Chapter 22: Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day
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
)
Back to the 2nd London Baptist Confession of Faith
