Dr. Begg, Conclusion
James Dodson
CONCLUSION.
Having taken a view of the instrumental music employed in the Jewish tabernacle and temple in the praises of God; having seen that this music is inconsistent with the spirituality and simplicity of Gospel worship; not authorised by the precepts or examples of Christ or his apostles; nor by the constitution and laws of the Established Church of Scotland; and having also answered those arguments most frequently urged in favour of organs and other musical instruments being used in the worship
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of God, in gospel times; it will upon the whole be evident,
1st. That the worship of the Jewish and Christian dispensations of the grace of God is very different. The worship of the former was of a shadowy, pompous, and temporary nature, and only preparatory to the more pure, and spiritual worship of the latter, which is to continue to the end of the world. The want of a proper knowledge of the nature and peculiarities of each dispensation, and the blending of Jewish ceremonies with gospel ordinances, have been the source of many errors and inconsistencies in the faith and worship of the Gospel Church. Upon this subject Christians should discriminate with judgment and attention. “The law was a schoolmaster leading to Christ (Gal. iii. 24), and a shadow of good things to come.”—(Heb. x. 1.) The splendid services of the law were suited to that state of the Church, when she had “a worldly sanctuary,” and “carnal ordinances imposed until the time of reformation.”—(Heb. ix. 1, 10.) From these we are now delivered, and exhorted to “stand fast
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in that liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free.”—(Gal. v. 1.) The ancient system of prefiguration is no more. “There is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before, for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof.”—(Heb. vii. 18.) The time is now come when neither at Jerusalem, nor at Mount Gerizzim, are we any more to worship in a typical and carnal manner; but “the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth.”—(John iv. 23.) It also appears,
2nd. That Christians should be very careful not to mingle their own inventions with the instituted ordinances of God’s worship. An opinion is prevalent with many that men may offer to God whatever worship they shall judge proper or agreeable—that as the inclinations, taste, and feelings of men are various and diversified, so the worship of God may be modelled to suit the different tastes and habits of all; and that all this variety of worship will be equally acceptable to God. Such is the doctrine by which many supersede the necessity of Revelation, and degrade the Holy Sovereign of
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the universe to a conformity with the sentiments and inclinations of his own sinful creatures.
Such sentiments are highly impious and unreasonable. It is the undoubted right of the Creator to govern His creatures, and to prescribe to them whatever service He shall judge proper; and since He has, in great mercy, given to them a revelation of His gracious character and will, it is their duty to “receive, and observe; to keep pure, and entire, all such religious worship and ordinances as God hath appointed in His word.” To neglect the worship which He has appointed, and to substitute in its place human inventions, is very dishonouring and provoking to God. “In vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”—(Matt. xv. 19.) Christians, actuated by the fear and love of God, should be very solicitous about the worship they offer Him, lest in any instance they “offer strange fire before the Lord, which He hath not commanded.”—(Lev. x. 1.) Praise, and every other part of religious worship, they should always perform in obedience to the commandment of God, with an earnest desire
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for His approbation and blessing; and also with a dependence upon the grace of the Holy Ghost for assistance, and upon the atonement and intercession of Christ for acceptance. Having unshaken faith in the existence, perfections, providence, and grace of God, they should worship Him daily in “the Spirit, rejoicing in Christ Jesus, and having no confidence in the flesh.”—(Phil. iii. 3.) It may also be added,
3rd. That Christians of the Established Church of Scotland should consider that their religious privileges were dearly obtained, are in themselves very valuable, and ought to be diligently improved. After many sufferings and exertions of our ancestors, favoured by Providence, were the will-worship, superstition, and idolatry of the Church of Rome removed from our land, and a plan of reformation carried forward in faith, worship, discipline, and government, which for purity and gospel simplicity was not exceeded, and scarcely equalled, by any of the other Reformed Churches of Europe. “We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in
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their days in the times of old. We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength, and His wonderful works that He hath done.”—(Psa. xliv. 1; lxxviii. 4.)
Many and cruel were the sufferings which our fathers afterwards endured in opposing the introduction of Episcopal worship and government, and other tyrannical measures, particularly from the Restoration in 1660, to the Revolution in 1688. “Many then took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, and were destitute, afflicted, tormented: they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens, and caves of the earth. Others had trials of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprisonments. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance” (Heb. x. 34; xi. 35, 38) upon sinful terms, and many suffered death in various forms, on scaffolds, on gibbets, and in the open fields. The purity and simplicity of religious worship, now enjoyed by the Established Church of Scotland, should be greatly valued, as the effect of these pious sufferings and
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labours of our fathers, favoured by the powerful operations of a gracious Providence.
The very great excellence of the standards of the faith and worship of the Established Church of Scotland, renders them exceedingly worthy of esteem and observance. It is the leading and “known principle of the Church of Scotland, that nothing is to be admitted in the worship of God, but what is prescribed in the Holy Scriptures.”* The Church of Scotland considers the second commandment as prohibiting “all devising, using, and any wise approving any religious worship, not instituted by God Himself.”† and that the Scriptures are the only infallible rule of faith and practice. The Confession of Faith, the Larger and Shorter Catechism, and the Directory for Worship, all founded upon the Holy Scriptures, and established by ecclesiastical and civil authority, as the public standards of the national faith and worship, connected with the discipline and government of the Church of Scotland, are not to be
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* Act against Innovations, 1707.
† Larger Catechism, Question 109.
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equalled by any Established Church in the known world. Ignorance and neglect of the Scriptures, and these inferior standards of our faith and worship, are, in a great measure, the cause of that infidelity, impiety, and wickedness which at present abound; and the more these are studied and observed, there is good reason to believe that, under the blessing of God, the edification and purity of the Church of Scotland will be promoted. In the present times, it is a great blessing that these standards are so well established and secured—that amidst abounding infidelity and licentiousness upon the one hand, and the giddiness of religious factions “tossed to and fro” upon the other, the Church of Scotland remains firm and unshaken, holding forth a clear and steady light, to dispel the shades of ignorance, and direct those who are ready to make shipwreck of faith and a good conscience; and displaying in her faith and worship that standard of truth, around which may rally every religious faction, after having spent their party zeal in the unsatisfying round of unsettled, ever-varying opinions. “Walk
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about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof, mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces. Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God.”—(Psa. xlviii. 12, 13; lxxxvii. 3.)
It is now the duty of every friend of the Church of Scotland to maintain, in his station, the unity and uniformity of worship, in all its purity, as it has been, and still is authorised and practised, without any addition or alteration. In these perilous and unstable times, an enlightened adherence to scriptural established forms is a great and important duty. The religious privileges secured and transmitted to us, we should maintain, and transmit, pure and uncorrupted, to succeeding generations. That the Church of Scotland is perfect need not be argued. Something that needs reformation must always be connected with every human institution. There is, however, no wise and good man who would wantonly hazard the loss of the blessings we enjoy, or disturb the peace and UNITY of our established worship, for the sake of any small addition or alteration that might be more agree-
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able to his own mind, or more consonant to his own habits and feelings. He will rather sacrifice these to the general good, fully convinced that, in the present times, any revolution or alteration must, upon the whole, be greatly for the worse, and not for the better.*
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