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

contemporary practice in some worshiping communities, all are adjured not to fixate on
the "stuff" before them. However, whereas Farel's subsequent emphasis falls on love of
neighbor, Calvin's falls on the nourishing and vivifying of souls by the substance of
Christ. 1142
One of the most striking features in Farel's 1533 liturgy is le voeu épiclétique, as
Bürki puts it, which accompanies the distribution of the bread. The bread itself is to be
"without image," and is to be distributed "into the hands" of the communicant as the
minister says:
Jesus, the true Saviour of the world, who died for us and is seated in glory at the
right hand of the Father, dwell in your hearts through His Holy Spirit, that you
be wholly alive in Him, through living faith and perfect love. 1143
In the second edition of Farel's liturgy, which appeared in Geneva in 1538, the optative
blessing is expressed slightly differently:
Jesus, the true Saviour of the world, who died for us and is seated in glory at the
right hand of the Father, dwell in your hearts through His Holy Spirit, par la
vertu dicelluy, le donnant et communicquant a vous, that you be wholly alive in
Him, through living faith and perfect love. 1144
An expression such as is interpolated here certainly sounds as if it could have come
from Calvin's lips. The pneumatology is rich and compatible with that in Calvin's
expositions. So perhaps this addition does bear evidence of Calvin's influence, just as
1142 See above, also Thompson, Liturgies, 207.
1143 "Jesus le vray sauveur du monde, qui est mort pour nous, estant assis en gloire a la dextre
dup ere, habite en voz cueurs par son sainct espreit, faisant que du tout soyez vivans en luy par vifve foy
et parfaicte charite. Amen." (Bürki, "La Sainte Cène . . . Farel," Coena Domini I, 345.
1144 "Jesus le vray sauveur du monde, qui est mort pour nous, estant assis en gloire a la dextre du
pere, habite en voz cueurs par son sainct esperit, par la vertu dicelluy, le donnant et communicquant a
vous, faisant que du tout soyez vivans en luy par vifve foy et parfaicte charite. Amen." From Bürki, "La
Sainte Cène . . . Farel," Coena Domini I, 345, with the insertion of 345n6.
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