Chapter 22
Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath
Day
- The light of nature shows 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.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, or the suggestions of
Satan, under any visible representations,
or any other way, not prescribed in the
Holy Scriptures.3
- 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
- Prayer and thankfulness, being one
special 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
- 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 not for those
of whom it may be known, that they have
sinned the sin unto death.15
- 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 thanksgiving, upon
special occasions, ought to be used in
a holy and religious manner.22
- 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 calleth thereto.27
- 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,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 it 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.
- 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 the day from
their own works, words and thoughts,
about their worldly employments 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
Footnotes:
1. Jer
10:7; Mk 12:33.
2. Dt
12:32.
3. Ex
20:4-6.
4. Mt
4:9-10; Jn 6:23; Mt 28:19.
5. Ro
1:25; Col 2:18; Rev 19:10.
6. Jn
14:6.
7. 1Ti
2:5.
8. Ps
95:1-7; 65:2.
9. Jn
14:13-14.
10.
Ro 8:26.
11.
1Jn 5:14.
12.
1Co 14:16-17.
13.
1Ti 2:1-2; 2Sa 7:29.
14.
2Sa 12:21-23.
15.
1Jn 5:16.
16.
1Ti 4:13.
17.
2Ti 4:2; Lk 8:18.
18.
Col 3:16; Eph 5:19.
19.
Mt 28:19-20.
20.
1Co. 11:26.
21.
Est 4:16; Joel 2:12.
22.
Ex 15:1-19; Ps 107:1-43.
23.
Jn 4:21; Mal 1:11; 1Ti 2:8.
24.
Ac 10:2.
25.
Mt 6:11; Ps 55:17.
26.
Mt 6:6.
27.
Heb 10:25; Ac 2:42.
28.
Ex 20:8.
29.
1Co 16:1-2; Ac 20:7; Rev 1:10.
30.
Isa 58:13; Ne 13:15-22.
31.
Mt 12:1-13.
©1998 Limerick Free
Baptist Church
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Free
Baptist Church of Limerick