Chapter 22: Religious Worship

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1. 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 1and with all the might. But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is 2instituted 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, or under any visible representations, or 3any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures.

2. Religious worship is to be given to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and to him 4alone; not to angels, saints, or any other 5creatures; and since the fall not without a 6mediator, nor in the mediation of any other but 7Christ alone.

3. Prayer with thanksgiving, being one special part of natural worship, is by God required of 8all men. But that it may be accepted, it is to be made in the 9name of the Son, by the help 10of the Spirit, according to 11his will; with understanding, reverence, humility, fervency, faith, love, and perseverance; and when with others, in a 12known tongue.

4. Prayer is to be made for things lawful and for all sorts of men living 13or that shall live hereafter; but not 14for the dead, nor for those of whom it may be known that they have sinned 15the sin unto death.

5. The 16reading of the scriptures, preaching, and 17hearing the word of God, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to 18the Lord; as also the administration 19of baptism and 20the 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 21with fastings and thanksgiving upon 22special occasions ought to be used in an holy and religious manner.

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 23performed or towards which it is directed; but God is to be worshipped everywhere in spirit and in truth; as in 24private families 25daily, and 26in secret each one by himself, so more solemnly in the public assemblies which are not carelessly nor willfully to be 27neglected or forsaken, when God by his word or providence calleth thereunto.

7. As it is of 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 28to 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 29which is called the Lord’s Day; and is to be continued to the end of the world, the observation of the last day of the week being abolished.

8. This day is kept holy unto the Lord when men, after a due preparing of their hearts and ordering their common affairs aforehand, are taken up in the public and private exercises of his worship and in the duties 30of necessity and mercy.

  1. Jeremiah 10:7; Mark 12:33 ↩︎
  2. Deuteronomy 12:32 ↩︎
  3. Exodus 20:4,5,6 ↩︎
  4. Matthew 4:9,10; John 6:23; Matthew 28:19 ↩︎
  5. Romans 1:25; Colossians 2:18; Revelation 19:10 ↩︎
  6. John 14:6 ↩︎
  7. 1 Timothy 2:5 ↩︎
  8. Psalm 95:1-7, 65:2 ↩︎
  9. John 14:13,14 ↩︎
  10. Romans 8:26 ↩︎
  11. 1 John 5:14 ↩︎
  12. 1 Corinthians 14:16,17 ↩︎
  13. 1 Timothy 2:1,2; 2 Samuel 7:29 ↩︎
  14. 2 Samuel 12:21,22,23 ↩︎
  15. 1 John 5:16 ↩︎
  16. 1 Timothy 4:13 ↩︎
  17. 2 Timothy 4:2; Luke 8:18 ↩︎
  18. Colossians 3:16; Ephesians 5:19 ↩︎
  19. Matthew 28:19,20 ↩︎
  20. 1 Corinthians 11:26 ↩︎
  21. Esther 4:16; Joel 2:12 ↩︎
  22. Exodus 15:1; Psalm 107 ↩︎
  23. John 4:21; Malachi 1:11; 1 Timothy 2:8 ↩︎
  24. Acts 10:2 ↩︎
  25. Matthew 6:11; Psalm 55:17 ↩︎
  26. Matthew 6:6 ↩︎
  27. Hebrews 10:25; Acts 2:42 ↩︎
  28. Exodus 20:8 ↩︎
  29. 1 Corinthians 16:1,2; Acts 20:7; Revelation 1:10 ↩︎
  30. Matthew 12:1-13 ↩︎