Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath-day
Section 21.5
The reading of the Scriptures with godly fear, the sound preaching and conscionable hearing of the Word, in obedience unto God, with understanding, faith and reverence; singing of psalms with grace in the heart; as also, the due administration and worthy receiving of the sacraments instituted by Christ; are all parts of the ordinary religious worship of God: beside religious oaths, vows, solemn fastings, and thanksgivings, upon special occasions, which are, in their several times and seasons, to be used in a holy and religious manner.
Our Confession having explained the duty of prayer, proceeds to enumerate the other ordinances of religious worship; some of which are ordinary and stated, othefrs extraordinary and occasional.
1. The reading of the Scriptures. The reading of the Word of God ought to be attended to in public (Neh. viii. 8; Luke iv. 16); in families (Dent. vi. 6-9; Ps. Ixxviii. 5); and in secret. — John v. 39. " The Holy Scriptures are to be read with a high and reverent esteem of them; with a firm persuasion that they are the very Word of God, and that he only can enable us to understand them; with desire to know, believe, and obey the will of God revealed in them; with diligence and attention to the matter and scope of them; with meditation, application, self-denial, and prayer."*
2. The preaching and hearing of the Word. The preaching of the Word is a divine ordinance, and appointed to continue in the Church to the end of the world. — 1 Cor. i. 21 ; Matt. xxviii. 20. That the office of the ministry is of divine 'institution, and a distinct ofiice in the Church, appears from the following considerations : — 1. Peculiar titles are in Scripture given to the ministers of the gospel. They are called pastors, teachers, stewards of the mysteries of God, bishops or overseers of the flock, and angels of the Churches. 2. Peculiar duties are assigned to them. They are to preach the Word, to rebuke and to instruct gainsayers (2 Tim. iv. 2, ii. 25) ; to administer the sacraments (Matt, xxviii. 19; 1 Cor. xi. 23) ; to watch over the flock, as those that must give an account (Heb. xiii. 17); to give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine ; to meditate upon these things, and give themselves wholly to them. — 1 Tim. ii. 13, 15. 3. Peculiar duties are required of the people in reference to their ministers. They are called to know and acknowledge them that labour among them, and are over them in the Lord (1 Thess. V. 12); to esteem them highly in love for their work's sake (1 Thess. v. 13); to obey them that have the rule over them, and submit themselves (Heb. xiii. 17); to provide for their maintenance (Gal. vi. 6); and to pray for them. — 2 Thess. iii. 1. These things clearly prove that the ministry is a distinct office in the Church.
Though all may and ought to read the Word of God, yet it is to be preached " only by such as are sufficiently gifted, and also duly approved and called to that office, "f Christians should improve their gifts and opportunities in a private way for mutual admonition and edification; but none, whatever gifts they may possess, are warranted to preach the gospel
* The Larger Catechism, Quest. 157. t Ibid., Quest. 158.
224 CONFESSION OF FAITH. [[CHAP. XXI.
unless they have the call of Christ for that purpose. The apostles received their call immediately from Christ himself, and they were empowered to commit that sacred trust to inferior teachers; these, again, were commanded to commit it to faithful men who should be aible to teach others ; and none have a right to preach the gospel, in ordinary cases, but those who are thus authorised by Christ through the medium of persons already vested with official power in the Church. In the primitive Church, those who preached the Word were solemnly set apart to their office by " the laying on of the hands of the presbytery." — 1 Tim. iv. 14. A regular call to preach the gospel is necessary, on account of the people; for all the success of a minister's labours depends on the blessing of Christ, and the people have no warrant to expect this blessing upon the labours of those who are not the servants of Christ. — Jer. xxiii. 32. This call is no less necessary for the comfort and encouragement of ministers themselves; for as the work of the ministry is a work of peculiar difficulty and danger, so none are warranted to expect divine support and protection in the discharge of that work, but those who act under a divine commission. — E,om. x. 14, 15; Acts xxvi. 16, 17.
3. Singing of psalms. This was enjoined, under the Old Testament, as a part of the ordinary worship of God, and it is distinguished from ceremonial worship. — Ps. Ixix. 30, 31. It is not abrogated under the New Testament, but rather confirmed. — Eph. v. 19; Col. iii. 16. It is sanctioned by the example of Christ and his apostles. — Matt. xxvi. 30; Acts xvi. 25. The Psalms of David were especially intended by God for the use of the Church, in the exercise of public praise, under the former dispensation; and they are equally adapted to the use of the Church under the present dispensation. Although the apostles insist much upon the abolition tf ritual institutions, they give no intimation that the Psalms of David are unsuitable for gospel- worship; and had it been intended that they should be set aside in New Testament times, there is reason to think that another psalmody would have been provided in their room. In the Book of Psalms there are various passages which seem to indicate that they were intended by the Spirit for the use of the Church in all ages. " I will extol thee, my God, O King," says David, " and I will bless thy name for ever and ever." — Ps. cxlv. 1. This intimates, as the excellent Henry remarks, " that the Psalms which David penned should be made use of in praising God by the Church to the end of time." We ought to praise God with our 11 bs as well as with our spirits, and
should exert ourselves to do it " skilfully." — Ps. xxxiii. 3. As this is a part of public worship in which the whole congregation should unite their voices, persons ought to cultivate sacred music, that they may be able to join in this exercise with becoming harmony. But the chief thing is to sing with understanding, and with affections of heart corresponding to the matter sung. — Ps. xlvii. 7; 1 Cor. xvi. 15; Ps. cviii. 1.
4. The due administration and worthy receiving of the sacraments instituted by Christ. As subsequent chapters treat fully of these ordinances, we pass them at present.
5. Religious oaths and vows. These will come imder our consideration in the next chapter.
6. Solemn fastings and thanksgivings. Stated festivaldays, commonly called holy-days, have no wan-ant in the "Word of God; but a day may be set apart, by competent authority, for fasting or thanksgiving, when extraordinary dispensations of Providence administer cause for them. When judgments are threatened or inflicted, or when some special blessing is to be sought and obtained, fasting is eminently seasonable. When some remarkable mercy or deliverance has been received, there is a special call to thanksgiving. The views of the compilers of our Confession respecting these ordinances may be found in " The Directory for the Public Worship of God."
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Chapter 21: Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath-day
The regulation of worship and the Christian Sabbath
Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath-day
Section 21.1
The light of nature showeth that there is a God, who hath lordship and sovereignty over all, is 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 with 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 imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the holy Scripture.
Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath-day
Section 21.2
Religious worship is to be given to God, the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and to Him alone; not to angels, saints, or any other creature: and since the fall, not without a Mediator; nor in the mediation of any other but of Christ alone.
Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath-day
Section 21.3
Prayer, with thanksgiving, being one special part of religious worship, is by God required of all men: and that it may be accepted, it is to be made in the name of the Son, by the help of His Spirit, according to His will, with understanding, reverence, humility, fervency, faith, love, and perseverance; and, if vocal, in a known tongue.
Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath-day
Section 21.4
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.
Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath-day
Section 21.5
The reading of the Scriptures with godly fear, the sound preaching and conscionable hearing of the Word, in obedience unto God, with understanding, faith and reverence; singing of psalms with grace in the heart; as also, the due administration and worthy receiving of the sacraments instituted by Christ; are all parts of the ordinary religious worship of God: beside religious oaths, vows, solemn fastings, and thanksgivings, upon special occasions, which are, in their several times and seasons, to be used in a holy and religious manner.
Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath-day
Section 21.6
Neither prayer, nor any other part of religious worship, is now under the Gospel either 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 truth; as in private families daily, and in secret each one by himself; so, more solemnly, in the public assemblies, which are not carelessly or wilfully to be neglected, or forsaken, when God, by His Word or providence, calls thereunto.
Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath-day
Section 21.7
As it is the law of nature, that, in general, a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God; so, in His Word, by 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, in Scripture, is called the Lord’s Day, and is to be continued to the end of the world, as the Christian Sabbath.
Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath-day
Section 21.8
This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts, and ordering of their common affairs beforehand, do not only observe an holy rest, all the day, from their own works, words, and thoughts about their worldly employments and recreations, but also are taken up the whole time in the public and private exercises of His worship, and in the duties of necessity and mercy.
These Sections proceed to particularize the different ways in which God requires us under the present dispensation to worship him. These are the regular and the occasional acts of worship. The regular worship of God is to be conducted in the public assembly, in the private family and personally in secret. The worship of God in the public assembly is to consist in the reading, preaching and hearing of the Word, prayer, singing of psalms and the administration and receiving of the sacraments instituted by him. In the Word, read or properly preached God speaks to us, and we worship
•2*
him by hearing with reverence, diligent attention and self-application and obedience. In prayer and the singing of praise we address to God the holy affections, desires and thanksgiving inspired in our hearts jy his Holy Spirit. In the sacraments God communes with and enters into covenant with our souls, and we commune with and enter into covenant with him. And the acceptability of this worship depends not at all, as Ritualists fondly imagine, upon the sanctity of the place in which it is rendered or the direction in which it is addressed. The dispensation in which worship was limited to holy places, persons and seasons has been done away with by our Lord, as we have seen under Chapters vii. and xix., and as Christ plainly teaches the woman of Samaria. John iv. 20-24. But its acceptance depends upon (a) its being accompanied with and founded upon the pure, unadulterated truth of God's word ; (6) its being the fruit of the Holy Ghost, the result of enlightened, reverent and fervent love ; (c) its being offered entirely through the mediation of the Lord Jesus.
" Besides the public worship in congregations, it is the indispensable duty of each person, alone in secret, and of every family by itself in private, to pray to and worship God.
^^ Secret worship is most plainly enjoined by our Lord. Matt. vi. 6 ; Eph. vi. 18. In this duty every one, apart by himself, is to spend some time in prayer, reading the Scriptures, holy meditation and serious self-examination. The many advantages arising from a conscientious discharge of these duties are best known to those who are found in the faithful discharge of them.
RELIGIOUS WORSHIP, AND THE SABBATH-DAY. 379
^^ Family worship, which ought to be performed by every family, ordinarily morning and evening, consists in prayer, reading the Scriptures and singing praises.
" The head of the family, who is to lead in this service, ought to be careful that all the members of his household duly attend ; and that none withdraw themselves unnecessarily from any part of family worship ; and that all refrain from their common business while the Scriptures are read^ and gravely attend to the same, no less than when prayer and praise is offered up.
" Let the heads of families be careful to instruct their children and servants in the principles of religion. Every proper opportunity ought to be embraced for such instruction. But we are of opinion that the Sabbath evenings, after public worship, should be sacredly preserved for this purpose. Therefore, we highly disapprove of paying unnecessary private visits on the Lord's day ; admitting strangers into the families, except when necessity or charity requires it ; or any other practices, whatever plausible pretences may be offered in their favour, if they interfere with the above important and necessary duty." Directory for Worship, chap. xv.
The occasional modes by which God may be in proper seasons worshipped are such as religious oaths, and vows, and fasting, and special thanksgiving. Of oaths and vows we will treat under Chapter xxii. Of the propriety and usefulness of special seasons of fasting and of thanksgiving, the examples of God's word (Ps. cvii; Matt. ix. 15) and the experience of the Christian Church in modern time leave no room for doubt.