Presbyterian Worship: Its Spirit, Method and HistoryJohnston, Robert
Religion
Presbyterian Worship: Its Spirit, Method and History
Johnston, Robert
Presbyterian Church -- Liturgy -- History; Public worship -- Presbyterian Church -- History
LEGISLATION CONCERNING PUBLIC WORSHIP IN THE PERIOD SUBSEQUENT TO
THE REVOLUTION
CHAPTER VIII.
PRESBYTERIAN WORSHIP OUTSIDE OF THE ESTABLISHED CHURCH OF SCOTLAND
CHAPTER IX.
MODERN MOVEMENTS IN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES RESPECTING PUBLIC WORSHIP
CHAPTER X.
CONCLUSION
"Inward truth of heart alone, is what the Lord requires. Exercises
superadded are to be approved, so far as they are subservient to Truth,
useful incitements, or marks of profession to attest our faith to men.
Nor do we reject things tending to the preservation of Order and
Discipline. But when consciences are put under fetters, and bound by
religious obligations, in matters in which God willed them to be free,
then must we boldly protest in order that the worship of God be not
vitiated by human fictions."--CALVIN.
PREFATORY NOTE.
The purpose in the following pages is a simple one. It is to discover
the trend of thought in connection with Public Worship within the
Presbyterian Church, particularly in Scotland, during the course of her
history since the Reformation. The spirit of the Church in her
stirring and formative periods, especially if that spirit is a constant
one, is pregnant with instruction. Such a constant spirit is readily
discovered by a study of the attitude of the Presbyterian Church
towards the subject of Public Worship during the course of her history,
and to the writer it seems very evident that that spirit indicates an
increasing suspicion of liturgical forms in Worship, and a growing
confidence in, and desire for, the liberty of untrammeled approach to
God.
Whether this spirit be the best or not, it is not the purpose of these
pages to discuss. The great principle of the liberty of the Church in
matters of detail, is fully recognized, a principle ever to be
sedulously guarded, but an appeal is made to the record of history for
its evidence as to the historic attitude of the Presbyterian Church, on
a question which to-day is claiming the earnest attention of those who
desire for that Church fidelity to her Lord and efficiency in His work.
My indebtedness in the study of this subject to Dr. McCrie's Cunningham
Lectures on "Scottish Presbyterian Worship," Brown's "Life of John
Knox," Sprott's "Scottish Liturgies" and Baird's "Eutaxia," as well as
to various Histories of the Reformation in Scotland, and for American
Church History to Moore's and Alexander's valuable digests, I gladly
and with gratitude acknowledge. An abundant and increasing literature
upon the subject of Public Worship is an encouraging sign of the
attention which the Church is giving to a matter so vital to its best
life.
R. J.
ST. ANDREW'S MANSE,
LONDON, January, 1901.
The Law and the Liberty of Presbyterian Worship.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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