ABSTRACT
Simon Ruytinck’s use of the word ‘voortaen’ in his introduction to the guidelines of the agape clearly indicates that it was a scheme for the future which had yet to be initiated. The first section is a historical and Scriptural justification of the agape. The second consists of the rules which were to guide the agape or ‘Maeltyd der Liefde’ within the Dutch community in London. The historical guideline starts by pointing to the agape as an ancient and justifiable tradition among the ‘people of God’ before referring to Acts. In discussing the godly conversation which should take place during the agapae, Ruytinck mentions Tertullian and, surprisingly for a Calvinist divine of the early seventeenth century, when the confessional lines were hardening, Luther’s Tabletalks. Ruytinck would have had a copy of Philon’s work at hand in the library of the Dutch church in London, as one such had been donated to the church by his colleague.
