f Gal. 3: 13,

6:1, 2. e Rom. 8: 14, 15; 1 John, 4 : 18. 14. g Gal. 4: 1 to 7, and 5: 1; Acts, 15: 10, 11. h Heb. 4: 14, 16, and 10: 19 to 22. i John, 7: 38, 39; 2 Cor. 13: 17, 18.

II.

God alone is Lord of the conscience, and hath left it free from the doctrines and commandments of men, which are in any thing contrary to his word, or not contained in it; so that to believe such doctrines, or to obey such commands out of conscience, is to betray true liberty of conscience; m and the requiring of an implicit faith, and an absolute and blind obedience, is to destroy liberty of conscience, and reason also."

1 Acts, 4: 19, and 5: 29; 10; 2 Cor. 1:24; Matt. Gal. 1: 10, and 2 : 2, 4, 5,

k Jam. 4: 12 Rom. 14: 4. 1 Cor. 7:23; Matt. 23: 8, 9, 15:9; m Col. 2: 10, 22, 23; and 5: 1. n Rom. 10: 11, and 14: 23; Isa. 8: 20; Acts, 17: 11; John, 4: 22; Hosea, 5: 11; Jer. 8: 9.

III.

They who upon pretence of Christian liberty do practice any sin, or cherish any lust, as they do thereby pervert the main design of the grace of the Gospel to their own destruction; so they wholly destroy the end of Christian liberty; which is that being delivered out of the hands of our enemies, we might serve the Lord without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.

• Gal. 5: 13; 1 Pet. 2:16; 2 Pet. 2:19; John, 8:34 Luke, 174 75.

CHAP. XXII.

OF RELIGIOUS WORSHIP, AND OF THE SABBATH-DAY.

I.

THE light of nature showeth 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 imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures.

a Rom. 1: 20; Acts, 17: 24; Psal. 119: 64; Jer. 10: 7; Psal. 31: 23, and 18: 3; Rom. 10: 12; Psal. 62:8; Josh. 24: 14; Mark, 12:33. b Deut. 12: 32; Matt. 15: 9; Acts, 17 25; Matt. 4: 9, 10; Deut. 4: 15 to 20; Exod. 20:4, 5; Col. 2: 23.

II.

с

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 creatures; and since the fall, not without a Mediator, nor in the mediation of any other but of Christ alone.

e Matt. 4: 10; John, 5: 23, and 2 Cor. 13: 14. d Col. 2:18; Rev. 19: 10; Rom. 1: 25. e John, 14: 6; 1 Tim. 2:5; Eph. 2: 18; Col. 3: 17.

III.

h

Prayer with thanksgiving, being one special 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.m

f Phil. 46. g Psal. 65: 2. h John, 14: 13, 14; 1 Pet. 2:5. i Rom. 8: 26. k 1 John, 5: 14. 1 Psal. 47: 7; Eccl. 5: 1, 2; Heb. 12: 28; Gen. 18: 27; James, 5: 10; Mark, 11: 24; Matt. 6: 12, 14, 15; Col. 4: 2; Eph. 6 18. m 1 Cor. 14: 14.

IV.

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,P nor for those of whom it may be known that they have sinned the sin unto death."

n1 John, 5: 14. o 1 Tim. 2: 1, 2; John. 17: 20; 2 Sam. 7:29; Ruth, 4: 12. p 2 Sam. 12:21, 22, 23, with Luke, 16:25, 26; Rev. 14: 13. q1 John, 5:16.

ར.

The reading of the Scriptures,

preaching, singing of Psalms," as also the administration of Bap

and hearing the word of God,

tism and the Lord's Supper, are all parts of re ligious worship of God, to be performed in obedience unto God, with understanding, faith, reverence, and godly fear; solemn humiliations, with fastings, and thanksgiving upon special occasions, are in their several times and seasons to be used in an holy and religious

manner.z

r Acts, 15 21; Rev. 1: 3. 8 2 Tim. 4: 2. t Jam. 1: 21, 22; Acts, 10:33; Matt. 13: 19; Heb. 4: 2; Isaiah, 66: 2. u Col. 3: 16; Eph. 5; 19; James, 5: 13. w Matt. 28:19; 1 Cor. 11: 23 to 29; Acts, 2:41, 42. x Joel, 2: 12; Esther, 4; 16; Mark, 9:29; 1 Cor. 7: 5. y Psal. 107, per tot.; Esther, 9: 22. z Heb. 12 28.

b

VI.

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 every where, 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.

e

a John, 4: 21. b Mal. 1: 11; 1 Tim. 2:8. c John, 4: 23, 24. d Jer. 10: 25; Deut. 66, 7; Job, 1:5; 2 Sam. 6: 18, 20; 1 Pet. 3: 7; Acts, 10: 2. e Matt. 6:11. f Matt. 6:6; Eph. 6 18. g Isa. 56: 6, 7; Heb. 10: 25; Prov. 1: 20, 21, 24, and 8: 34; Acts, 13: 42; Luke, 4: 16 2:42.

Acts,

VII.

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 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, the observation of the last day of the week being abolished.m

h Exod. 20 8 to 11; Isa. 56: 2 to 7. i Gen. 2: 2, 3; 1 Cor. 6: 1, 2; Acts, 20: 7. k Rev. 1: 10. 1 Exod. 20: 8, 10, with Matt. 5: 17, 18. m Col. 2:16, 17; Heb. 4:9,

10.

VIII.

This Sabbath is then kept holy unto the Lord, when men, after a due preparing of their hearts and ordering 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."