Theological Directory (by Topic) - The Regulative Principle

Quotes

"By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy; and before all the people I must be glorified"
--The LORD in Leviticus 10:3

"In the meantime we believe, though it is useful and beneficial that those who are rulers of the Church institute and establish certain ordinances among themselves for maintaining the body of the Church, yet that they ought studiously to take care that they do not depart from those things which Christ, our only Master, has instituted. And therefore we reject all human inventions, and all laws which man would introduce into the worship of God, thereby to bind and compel the conscience in any manner whatever."
-- The Belgic Confession Chapter 32

"But we teach that God is to be adored and worshiped as he himself has taught us to worship, namely, in spirit and in truth (John 4:23 f.), not with any superstition, but with sincerity, according to his Word"
-- The Second Helvetic Confession Chapter 5

"...the acceptable way of worshipping the true God is instituted by Himself, and so limited by His own revealed will, that He may not be worshipped according to the imaginations and devices of men, or the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representation, or any other way not prescribed in the holy Scripture."
-- Westminister Confession 21:1

"The Scriptures forbid the worshipping of God by images, or in any other way not appointed in His Word"
-- Westminster Shorter Catechism Q50

"To worship God truly, is to worship him in the manner which he himself has prescribed in his word."
-- Zacharias Ursinus in Commentary on the Heidelberg Catechism