doctrine of the general priesthood of believers.^ The sermon came next, and after it a
1 " JVostre aide soit ait nom de Dieu, qui a faict le Ciel et la terre. Amen." Opera, VI. 173.
2 This confession is still in use and may be favorably compared with the confession in the Anglican liturgy. It is as follows (in modern spelling) : —
" Mes freres, qu'un chacun de nous se pre'sente devant la face du Seigneur, avec confession de sesf antes et pe'che's, suivant de son caur mes paroles.
" Seigneur Dieu, Pere €ternal et tout-puissant, nous confessons l_et reconnaissonsl sans feintise, devant ta Sainte Majeste', que nous sommes pauvres pe'clteurs, concus et ne's en iniquite et corruption, enclins a malfaire, inutiles a tout bien, et que par notre vice, nous transgressons sans fin et sans cesse tes saints commandements. En quoi faisant, nous acque'rons, par ton juste jugement, mine et perdition sur nous.
" Toutefois, Seigneur, nous avons deplaisir en nous-memes, de t'avoir offense', et condamnons nous et nos vices, avec vraie repentance, de'sirant que ta grace [et aide'\ subviennent a notre calamite.
" Veuille done avoir pitie de nous, Dieu et Pere tres be'nin, et plein de mise'ricorde, au 7iom de ton Fils Je'sus-Christ, notre Seigneur; effacant done nos vices et macules, e'largis nous et augmente de jour en jour les graces de ton Saint-JEsprit, afn que, reconnaissant de tout notre cceur notre injustice, nous soyons touches de de'plaisir, qui engendre dyoite pe'nitence en nous : laquelle nous mortifiant a tous pe'che's produise en nous fruits de justice et innocence qui te soient agre'ahles par ice-lui Je'sus- Christ. Amen."
After this confession the Strassburg Liturgy adds a form of absolution, which was afterwards omitted : —
" let, dit le ministre quelques paroles de I'Ecriture pour consoler les consciences, etfait I'absolution en cette maniere :
" Un chacun de vous se reconnaisse vraiment pecheur, s'humiliant devant Dieu, et croieque le Pere ce'teste lui veut etre prop ice en Jesus-Christ. A tous ceux qui, en cette maniere se repentent, et cherchent Je'sus-Chi-ist potir leur salut, je de'nonce I'absolution au nom du Pere, du Fils, et du Saint-Esprit. Amen."
3 In this respect Calvin followed the example of the Lutheran churches. Gerard Eoussel, who was one of the earliest refugees at Strassburg, reported to Brifonnet, bishop of Meaux, that the singing of Psalms, translated from the Hebrew, was there a prominent feature of worship, and that " le chant des
§ 87. THE LITURGY OF CALVIN. 373
long general prayer and the Lord's Prayer. The service closed with singing and the benediction.^
The same order is substantially observed in the French Reformed Churches. Calvin prepared also liturgical forms for baptism and the holy communion. A form for marriage and the visitation of the sick had been previously composed by Farel. The combination of the liturgical and extemporaneous features continue in the Reformed Churches of the Continent. In the Presbyterian churches of Scotland and most of the Dissenting churches of England, and their descendants in America, the liturgical element was gradually ruled out by free prayer; while the Anglican Church pursued the opposite course.
Baptism was always performed before the congregation at the close of the public service, and in the simplest manner, according to the institution of Clu'ist ; without the traditional ceremony of exorcism, and the use of salt, spittle, and burning candles, because these are not commanded in the Scriptures, nourish superstition, and divert the attention from the spiritual substance of the ordinance to outward forms. Calvin regarded immersion as the primitive form of baptism, but pouring and sprinkling as equally valid.^
The communion was celebrated once a month in a simple
femmes, se melant a celui des homines, produit un effet ravissant." Herminjard, I. 404-408. In another letter, he speaks also of the congregational chanting of the Apostles' Creed and the Kyrie Eleison at the communion. Ibid. I. 411- 413. Doumergue, pp. 8, 9.
1 An interesting description of the Reformed worship at Strassburg, by a French student in 1545, was first published in 188o by Erichson, p. 7, and is given by Doumergue, I.e. p. 15 sq. He speaks of daily preaching and chanting of Psalms by the whole congregation (" tant homme que femvie avec un bel accord") from a tune book (un litre de musique), which each member had in his hand.
2 He says, Instit. IV. ch. XV. § 19 : " Whether the person who is baptized be wholly immersed, and whether thrice or once, or whether water be only poured or sprinkled upon him, is of no importance ; churches ought to be left at liberty in this respect, to act according to the difference of countries. The very word haptize, however, signifies to immerse; and it is certain that immersion was the practice of the ancient Church."