Editing Reformed Christianity (section)

=== Worship ===
{{main|Reformed worship}}

==== Regulative principle of worship ====
{{Main|Regulative principle of worship}}
[[File:Directory for Public Worship.jpg|thumb|The [[Directory for Public Worship]] described what should (and should not) occur in worship.]]
The regulative principle of worship is a teaching shared by some Calvinists and [[Anabaptists]] on how the Bible orders public worship. The substance of the doctrine regarding worship is that God institutes in the Scriptures everything he requires for worship in the Church and that everything else is prohibited. As the regulative principle is reflected in Calvin's own thought, it is driven by his evident antipathy toward the Roman Catholic Church and its worship practices, and it associates musical instruments with [[icon]]s, which he considered violations of the [[Ten Commandments]]' prohibition of graven images.<ref name="Barber">{{cite journal |author=Barber |first=John |date=25 June 2006 |title=Luther and Calvin on Music and Worship |url=http://thirdmill.org/newfiles/joh_barber/PT.joh_barber.Luther.Calvin.Music.Worship.html |journal=Reformed Perspectives Magazine |volume=8 |issue=26 |access-date=6 May 2008}}</ref>

On this basis, many early Calvinists also eschewed musical instruments and advocated [[a cappella]] [[exclusive psalmody]] in worship,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://reformedonline.com/view/reformedonline/music.htm |access-date=16 November 2007 |year=1998 |title=Musical Instruments in the Public Worship of God |first=Brian |last=Schwertley |archive-date=20 January 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130120010940/http://reformedonline.com/view/reformedonline/music.htm }}</ref> though Calvin himself allowed other scriptural songs as well as psalms,<ref name="Barber" /> and this practice typified [[Presbyterian worship]] and the worship of other Reformed churches for some time. The original Lord's Day service designed by John Calvin was a highly liturgical service with the Creed, Alms, Confession and Absolution, the Lord's supper, Doxologies, prayers, Psalms being sung, the Lords prayer being sung, and Benedictions.<ref>{{cite book |last=Maxwell |first=William D. |url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.157208 |title=An Outline of Christian Worship: Its Development and Forms |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=1936 |location=London |language=en-uk}}</ref>

Since the 19th century, however, some of the Reformed churches have modified their understanding of the regulative principle and make use of musical instruments, believing that Calvin and his early followers went beyond the biblical requirements<ref name="Barber" /> and that such things are circumstances of worship requiring biblically rooted wisdom, rather than an explicit command. Despite the protestations of those who hold to a strict view of the regulative principle, today [[hymn]]s and musical instruments are in common use, as are [[contemporary worship music]] styles with elements such as [[worship band]]s.<ref>{{cite book |last=Frame |first=John |url=https://archive.org/details/worshipinspiritt00fram |title=Worship in Spirit and Truth |publisher=P&R Pub. |year=1996 |isbn=0-87552-242-4 |location=Phillipsburg, New Jersey, U.S. |language=en-us}}</ref>