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. 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 imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures.
(Jeremiah 10:7; Mark 12:33; Deuteronomy 12:32; Exodus 20:4-6)
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. By his Word, in both the example revealed at creation and the positive commandment given to the people of Israel by the covenant instituted at Mt. Sinai, God appointed one day in seven for a Sabbath to be kept holy to him, which from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ was the last day of the week. This Sabbath day was to be kept holy unto the Lord throughout all the generations of Israel under the Mosaic Covenant as a solemn sign bearing witness to the coming Christ, who would himself be the substance to which the sign bore witness. Through his redeeming work, Jesus Christ both fulfilled the Sabbath law and abrogated the observance of the Sabbath day, having secured eternal rest for his people in himself by the blood of the New Covenant. Possessing now the substance of Christ, the Sabbath commandment is rightly observed by the people of God not by the keeping of holy days, but by resting, by faith, in the person and work of Jesus Christ, who is the Lord of the Sabbath, and the true Rest-Giver to whom the former covenants bore witness.*
(Genesis 2:3, Exodus 20:8; Exodus 31:13-17; Matthew 5:7, 11:28-30, Hebrews 7:18-19, 9:11-17; Matthew 12:8; Genesis 5:29, 2 Samuel 7:10-13)
8. Notwithstanding the abrogation of the Sabbath day sign which foreshadowed the coming Christ, as it remains the law of nature that in general a proportion of time, by God's appointment, be set apart for rest and for the worship of God, there arose following the resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus a new day of worship for the church, observed on the first day of the week, which is called the Lord’s Day. While observance of this day bears no formal, positive correlation to the Sabbath commandment of the Old Covenant, it has seemed good to the Lord to establish this day, not as a sign, but as a perpetual commemoration of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and our anticipation of future glory, to be continued to the end of the world, and is to be employed for the exercises of worship, both public and private, for the joy, fellowship, and strengthening of the saints, for the good order of the church, and for a gospel testimony to the world.*
(Genesis 2:3, Mark 2:27; 1 Corinthians 16:1-2, Acts 20:7, Revelation 1:10; Colossians 2:16-17, Hebrews 10:1)
* These paragraphs contain exceptions from the original content of the 2LCF.