OF SANCTIFICATION AND GOOD WORKS.
39. All that are justified are likewise sanctified, their faith being always accompanied with true repentance and good works.
40. Repentance is a gift of God, whereby a godly sorrow is wrought in the heart of the faithful for offending God, their merciful Father, by their former transgressions, together with a constant resolution for the time to come to cleave unto God and to lead a new life.
41. Albeit that good works, which are the fruits of faith, and follow after justification, can not make satisfaction for our sins and endure the surety of God's judgment; yet are they pleasing to God, and accepted of him in Christ, and do spring from a true and lively faith, which by them is to be discerned, as a tree by the fruit.
42. The works which God would have his people to walk in are such as he hath commanded in his holy Scripture, and not such works as men have devised out of their own brain, of a blind zeal and devotion, without the warrant of the Word of God.
43. The regenerate can not fulfill the law of God perfectly in this life. For in many things we offend all; and if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
44. Not every heinous sin willingly committed after baptism is sin against the Holy Ghost, and unpardonable. And therefore to such as fall into sin after baptism, place for repentance is not to be denied.
45. Voluntary works, besides over and above God's commandments, which they call works of supererogation, can not be taught without arrogancy and impiety; for by them men do declare that they do not only render unto God as much as they are bound to do, but that they do more for his sake than of bounden duty is required.
OF THE SERVICE OF GOD.
46. Our duty towards God is to believe in him, to fear him, and to love him with all our heart, with all our mind, and with all our soul, and with all our strength; to worship him, and to give him thanks; to put our whole trust in him, to call upon him, to honor his holy name and his Word, and to serve him truly all the days of our life. [834]
47. In all our necessities we ought to have recourse unto God by prayer: assuring ourselves that whatsoever we ask of the Father, in the name of his Son (our only Mediator and Intercessor) Christ Jesus, and according to his will, he will undoubtedly grant it.
48. We ought to prepare our hearts before we pray, and understand the things that we ask when we pray: that both our hearts and voices may together sound in the ears of God's majesty.
49. When almighty God smiteth us with affliction, or some great calamity hangeth over us, or any other weighty cause so requireth, it is our duty to humble ourselves in fasting, to bewail our sins with a sorrowful heart, and to addict ourselves to earnest prayer, that it might please God to turn his wrath from us, or supply us with such graces as we greatly stand in need of.
50. [835] Fasting is a withholding of meat, drink, and all natural food, with other outward delights, from the body, for the determined time of fasting. As for those abstinences which are appointed by public order of our State, for eating of fish and forbearing of flesh at certain times and days appointed, they are noways meant to be religious fasts, nor intended for the maintenance of any superstition in the choice of meats, but are grounded merely upon politic considerations, for provision of things tending to the better preservation of the commonwealth.
51. We must not fast with this persuasion of mind, that our fasting can bring us to heaven, or ascribe holiness to the outward work wrought; for God alloweth not our fast for the work sake (which of itself is a thing merely indifferent), but simply respecteth the heart, how it is affected therein. It is, therefore, requisite that first, before all things, we cleanse our hearts from sin, and then direct our fast to such ends as God will allow to be good: that the flesh may thereby be chastised, the spirit may be more fervent in prayer, and that our fasting may be a testimony of our humble submission to God's majesty, when we acknowledge our sins unto him, and are inwardly touched with sorrowfulness of heart, bewailing the same in the affliction of our bodies.
52. All worship devised by man's phantasy besides or contrary to the Scriptures (as wandering on pilgrimages, setting up of candles, stations, and jubilees, Pharisaical sects and feigned religions, praying upon beads, and such like superstition) hath not only no promise of reward in Scripture, but contrariwise threatenings and maledictions.
53. All manner of expressing God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost in an outward form is utterly unlawful; as also all other images devised or made by man to the use of religion.
54. All religious worship ought to be given to God alone: from whom all goodness, health, and grace ought to be both asked and looked .for, as from the very author and giver of the same, and from none other.
55. The name of God is to be used with all reverence and holy respect, and therefore all vain and rash swearing is utterly to be condemned. Yet, notwithstanding, upon lawful occasions, an oath may be given and taken, according to the Word of God: justice, judgment, and truth.
56. The first day of the week, which is the Lord's day, is wholly to be dedicated unto the service of God; and therefore we are bound therein to rest from our common and daily business, and to bestow that leisure upon holy exercises, both public and private.