The following interesting section dealing with Baird appears in Frank J. Smith, Ph.D., D.D. with Chris Coldwell, "The Regulative Principle of Worship: Sixty Years in Reformed Literature Part One (1946"“1999),
The Confessional Presbyterian, 2.106. This is a substantial piece and some nice things have been said about it. Available at
http://www.cpjournal.com
[quote]Winward is also one of a number of writers, the most notable being W. D. Maxwell, and more recently D. G. Hart, who repeat the contention that Calvin believed in the necessity of set forms. This mistaken conclusion has been corrected by Dr. Rowland S. Ward in his recent lecture on the Westminster Directory for Public Worship.
Quote:
It has been claimed by Charles Baird that Calvin highly approved set forms of prayer from which ministers should not be allowed to vary offering the following translation from Calvin´s Latin letter of 1548 to Lord Somerset"¦. However, the standard English translation made in 1858 (shortly after Baird wrote) indicates the reference is to the importance of a set Catechism, not to a form of prayers.
Baird "¦ has been followed by too many who partially cite Baird´s purported quotation of Calvin in a context of prayer rather than catechesis, e.g. D. G. Hart, in his Recovering Mother Kirk (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2003) 26. Similarly, W. D.Maxwell, A History of Worship in the Church of Scotland (London: Oxford University Press, 1955) 72"“73, a standard but not always accurate writer, who purports to cite Calvin´s Latin Opera but it is in identical words to Baird´s translation. Baird also refers to Bingham´s Antiquities but the reference he gives [II, 747] is not relevant to the issue. Perhaps Baird worked from imperfect notes brought back from his period of study in Europe.48
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48. Ward, "śThe Directory for Public Worship,"ť 10, 11 n45. In this instance Winward is relying on an earlier work by Maxwell: Pehr Edwall, Eric Hayman, and William D. Maxwell, Ways of Worship, The Report of a Theological Commission of Faith and Order (London: SCM Press, 1951) 121.
{Ward's work is: Rowland S. Ward, "śThe Directory for Public Worship Prepared by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster in the Year 1644,"ť
Westminster Assembly 2004: A Conference on the Westminster Standards, Westminster Theological Seminary, Philadelphia Pa., November 21"“22, 2004 (Unpublished; MS dated February 18, 2006). One of those forthcoming P&R titles that as far as I know we're still awaiting.}