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

same year Calvin published a liturgy for use in the church at Geneva, thereby replacing
the use of Farel's Maniere. This new liturgy, very similar but not identical to that left to
the church in Strasbourg, was published without mention of the author and under the
title La Forme de prières et chantz ecclésiastiques, avec la manière d'administratrer les
sacremens, et consacrer le mariage, selon la coustume de l'église ancienne. 219
As with Farel's and Bucer's before his own, Calvin's form and prayers for the
celebration of the Lord's Supper are preceded by an exhortation to all who are about to
participate in the sacrament. 220 Strikingly, the Holy Spirit is mentioned but once in the
specific prayers, exhortation, invitation, and consecration Calvin composes to
accompany the celebration of the sacrament, and that mention appears in a Trinitarian
doxology at the conclusion of the post-communion prayer. In the exhortation, Calvin
intimates the work of the Spirit adverbially: "although we see only bread and wine, yet
let us not doubt that he accomplishes spiritually in our souls all that he shows us
externally." 221 Even here, "spiritually" could simply be taken to mean, as it is meant to
be taken elsewhere, "non-carnally," "non-corporeally." So except for this one adverbial
intimation, the Holy Spirit simply does not figure into Calvin's liturgical text. Although
by this time Calvin is much inclined to appeal to the "secret and incomprehensible
219 Thompson, Liturgies, 190 and 197; de Greef, Writings of John Calvin, 129-30; CO 6:161-
210. A nearly identical edition appeared in Strasbourg in 1545 under another title La Manyère de faire
priers aux 'églises françoyses. Thompson's English edition accounts for each of these.
220 If Thompson's renderings are accurate, Bucer simply includes a rubric to this effect: "the
Minister makes a short exhortation, if he has not done so at the end of the Sermon, to the effect that the
Holy Supper is to be observed with true faith and mete devotion; and he explains this Mystery"
(Thompson, Liturgies, 177). Farel includes an exhortation, but it precedes the Words of Institution,
whereas Calvin's exhortation succeeds them. For further discussion, see Chapter 8 below.
221 Thompson, Liturgies, 207.
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