# The Southern Presbyterian Journal/Volume 13/Number 44/Worship and Vows

For other articles in this series, see Articles on the Westminster Confession of Faith.
Articles on the Westminster Confession by Gordon H. Clark The Word of God (WCF 1) Creeds Knowledge and Ignorance The Trinity (WCF 2) A Hard Saying (WCF 3) Providence (WCF 5) Creation (WCF 4) Healthy, Sick, or Dead? (WCF 6) The Covenant (WCF 7) Christ the Mediator (WCF 8) Justification (WCF 11) Sanctification (WCF 13) Free Will (WCF 9) Effectual Calling (WCF 10) Adoption (WCF 12) The Law of God (WCF 19) Assurance (WCF 18) Saving Faith (WCF 14) Repentance (WCF 15) Good Works (WCF 16) Christian Liberty (WCF 20) Perseverance (WCF 17) Worship and Vows (WCF 21, 22) The Sacraments (WCF 27) Baptism (WCF 28) The Church (WCF 25) The Civil Magistrate (WCF 23) The Lord's Supper (WCF 29) Censures and Councils (WCF 30, 31) Resurrection and Judgment (WCF 32, 33)
​Chapter XXI, Religious Worship and the Sabbath Day, repeats what has been anticipated several times heretofore: that "the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by himself, and so limited by his revealed will that he may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men . . ." Therefore Bible believing Presbyterians will not make the sign of the cross, sprinkle themselves with holy water, bow to the altar, or invent any rite not prescribed in the Scriptures.
For the same reason "Religious worship is to be given to God . . . alone; not to angels, saints, or any other creature." It is evident therefore how far Roman Catholicism, with its images, its prayers to the saints, and its Mariolatry, has departed from the Christian faith. Roman Catholics try to defend themselves from the charge of idolatry by saying that they do not confuse the image with the person represented and do not worship the image; they merely use the image to help them concentrate on Mary, a saint, or Christ. But if this is what it takes to have idolatry, and if idolatry can exist only when the worshipper confuses the image and the god, then we wonder whether the Ephesians who worshipped Diana were idolators. Those pagans never thought that the silver images were Diana. Diana was in heaven; she had thrown down a wooden image of herself; and the silversmiths were making reasonable facsimiles. The Romanists therefore in defending themselves from the charge of idolatry have also defended the Ephesians. The worship of the two groups is essentially the same; they both do what the Scriptures prohibit. Similarly the Roman exaltation of Mary as immaculately conceived, as Queen of Heaven, and as coredemptrix is not less than blasphemy. Again they defend themselves by making a scholastic distinction: they worship (latreuein) God alone, they give doulia to the saints, and hyperdoulia to Mary. But the Scriptures make no such distinction. Doulos is the word Paul most frequently uses to express his relationship to God.
When the Confession continues by insisting that divine worship requires a mediator and that that Mediator is Christ alone, we think of many people who try to pray, to approach God, to perform religious exercises, without using the name and merit of Christ. Whether images, idols, and saints be added, or whether Christ be subtracted, it is all equally an abomination to God.
After four sections on prayer, the reading of the Scripture, preaching and the sacraments, ​the last two sections of Chapter XXI treat of the Sabbath or Lord's Day. In the time of Christ the Pharisees added non-scriptural restrictions to the keeping of the Sabbath, and Jesus rebuked them for it. Even our Scottish forefathers seem to have been inconsistently strict; for it is hard to believe that shaving in the morning desecrates the day any more than washing the hands or brushing the teeth. But the faults of those who were too strict do not exonerate those who are too lax. And no one can deny that this age errs on the side of laxity. I know one man and wife who could not come to church because they had to give their dog a walk! And others who know more about the Bible have repudiated all the Ten Commandments chiefly because they think the fourth is legalistic. Would it not be strange if a purely ritual and temporary requirement had been put fourth in a list of such all important duties?
The following chapter of the Confession, on Oaths and Vows, contains nothing difficult and hence can be passed over with a brief mention. Those who desire Scriptural guidance with respect to some parts of private worship will find the reading of this chapter quite helpful. Among other things it points out that religious oaths and vows are not lightly to be taken; but when made, they are to be faithfully kept, even when made to heretics and infidels.
Further, the content of all oaths and vows must be in conformity with the Scripture; for it is a sin to make a sinful vow. Therefore the "Popish monastical vows . . . are superstitious and sinful snares in which no Christian may entangle himself."