And the sermon texts this afternoon, there are one or two brief ones, are from the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 12, verse 32. And then we are going to turn to the book of Isaiah, chapter 1, and read a few verses there from verse 10. Deuteronomy 12, verse 32. what things soever I command you, observe to do it thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it and from the book of Isaiah chapter 1 reading from verse 10 hear the word of the Lord ye rulers of Sodom give ear unto the law of our God ye people of Gomorrah To what purpose is the multitude of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord? I am full of the burnt offerings of rams, and the fat of fed beasts, and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he goats. When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand, to tread my course? Bring no more vain oblations, incense is an abomination to me, the new moon and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies I cannot away with, it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting. Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth, they are a trouble unto me, I am weary to bear them. And when ye spread forth your hands I will hide mine eyes from you, Yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear, your hands are full of blood. Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes, cease to do evil, learn to do well, seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow. And one verse from Paul's letter to the Colossians chapter 2 verse 23 Colossians 2 verse 23 which things and these are referring to ordinances introduced by men into the service and worship of God which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship and humility and neglecting of the body not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh. May God bless these short readings of his word to us all. Now in our series on these Lord's Day afternoons on basic Christian teaching and Christian doctrine we have arrived as you can see from the worship bulletin today at one of the great subjects of scripture, religious worship and the place and observance of the Sabbath day. A subject that you realize is dealt with very wonderfully and again very scripturally in the 21st chapter of the Westminster Confession of Faith, our subordinate standard of doctrine. Now let me say immediately that this is again a vital subject it is also one which is much controverted in the modern church I don't need to remind you my dear friends that all kinds of worship practices are very common in the modern evangelical church of our own day and loose views as well of the doctrine of the Sabbath day Now this afternoon we are going to deal with that subject of the true worship of God and to a much briefer extent because our time will be limited with the proper observance of the Sabbath day. The 21st chapter of the Confession of Faith you may have noticed is one of the longest chapters in that whole document and this reveals to us the importance with which our Reformation Fathers held this subject and as I considered it through this past week and indeed the previous week I felt that I could preach a series of sermons on almost every single division of the Westminster Confession concerning the worship of God but since we are seeking on these afternoons to cover these great subjects in one exposition alone All that I will attempt to do this afternoon is to touch on the basic but wonderful principles that are dealt with in our confession and in scripture concerning these two subjects. Now let me say first, by way of introduction, I wonder if you realize our English word worship comes originally from the other word worth-ship. Worth follows by ship. In other words, it is a reference of one's attitude and behavior towards someone who is of superior worth to ourselves. Worship is worth-ship. And since God is infinitely superior to us, it is incumbent for us to take a lowly place before him. and that is what worship essentially is all about recognizing the work of our supreme God and deity you have this in Psalm 95 verse 6 the exhortation to bow down before him and to worship him and therefore the other thing I wanted to say in introduction is true worship presupposes an experience of salvation why? because the natural man, the unconverted man hates stooping low before a superior especially the true and living and thriving God and it is therefore impossible for the natural man in his own ability and right to worship God in a biblically acceptable way to render to him the worth-ship that belongs to him So we realize immediately as we come to this subject that worship takes place when we are in a true relationship to God in regard to what we are and in regard to what He is. Now in reference to the several texts that I read to you from Deuteronomy 12 verse 32 and Isaiah 1 and Colossians 2, I just wanted to say a few things also briefly you notice that in our reading from Deuteronomy 12.32 there was an explicit command that the Israelites were not to add anything to what God had said He required of them in His worship it's a very clear prohibition an illustration of this is in Isaiah chapter 1 and that's why we read those brief verses from verse 10 to verse 17 where you have the picture in Isaiah 1 of an extraordinary activity by God's people in worship they were offering abundance of sacrifices of all kinds in the temple in Jerusalem and yet you notice through Isaiah God addressed to them His word, hear the word of the Lord ye rulers of Sodom and ye people of Gomorrah an outstanding condemnation of God's own people and their worship and the reason that passage is there is that all their worship for all the fullness and copiousness of it it was not at all acceptable to Him their hearts were not right with Him even though outwardly some of their sacrifices were what He had commanded the whole worship was displeasing to Him since clearly it was not being offered in spirit and in truth and they themselves were people characterized by all kinds of evil conduct and despising of God and direct contradiction of his own requirements so all worship is not acceptable to God because it is not biblical worship. Now in Colossians 2 verses 22-23, the end of the chapter there, Paul, you remember, writing to the Colossians, is reminding them that any matter of man's invention and intrusion into the worship and service of God is unacceptable. It is called will-worship. In other words, it is dictated by the will and inclination of men, and not the requirements of God. Now that's just a brief exposition of these texts. I want to come to the substance of the Confession, which of course summarizes succinctly again so much teaching of Scripture. I want to look at the first great section there, section 1, which gives us the basis for the true worship of God. What constitutes true religious worship? and you notice the wording, the light of nature showeth that there is a God who hath lordship and sovereignty over all, is good and doeth good unto all and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in and served with all the heart and with 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 but he may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of man or the suggestions of Satan under any visible representation or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scripture now in my estimation that is the fullest and yet most succinct and most perspicuous or clear statement on the true worship of God that I have seen anywhere in any literature or in any confession of faith scripture apart from this obviously. So let's look at this. There are several things I want to say. First of all, you notice the light of nature is mentioned there at the opening statement and what the Westminster divines are reminding us of is the biblical truth that God has revealed his existence through nature and creation itself that's what the light of nature refers to in Romans chapter 1 and verse 21 you may remember Paul reminds even the Gentiles that that which may be known of God is what clearly revealed his eternal deity and so forth so that men are without excuse and Paul appeals to the revelation of God in nature, and the fact that that revelation puts all men under obligation to worship God. It renders fallen man inexcusable, and even though he has lost the will to worship God through the fall, as we recognize, God is still man's creator and sovereign and even fallen man has the direct obligation to fear, love, praise, trust and serve God concerning whom he may know even through, as I say, the book of nature itself. Now that is a biblical truth and we need to remember that. It's a very, very important truth. Psalm 19 of course reaffirms it, doesn't it? The heavens do what? They declare the glory of God. And the earth does what? It shows forth His handiwork to all men. Now the second thing you notice, and this is very important, that the light of nature is insufficient in itself to tell us fully how we should worship God acceptably but the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by himself, limited by his own revealed will prescribed in the Holy Scriptures now, I wanted to tell you that it is these three words instituted, limited and prescribed that finally brought me as your minister to embrace the purity of worship principle. I'd always been sympathetic to it, to biblical worship being, as we will see as we go through the confession, limited to those things that scripture sets forth. I had always been sympathetic to this. But I was a hymn singer for many years in my ministry, and it was late on I underlined in my copy, and I underlined it again in the copy, my copy that I've handed out to you, but three words, instituted, limited, prescribed. I encourage you to do the same. This is what convinced me of the regulative principle of worship. God has instituted Himself through the revelation of Scripture, what He wants to be done. he's not only instituted it, he's limited it to his own revealed will so that anything additional to that which he has given to us is out of order anything that falls short of his will is out of order and then thirdly if there were any doubt about it you notice the final statement or any other way not prescribed in Holy Scripture interesting, at our presbytery meeting of the WPCUS just a few days ago one of our ministers in the course of a debate mentioned that the operative word in section 1 of chapter 21 is the word prescribed in Holy Scripture and I corrected him and I said my dear friend the three operative words are instituted, limited and prescribed Well, I leave that for you to think about. But the obvious principle, dear friends, is this. Who but God Himself can tell us how He is to be worshipped? Who but God Himself can tell us how He is to be worshipped? And we have seen Deuteronomy 12.32 and Isaiah 1.10 which show that the acceptable worship of God must be ordered by himself and the deviations from it of any kind are not acceptable to God as worship so you see divine institution must be our rule of worship because God in scripture has given us an infallible, authoritative, complete and perspicuous, that is clear, rule of faith and practice. Remember where we began these studies. Do you remember? In the doctrine of Scripture. Chapter 1 of the Westminster Confession of Faith that teaches not only the infallibility of Scripture and its inspiration, but its sufficiency as well. And one of the great weaknesses in many evangelical and Reformed churches is that they do not recognize the third aspect of Scripture they will receive its infallibility and inspiration but not its sufficiency in other words, but it prescribes in every area of our conduct and our worship that which is pleasing to the Sovereign Lord now this is called as many of you know the Regulative Principle of Worship or the RPW for short and many of you realize it was rediscovered in the 16th century reformation by the Calvinistic wing of the reformation and it was practiced by the reformed churches listen for almost three centuries now we are very quick to forget our own history in the Reformed Churches and the strange thing is those who say that congregations which practice the regulative principle of worship with psalm singing and only those elements in worship prescribed in Scripture well, you are an oddity is the attitude among many today failing to remember the long history of the Reformed Church because the boot is on the other foot those who practice the use of hymns and other human innovations into worship they are the ones who are out of accord with the great history of the Reformed Church which up to the end of the 19th century was generally and almost exclusively singing the Psalms without musical accompaniment and abiding by the other biblical elements of the worship of God, and it's only in the last 150 years at most that the Church has begun to depart from that standard. We need to remember that. Of course we recognize at the Reformation that Lutheranism and Anglicanism said that if something is not directly forbidden, it is permitted. It was the Calvinistic wing that took the fully biblical position that nothing is permitted unless it is actually prescribed in God's word. Now you may think of course that this is only an Old Testament principle but there are passages in the New Testament that make this very clear for instance Jesus' own teaching against the Pharisees man-made additions as in Mark chapter 7 where Jesus dealt with the washing of hands and pots and vessels and so on and taught very clearly that the Pharisees were invalidating the word and law of God by their own human inventions and innovations and Paul in Colossians 2, speaking of will-worship also gave the same teaching there is abundant evidence that in the New Testament the regulative principle of worship is still operative. Now, we'll come to more of that, I think, just a little later this afternoon. Now, do notice before we leave section 1 there, there are specific restrictions mentioned. God may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men. The wording here, of course, rejects the Roman Catholic ceremonies, the use of choirs, hymns of human composition and so on, because this indeed, if it is not prescribed in scripture, is of human invention. The suggestions of Satan is a strange phrase, it may refer for instance to Aaron's making of the golden calf, you remember, after Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments, the people wanted to return to Egypt and Aaron had sinfully yielded and made a molten cap and said, this is thy God, or these are thy gods, O Israel which brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Then under any visible representation, there's very clear teaching in Deuteronomy 4 verses 15 and 16 where there is an express forbidding of any image of God being made and of course in the second commandment because God is a spirit invisible and incomprehensible and cannot be represented by any image or picture the same with the Lord Jesus Christ whereas of course you realize in the Roman Catholic Church pictures and images abound you may know that in the Roman Catholic Church it is very cleverly put the second commandment as part of the first commandment and divided the tenth commandment into two parts so that they still have ten commandments the reason they've done this is so that any image for instance of Jesus or the saints is supposed to be acceptable since in some way it represents the true God and is not forbidden directly under the second commandment it's been a very clever strategy of the Roman Catholic Church to get round this prohibition. Now even sadly in Protestant churches, as you know, pictures of Christ have come in. Gordon Clarke in his commentary on the Westminster Confession of Faith mentions a certain Baptist seminary, I won't tell you its name, where in the prayer room for the students there is a rail for them to kneel at and right in front of them is a picture of Jesus in a Protestant Baptist seminary. Also you notice, in any way not prescribed in Holy Scripture. Now this is violated by the Roman Catholic Church and sadly in many, many Protestant churches. For instance, the institution of festival days, the requirement for ministers to wear vestments, the use of altars, as in the High Anglican Church, which still claims to be a Protestant church, the sign of the cross, kneeling at communion, and various other innovations by men. Let me say in summary, we have no other guardian, my friends, of the purity of true biblical worship when this principle is abandoned. When we no longer recognize that the acceptable worship of God is instituted, limited, and prescribed by Him the gates are wide open to any kind of human innovation and that's why you see true biblical worship is indeed transgenerational and transnational so that if a church is following true biblical worship whether I worship here or in France or in Ethiopia or in the Sudan I should be perfectly at home in a biblical church that is following the regulative principle whereas, as you know, the very opposite usually obtains. It's a wonderful, uniting principle when the church observes it fully and accurately. Now, the second section, very brief, and on this also a very brief comment. Religious worship is to be given to God, the Father, Son and Holy Ghost to him alone, not to angels, saints, or any other creature, and since the fall, not without a mediator, nor in the mediation of any but of Christ alone. And it deals with the object of our worship, which is God in Trinity, and clearly we are permitted to worship any of the three persons, Father, Son, or Holy Spirit, though normally worship is addressed to the Father through the Son by the aid of the Holy Spirit and this section is clearly against the Roman Catholic erroneous teaching that angels, saints and the Virgin Mary may be worshipped some of you have Roman Catholic background you know that Latria is worship offered to God distinguished from Dulia which is supposed to be worship offered to saints and then distinguished again from Hyperdulia which is the worship offered to the supposed Virgin Mary, all without any scriptural validation, and in the end, idolatry. Not without a mediator. You know, Adam was in a different position from us, wasn't he? He didn't need a mediator. He could hold communion directly with God. Our state is different, and yet in some ways more wonderful that we come before a holy God, sinners as we are, in the mediation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now then, if you look at section 3, it's devoted to prayer as a part of worship. Very interesting that the Westminster Divide singled out prayer and its importance as a separate section. Two sections in fact, 3 and 4 you notice, Prayer with thanksgiving being one special part of religious worship is by God required of all men and 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 if vocal in a known tongue then it is to be made, section 4, for things lawful all sorts of men living, or 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. Just a few brief comments, if I may, on these two sections. It's singled out clearly the subject of prayer is because of its importance. I wonder how important we regard prayer as an element of biblical worship. Whether we regard it as almost putting a penny in a slot rather than a living trade with heaven itself the divines evidently viewed it as a living trade between the redeemed soul and the powers of heaven itself you notice briefly that all men have a duty to pray to God even though we recognize they cannot pray the Lord's Prayer our Father who art in heaven and so forth nevertheless, as we were reminded in section 1 because God is their Creator and their Preserver all men have a duty to pray to Him even though they cannot pray acceptably in their unregenerate state they can pray what is sometimes called the sinner's prayer God have mercy upon me a sinner and there is scriptural evidence both in the Old Testament and New Testament that sinners can and ought to pray to God it is a greater sin for them not to pray Now how are we to pray in the name of the Son and by the help of the Spirit? We know that from Romans 8 verse 26 and verse 29 we are to pray according to God's will with understanding, reverence, humility, fervency, faith, love and perseverance. Now all of those, one could spend a single exposition on each one of those terms but you notice also that we are to pray in a known language, contrary to the Roman Catholic practice until relatively recent times of conducting all of its services and its prayers in the Latin language which was largely unknown. I think I reminded you in a previous exposition that because the priest used the Latin language even in the Mass, and as the priest elevated the host, as he called it, in the Mass, what we would properly call the communion service, he said, Hoc est corpus meum. And it sounded to English ears like Hocus Pocus. Hoc est corpus meum. Hocus Pocus. And that's in fact where we get the term Hocus Pocus from. the English misunderstanding of the Latin term and of course it was hocus-pocus in a real sense as well. Now what he does say to us of course is the modern practice of syncretism is very unacceptable where we have combined worship services as we do in this nation unfortunately even at the level of our national civic leaders calling for a Roman Catholic priest and a Protestant clergyman and a Jewish rabbi and even a Muslim cleric to share in the same service of prayer it is wrong, it is syncretism because we are to pray in the name of the Son by the help of the Spirit and that alone constitutes acceptable prayer before God for all things lawful, you notice, that's wonderful, isn't it? not just for religious needs but for all kinds of other needs that believers have for men living now and hereafter but not for the dead I wonder if we pray in our families not only for our children but for our grandchildren who are not yet born Lord, may our witness, may our life as Christian parents and the practice of our Christian faith have such an effect not only on our children in our family but through them for grandchildren and great-grandchildren prayer is to be made not only for men living but for those who will follow hereafter but in no way you notice for the dead again a rejection of the Roman Catholic doctrine of purgatory And then finally, a reference to sin unto death, we are not to pray for those who are guilty of the sin that is unto death. It's a mysterious reference and probably they meant those who are known persistently and willfully to reject the gospel. 1 John 5 verse 16, they pass beyond the point of no return in blasphemy against the Holy Spirit and his work, and no prayer is to be offered. Well, the other prescribed elements in section 5, the reading of scripture with godly fear, the sound preaching and conscionable hearing of the word in obedience unto God, with understanding, faith and reverence, singing of psalms with grace in the heart, as also the due administration and worthy receiving of the sacraments instituted by Christ, are all parts of the ordinary religious worship of God. besides religious oaths and vows, solemn fastings and thanksgivings upon special occasions which are in their several times and seasons to be used in a holy and religious manner. Now again, just some very brief comments on this section. These and these only are the authorised elements of worship. comment on each one of them if I may. The reading of Scripture with godly fear is a part of worship. That's why we have the regular reading of the Old and New Testament Scriptures in our services. I reminded you some time ago of the words of the great Puritan John Owen. I want to quote them again to you. In one of his writings, he says this, the Jews front as peace, that's their forward, to their own great Bible is the saying of Jacob upon the vision of God that he had at Bethel. How dreadful is this place! This is none other than the house of God. This is the gate of heaven. if you understand what John Owen is saying in the front of the great Jewish Bible is this quotation from the book of Genesis when God revealed himself to Jacob at Bethel how dreadful is this place it is none other than the house of God it is the gate of heaven and John Owen adds so ought we to look upon the word of God with a holy awe and reverence of the presence of God in it Let me ask you, is this your response and attitude in heart? Is it mine? As we open the scriptures and we read them in our public services of worship, how dreadful is this place? How awesome is this place as we open the book? This is none other than the house of God, the very gate of heaven. Wonderful when you think of it, the reading of scripture with godly fear, the sound preaching and conscionable hearing, of the Word. And we need to remember that preaching is of a very high authority. Calvin said that preaching as a faithful exposition and interpretation of God's Word is as much the Word of God as if men heard the very words pronounced by God Himself. That's a tremendously high view of preaching, isn't it? If it's faithful to Scripture and a faithful exposition Calvin says it's equivalent to men hearing the very pronouncement of God himself and when you think for instance of Peter's address in Acts 10 to Cornelius it says while Peter spoke these words the Holy Ghost fell on all them that heard the words you notice that, his words, Peter's words and the word in other words, God was speaking through the words of Peter and it confirms Calvin's very high view of the preaching office and you notice that conscionable hearing is part of the worship of God in other words, our own response to the reading of scripture you know often a minister can tell by the very vibes that come back from a congregation when scripture is being read or preached but a congregation is either hearing that word conscionably or they're rejecting it and resenting it conscionable hearing, part of worship the singing of psalms with grace in the heart There's no mention of hymns, you notice that, hymns of human composition, and there's no question whatever that in writing the Westminster Standards, the Westminster Divines did mean literally the Psalter, the 150 inspired Psalms. They are true to Christian experience, they are faithful to God's revelation, they are full of Christ. and they were enjoined in the Old Testament as part of the ordinary worship of God distinguished from the ceremonial worship of God and under the New Testament far from being abrogated and set aside they were confirmed for the church's use. How do we know this? Ephesians 5 verse 19 and Colossians 3 verse 60 where in both passages it speaks of singing to the Lord with grace in the heart, you remember Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs and that division, Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs is a reference to the Greek translation of the Old Testament known as the Septuagint where the title over the Book of Psalms is Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs so Paul was not mentioning hymns of human composition in any sense he was mentioning the threefold division of the inspired Psalter as being the praise book of the New Testament Church and many scholars if you read commentaries on these passages are forced to admit that this is indeed what Paul was instructing moreover it's confirmed by the example of the Lord Jesus remember on the way to the Garden of the Agony, the Garden of Gethsemane Matthew 26 verse 30, they sang a psalm and we all believe that this was part of the Hallel Psalms that would be sung immediately before the Passover observation. In Acts 16 this morning I reminded you verse 25 that when Paul and Silas sang praises in the prison in Philippi without any question they sang psalms that they had memorized and used regularly in their previous synagogue worship. So, in summary, the Psalms were originally intended by God for His Old Testament public worship but they're equally adapted to the church now and there is no indication in the New Testament of their abolition. Far further than that, there is every evidence of their continuance. Matthew Henry, interestingly enough, commenting on Psalm 145 verse 1 I will extol thee and bless thy name forever says this that what is indicated here is the Psalms are to be made use of in the church for praising God to the very end of time I will extol thee and bless thy name forever and ever they are to be used in the church for praising God to the very end of time. Now you notice the other element is the sacraments instituted by Christ. These are dealt with in later chapters, we pass over them. Religious oaths and vows, part of religious worship, they're dealt with later, we pass over them. Solemn fastings and thanksgivings, these are occasional, you notice, not regular. So while stated holy days should not be instituted in the church, since there is no warrant in scripture, for instance Easter is a human innovation there is no requirement in the New Testament or indication that this should be observed so is Christmas as one of the Puritans said when he was asked do you celebrate Christmas he said we do not celebrate Christ mass nor any other kind of mass and of course he was biblically correct So, while stated festivals have no warrant in scripture, they may be set aside by lawful authority for fasting or thanksgiving when extraordinary dispensations of God's providence require this. But you notice these are occasional, they're not regular. Now, very quickly, as I finish, Oh, we have section 6, it briefly finishes, I'm sorry, the subject of worship. If you look at section 6 without my reading it there, you notice it really deals with buildings as well as with family worship and private worship. There we're reminded that no buildings are sacred or should be consecrated as sacred, because there's nothing edifying about wood or glass. or pews, or architectural design, that these should not be depended upon to create an atmosphere for worship. Of course, the Roman Catholic Church goes haywire on things like this. You notice family worship is mentioned there. and it has great blessings of both temporal and spiritual prosperity for those who follow it, and all families should follow it. It's also the most effective means of propagating the gospel. For our families, hopefully for their children, our grandchildren, and then their children, great-grandchildren. Most effective means of propagating the true religion from generation to generation. Now that's not ruling out evangelism in other ways but it is so important. Private worship is mentioned and then also public worship that God is eminently honoured and he delights to honour his ordinances of worship when they are rightly used. Now section 7 and 8, on the Sabbath day it's the law of nature that in general a due proportion of time be set apart for the worship of God and so forth and there is a perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages concerning the Sabbath day to be kept holy to him from the beginning of the world to the resurrection of Christ was the last day of the week from the resurrection of Christ onward you notice it has been changed to the Lord's day the first day of the week to be continued to the end of the world. And then section 8 gives some direction as to how to keep the Sabbath day. I'm just going to say a few sentences on this and then we're through. You notice that section 7 there tells us it was a creation ordinance. It wasn't something that arose at Mount Sinai in the Ten Commandments that goes back to creation itself. Under the Old Testament it was the seventh day and under the New Testament by the example of the Apostles and so forth, it has been changed to the first day for instance in Revelation 1 verse 10 remember John the Apostle is in the Spirit on the Lord's Day and the word Lords there is the same word that is used to describe the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians 11 so clearly the New Testament church recognized it was by the authority of the Lord Jesus through his apostles the day was changed and the final section there tells us instructions on the observation of the Sabbath not the loose view in the Lutheran church and the Roman Catholic church and some continental reformed churches but we should prepare by due preparation of heart ordering our common affairs beforehand so we can be free to give much of our time and our whole attention to the things of God on His day and a holy rest from works, words, thoughts about our worldly employments and giving our whole time in public and private exercise of His worship. Well, it's a very high standard and I think we all feel we fall short of that full and biblical observation of the Lord's Day. it's not legalistic, it's something we should observe with joy and with wonder and recognize that the use of that day implies that all our days belong to the Lord as someone has said, it's an opportunity every week to put our foot back into paradise to enter that blessing that God gave to Adam in his innocence and if Adam in his innocence needed the Sabbath day, to remind him of his obligation to the Lord and to worship the Lord in fullness, how much more do we need that in our fallen condition? The great privilege of putting our foot, as it were, back into Paradise itself. Well, it's a great subject, I'm sorry that we can't go into it in greater detail, but there are many things, I think, to instruct us and to encourage us. Let's pray. Our Father in Heaven, we thank Thee again for this great subject that is dealt with so fully in many parts of the Scriptures, and which we need so much to be committed to, since Thine honour is involved. Help us, Our Father, to be more consistent in our understanding of these principles, and in the principles of the privilege and observance of the Lord's Day, that Thy name may be honoured and glorified more and more. by our godly and Christ-centred living, in Jesus' name.