Articles The Westminster Confession The Purity of Worship | The Purity of Worship |
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| Written by M. C. Ramsay | |
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Page 8 of 9
Concluding RemarksThere is a powerful factor operating against the adoption by the Christian Churches of that pure form of worship which characterised the Christian Church in the days of the Apostles. That factor is deep and wide-spread ignorance. Most Protestants do not know the character of Apostolic worship, and therefore are unaware that the churches generally have departed from the form of worship practised in Apostolic times and widely adopted in Reformation days. Considerable ignorance prevails concerning the history of the introduction of instrumental music and hymns into the Christian Churches. There is a lack of knowledge not only of the periods when these introductions were made, but of the fact that they are importations into Christian worship. There was a time when Presbyterians throughout the world used the Psalms only as the substance of their praise. The same is true of other churches, and even of the Roman Catholic Church. As a result of this lack of knowledge so many Christians erroneously imagine that the current forms of worship are both Apostolic and Reformed. Worse still, through a lack of assiduous study and attention to the teaching of God's Word they unthinkingly accept that God is pleased with almost any form of worship if it is offered in sincerity.Many Christian Churches of today should retrace their steps, for they have departed further and further from Apostolic doctrine and worship and consequently from Reformation attainments. Many remedies may be suggested but surely the remedy is a true revival of the churches - a revival devoid of anything fictitious - a revival which is the result of the powerful working of the Holy Spirit, leading people in deep humility to God, through the mediation of the Lord Jesus. True revival will lead to a return to God, to His Word and to His ways as set forth in the Scriptures. In this way only, will the churches regain their pristine freshness, power and glory; for with teaching and practice - doctrine and worship - brought into conformity with Apostolic Christianity, Christ will be honoured in deed, and not simply in word, as the King as well as the Saviour of the Church. May the Sovereign God outpour the Spirit and arouse the churches from indifference and slumber, and awaken them to a recognition of the loss they incur in not rendering Scriptural worship, and the dishonour they do to God in withholding the glory due to Him.
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