CHAPTER 22; OF RELIGIOUS WORSHIP AND THE SABBATH DAY
Paragraph 1. The light of
nature shows that there is a God, who has lordship and sovereignty over
all; is just, good and does good to all; and is therefore to be feared,
loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart
and all the soul, and with all the might.1 But the acceptable
way of worshipping the true God, is instituted by himself,2 and
so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according
to the imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan, under
any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy
Scriptures.3
1 Jer. 10:7; Mark
12:33
2 Deut. 12:32
3 Exod. 20:4-6
Paragraph 2. Religious worship
is to be given to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and to him alone;4
not to angels, saints, or any other creatures;5 and since the fall,
not without a mediator,6 nor in the mediation of any other but Christ
alone.7
4 Matt. 4:9,10; John
6:23; Matt. 28:19
5 Rom. 1:25; Col.
2:18; Rev. 19:10
6 John 14:6
7 1 Tim. 2:5
Paragraph 3. Prayer, with
thanksgiving, being one part of natural worship, is by God required of
all men.8 But that it may be accepted, it is to be made in
the name of the Son,9 by the help of the Spirit,10 according to
his will;11 with understanding, reverence, humility, fervency, faith,
love, and perseverance; and when with others, in a known tongue.12
8 Ps. 95:1-7, 65:2
9 John 14:13,14
10 Rom. 8:26
11 1 John 5:14
12 1 Cor. 14:16,17
Paragraph 4. Prayer is to
be made for things lawful, and for all sorts of men living, or that shall
live hereafter;13 but not for the dead,14 nor for those of
whom it may be known that they have sinned the sin unto death.15
13 1 Tim. 2:1,2;
2 Sam. 7:29
14 2 Sam. 12:21-23
15 1 John 5:16
Paragraph 5. The reading
of the Scriptures,16 preaching, and hearing the Word of God,17
teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs,
singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord;18 as also the administration
of baptism,19 and the Lord's supper,20 are all parts of religious
worship of God, to be performed in obedience to him, with understanding,
faith, reverence, and godly fear; moreover, solemn humiliation, with fastings,21
and thanksgivings, upon special occasions, ought to be used in an holy
and religious manner.22
16 1 Tim. 4:13
17 2 Tim. 4:2; Luke
8:18
18 Col. 3:16; Eph.
5:19
19 Matt. 28:19,20
20 1 Cor. 11:26
21 Esther 4:16; Joel
2:12
22 Exod. 15:1-19,
Ps. 107
Paragraph 6. Neither prayer
nor any other part of religious worship, is now under the gospel, tied
unto, or made more acceptable by any place in which it is performed, or
towards which it is directed; but God is to be worshipped everywhere in
spirit and in truth;23 as in private families24 daily,25
and in secret each one by himself;26 so more solemnly in the public
assemblies, which are not carelessly nor wilfully to be neglected or forsaken,
when God by his word or providence calls thereunto.27
23 John 4:21; Mal.
1:11; 1 Tim. 2:8
24 Acts 10:2
25 Matt. 6:11; Ps.
55:17
26 Matt. 6:6
27 Heb. 10:25; Acts
2:42
Paragraph 7. As it is the
law of nature, that in general a proportion of time, by God's appointment,
be set apart for the worship of God, so by his Word, in a positive moral,
and perpetual commandment, binding all men, in all ages, he has particularly
appointed one day in seven for a sabbath to be kept holy unto him,28
which from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ was
the last day of the week, and from the resurrection of Christ was changed
into the first day of the week, which is called the Lord's Day:29
and is to be continued to the end of the world as the Christian Sabbath,
the observation of the last day of the week being abolished.
28 Exod. 20:8
29 1 Cor. 16:1,2;
Acts 20:7; Rev. 1:10
Paragraph 8. The sabbath
is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their
hearts, and ordering their common affairs aforehand, do not only observe
a holy rest all day, from their own works, words and thoughts, about their
worldly employment and recreations,30 but are also taken up the
whole time in the public and private exercises of his worship, and in the
duties of necessity and mercy.31
30 Isa. 58:13; Neh.
13:15-22
31 Matt. 12:1-13