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قراءة كتاب Presbyterian Worship: Its Spirit, Method and History

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Presbyterian Worship: Its Spirit, Method and History

Presbyterian Worship: Its Spirit, Method and History

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دار النشر: Project Gutenberg
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flagrant sinners are warned not to draw near to the holy table, and timid saints are encouraged in wise and helpful words to approach with repentance and faith. This is the address which in later times came to be known as "Fencing the Table." There are no words to indicate that any variation from the prescribed address was encouraged.

The address being finished


"The Minister comes down from the Pulpit and sitteth at the Table, every man and woman in likewise taking their place as occasion best serveth: Then he taketh Bread and giveth thanks either in these words following or like in effect."


This prayer is wholly one of praise and thanksgiving, there being an evident purpose in the omission of any invocation of the Holy Spirit and of words that might be regarded as a consecration of the bread and wine, and in the strict adherence to the example of our Lord, Who, "when He had given thanks, took bread."

The manner of communing is then described:


"This done, the Minister breaketh the bread and delivereth it to the people, to distribute and divide the same among themselves, according to our Saviour Christ's commandment, and likewise giveth the cup: During the which time some place of the Scriptures is read which doth lively set forth the death of Christ, to the intent that our eyes and senses may not only be occupied in these outward signs of bread and wine, which are called the visible word, but that our hearts and minds also may be fully fixed in the contemplation of the Lord's death, which is by this Holy Sacrament represented. And after this action is done he giveth thanks, saying:"


The prayer of thanksgiving which follows is the only one in connection with this service for which no alternative was allowed the minister. An appropriate Psalm of thanksgiving followed the prayer, the Blessing was invoked and the congregation dispersed.

The Communion, as is evident from the rubric quoted above, was received while the congregation was seated, and this practice the Presbyterians adhered to and defended as against the Episcopal practice of kneeling at this service, regarding the latter attitude as liable to be interpreted as a rendering to the Sacrament of homage and adoration which should be reserved for God alone.

The service, it is evident, was marked by simplicity and by in almost total absence of prescribed form. In a note "to the reader," the author of the Book of Common Order explains that the object throughout is to set forth simply and effectively those signs which Christ hath ordained "to our spiritual use and comfort."

How often this Sacrament was to be observed was left to the judgment of individual congregations, but frequent celebration was recommended. Calvin thought it proper that the Lord's Supper should be celebrated monthly, but finding the people opposed to such frequent celebration he considered it unwise to insist upon his own views. With his opinions on this matter, those of Knox were quite in harmony.

The Sacrament of Baptism was likewise characterized in its administration by similar simplicity, and yet it is evident that, in this more than in any other part of public worship, the minister was restricted to the forms provided both in prayer and in address.

The rubrics which govern the two prayers of the service and the address to the parents, make no mention of alternate or similar forms being permitted. In this the Book of Common Order differs from the Book of Geneva, which allowed the minister liberty in these parts of the service. There would seem, therefore, to be an evident intention on the part of the Scottish reformers in thus departing from their custom in other parts of worship. It may be that inasmuch as Baptism is the Sacrament of admission into the Church, it was deemed advisable that for the instruction of those seeking membership therein, either for themselves or for their children, the form of sound doctrine set forth at such a time should not be varied even in the manner of statement.

The Sacrament was administered in the Church "on the day appointed to Common Prayer and preaching," instruction being given that the child should there be accompanied by the father and godfather; Knox himself had, as godfather to one of his sons, Whittingham, who had been his chief assistant in compiling the Book of Common Order, and who had also been his helper and fellow-worker at Geneva. The opinion of the Swiss reformers, as well as that of their Scotch followers, was in favor of the presence of sponsors in addition to the parents at the baptism of children. The parent having professed his desire to have his child baptized in the Christian faith, was addressed by the minister, and called upon to profess his own faith and his purpose to instruct his child in the same. Having repeated the Creed, the minister proceeded to expound the same as setting forth the sum of Christian doctrine, a prescribed prayer followed, the child was baptized, and the prayer of thanksgiving, also prescribed, closed the service.

The Book of Common Order required that marriages should be celebrated in the Church and on the Lord's Day:


"The parties assemble at the beginning of the sermon and the Minister at time convenient saith as followeth:"


In the forms of exhortation and admonition to the contracting parties no liberty to vary the address is allowed the minister, but in the one prayer which formed a part of the service, viz., the blessing at the close of the ceremony it is ordered:


"The Minister commendeth them to God in this or such like sort."


The service ended with the singing of an appropriate Psalm.

In the service for burial of the dead it was ordered by the First Book of Discipline that neither singing, prayer, nor preaching should be engaged in, and this "on account of prevailing superstition." In this matter, however, permission was granted to congregations to use their discretion; Knox, we know, preached a sermon after the burial of the Regent Moray, and the directions in the Book of Common Order clearly leave much to be determined by the circumstances of the case:


"The corpse is reverently brought to the grave accompanied with the Congregation without any further ceremonies: which being buried, the Minister, if he be present and required, goeth to the Church, if it be not far off, and maketh some comfortable exhortation to the people touching death and resurrection; then blesseth the people and so dismisseth them."


This is but one of many instances that show that the early reformers accorded to the Church, in matters not absolutely essential to the preservation of sound doctrine and Scriptural practice, the greatest liberty. With regard to the administration of the Sacraments and the public worship of God, they laid down well-defined regulations and outlines to which conformity was required; in matters that might be looked upon as simply edifying and profitable, liberty was allowed to ministers and congregations to determine according to their discretion, as Knox himself declared with respect to exercises of worship at burials:


"We are not so precise but that we are content that particular Kirks use them in that behalf, with the consent of the ministry of the same as they will answer to God and Assembly of the Universal Kirk gathered within the realm."


We have thus presented in brief outline the contents of the Book of Common Order, commonly used in Scotland from 1562 to 1645, in so far as its regulations refer to public worship and the administration of the Sacraments. The book is itself so simple and clear in its statements that it is not difficult to discover the spirit of its compilers, and their understanding of what was required for the seemly and Scriptural observance of the different parts of Divine worship. The results of

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