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 )