This is from the beginning of the preface to the Geneva Psalter
As it is a thing much required in Christianity, and one of the most necessary, that every one of the faithful observe and uphold the communion of the Church in his neighbourhood, frequenting the assemblies which are held both on Sunday and other days to honour and serve God: so also it is expedient and reasonable that all should know and hear that which is said and done in the temple, thus receiving fruit and edification.
For our Lord did not institute the order which we must observe when we convene in his Name, solely to amuse the world by seeing and looking at it; rather, however, he wished that profit would come from it to all his people: as Saint Paul witnesseth, commanding that all which is done in the Church be directed towards the common edification of all: this the servant would not have commanded had it not been the intention of the Master. But this cannot be done unless we are instructed to have intelligence of all that has been ordained for our profit. Because to say that we are able to have devotion, either at prayers or ceremonies, without understanding anything of them, is a great mockery, however much it is commonly said. This is a thing neither dead nor brutish, this good affection toward God: rather it is a lively movement, proceeding from the Holy Spirit, when the heart is properly touched, and the understanding enlightened. And, in fact, if one is able to be edified by the things which one sees, without knowing that which they signify, Saint Paul would not forbid so rigorously speaking in an unknown tongue: and he would not use this reasoning, that there is no edification, unless there is a doctrine. However, if we really wish to honor the holy ordinances of our Lord, which we use in the Church, the primary thing is to know what they contain, what they mean to say, and to what end they tend, in order that their usage may be useful and salutary, and consequently right ruled.
For our Lord did not institute the order which we must observe when we convene in his Name, solely to amuse the world by seeing and looking at it; rather, however, he wished that profit would come from it to all his people: as Saint Paul witnesseth, commanding that all which is done in the Church be directed towards the common edification of all: this the servant would not have commanded had it not been the intention of the Master. But this cannot be done unless we are instructed to have intelligence of all that has been ordained for our profit. Because to say that we are able to have devotion, either at prayers or ceremonies, without understanding anything of them, is a great mockery, however much it is commonly said. This is a thing neither dead nor brutish, this good affection toward God: rather it is a lively movement, proceeding from the Holy Spirit, when the heart is properly touched, and the understanding enlightened. And, in fact, if one is able to be edified by the things which one sees, without knowing that which they signify, Saint Paul would not forbid so rigorously speaking in an unknown tongue: and he would not use this reasoning, that there is no edification, unless there is a doctrine. However, if we really wish to honor the holy ordinances of our Lord, which we use in the Church, the primary thing is to know what they contain, what they mean to say, and to what end they tend, in order that their usage may be useful and salutary, and consequently right ruled.
Now there are briefly three things which our Lord commanded us to observe in our spiritual assemblies: namely, the preaching of His Word, prayers public and solemn, and the administration of the sacraments. I abstain from speaking about sermons at this time, because there is no question about them. Touching the other parts which remain, we have the express commandment of the Holy Spirit that prayers should be made in a language commonly known to the people; and the Apostle has said that people ought not to answer Amen to that prayer which has been said in a foreign tongue. However, this is because that prayers are made in the name and person of all, that each should be a participant. Thus it is a very great impudence on the part of those who introduced the Latin language into the Church where it is not generally understood. And there is neither subtlety nor casuistry which can excuse them, because this practice is perverse and displeasing to God. Moreover, there is no reason to assume that God finds agreeable to him that which runs directly counter to his wishes, and, so to speak, in spite of him. And so nothing affects him more than to go thus against his forbidding, and to boast of this rebellion as if it were a holy and very laudable thing.
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