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| Chapter 22 - Of Religious
Worship and the Sabbath Day |
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1. The light of nature shews
that there is a God, who hath lordship and sovereignty over all; is just,
good and doth good unto 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. But the acceptable way of worshipping the true
God, is instituted by himself, 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.
Jeremiah 10:7; Mark 12:33; Deuteronomy
12:32; Exodus 20:4-6
2. Religious worship is to
be given to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and to him alone; not
to angels, saints, or any other creatures; and since the fall, not without
a mediator, nor in the mediation of any other but Christ alone.
Matthew 4:9, 10; John 6:23; Matthew
28:19; Romans 1:25; Colossians 2:18; Revelation 19:10; John 14:6; 1 Timothy
2:5
3. Prayer, with thanksgiving,
being one part of natural worship, is by God required of all men. But that
it may be accepted, it is to be made in the name of the Son, by the help
of the Spirit, according to his will; with understanding, reverence, humility,
fervency, faith, love, and perseverance; and when with others, in a known
tongue.
Psalms 95:1-7; Psalms 65:2; John
14:13, 14; Romans 8:26; 1 John 5:14; 1 Corinthians 14:16, 17 )
4. Prayer is to be made for
things lawful, and for all sorts of men living, or that shall live hereafter;
but not for the dead, nor for those of whom it may be known that they have
sinned the sin unto death.
1 Timothy 2:1, 2; 2 Samuel 7:29;
2 Samuel 12:21-23; 1 John 5:16
5. The reading of the Scriptures,
preaching, and hearing the Word of God, teaching and admonishing one another
in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts
to the Lord; as also the administration of baptism, and the Lord's supper,
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, and thanksgivings, upon special occasions,
ought to be used in an holy and religious manner.
1 Timothy 4:13; 2 Timothy 4:2; Luke
8:18; Colossians 3:16; Ephesians 5:19; Matthew 28:19, 20; 1 Corinthians
11:26; Esther 4:16; Joel 2:12; Exodus 15:1-19, Psalms 107
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; as in private families daily, and in secret each one by himself;
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
calleth thereunto.
John 4:21; Malachi 1:11; 1 Timothy
2:8; Acts 10:2; Matthew 6:11; Psalms 55:17; Matthew 6:6; Hebrews 10:25;
Acts 2:42
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 hath particularly appointed
one day in seven for a sabbath to be kept holy unto him, 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: 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.
Exodus 20:8; 1 Corinthians 16:1,
2; Acts 20:7; Revelation 1:10
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 an holy rest
all day, from their own works, words and thoughts, about their worldly
employment and recreations, 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.
Isaiah 58:13; Nehemiah 13:15-22;
Matthew 12:1-13 |