The Reformed in many places closed organs, and introduced the singing of the psalms into the churches. Many of the old hymn books contained nothing but psalms, although others added hymns to the psalms. But the psalms constituted the basis and centre of the book, and not the church year, which was generally unnoticed in the hymn books. These psalms sustained the Reformed in persecution and linked their hearts more fully to God’s word. The early Reformed Church was Puritanic in her churches and in her services. The Reformed service was very simple. It consisted simply of an invocation, hymn, prayer, hymn, sermon, prayer, hymn, and benediction. That was all.
—James I. Good, The Origin of the Reformed Church in Germany (Reading, PA: Daniel Miller, 1887), 453–54.
Was there no extended Scripture reading in these early Reformed services (other than the sermon text)?
“It consisted simply of an invocation, hymn, prayer, hymn, sermon, prayer, hymn, and benediction.”
– Simple and simply commanded by God.
Well, it was a bit more than that – the sacraments as well, and not only that but generally a high view of Lord’s Supper as more than a remembrance but also as “a participation in the body and blood of Christ” – 1 Cor 10:16, a verse I have never heard another minister quote in relation to Lords Supper.