THE PROVENANCE OF JOHN CALVIN'S EMPHASIS ON THE ...

soon as the sign itself meets our eyes." 1113 Regrettably, Thompson provides no citation
for this statement.
Following the confession of faith, the minister voices the communion prayer.
(The Genevan liturgy explicitly instructs, il dit à haulte voix. 1114 ) As Thompson
observes, this prayer is essentially a "prayer of humble access": it is a confession of
faith that Christ offers his very body and blood as "our nourishment unto everlasting
life," and a prayer "that we may receive at His hands such a great gift . . . with true
sincerity of heart and with ardent zeal." 1115 Surprisingly, neither a confession of the role
of the Holy Spirit nor a summons for the work of the Holy Spirit is expressed. Though
in his treatises on the Lord's Supper Calvin repeatedly emphasizes that the nourishment
of souls transpires only by the virtus of the Holy Spirit, who is the vinculum of
believers' union with Christ and thereby the one who affords the gift of the sacrament,
in this prayer, Calvin fails, if you will, to acknowledge this.
After this prayer, which concludes with the Lord's Prayer, the minister offers an
exhortation concerning the sacrament. The exhortation opens with the Words of
Institution, taken from 1 Corinthians 11. In light of Paul's admonition, the minister
"excommunicates" the unrepentant and calls the repentant to self-examination.
However, the lengthier part of Calvin's exhortation is pastoral assurance that Christ
1113 Thompson, Liturgies, 192, quoted without reference to a source.
1114 Bürki, "La Sainte Cène . . . Calvin," Coena Domini I, 357.
1115 Thompson, Liturgies, 204. "Et comme nostre Seigneur JESUS, non seulement t'a une fois
offert en la croix son corps et son sang, pour la remission de noz pechez: maix aussi les nous vault
communiquer, pour nourriture en vie eternelle: faiz nous ceste grace, que de vraye sincerité de Coeur, et
d'un zele ardent, nous recevions son corps et son sang; . . ." (Bürki, "La Sainte Cène . . . Calvin," Coena
Domini I, 355).
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