Of Religious Worship & the Sabbath Day
1689 London Baptist Confession of Faith.
Chapter 22
Of Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day
1. The light of nature shews 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, nor the suggestions of
Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures.(3)
1. Jer 10:7; Mk 12:33.
2. Dt 12:32.
3. Ex 20:4-6.
2. 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)
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.
3. Prayer, with thanksgiving, being one 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)
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.
4. 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)
13. 1Ti 2:1-2; 2Sa 7:29.
14. 2Sa 12:21-23.
15. 1Jn 5:16.
5. 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 thanksgivings, upon
special occasions, ought to be used in an holy and religious manner.(22)
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.
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;(23) as in private families(24) 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)
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.
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,(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 is to be continued to the end of the world as a Christian Sabbath, the
observation of the last day of the week being abolished.
28. Ex 20:8.
29. 1Co 16:1-2; Ac 20:7; Rev 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,(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)
30. Isa 58:13; Ne 13:15-22.
31. Mt 12:1-13.