"... a form and order of a reformed church limited within the compass of God's Word, which our saviour hath left unto us as only sufficient to govern all our actions by; so that what so ever is added to this word by man's device, seem it never so good, holy, or beautiful, yet before God ... it is evil, wicked, and abominable." - The Puritan Exiles at Geneva, The form of Prayers and Ministrations of Sacraments, etc., Used in the English Congregation at Geneva
Under the Jewish economy there were other set times and modes of worship, which were abolished when the Christian economy was introduced. Since then no holidays (holy days) but the Sabbath, are of divine authority or obligation. - James R. Boyd, The Westminster shorter catechism: with analysis, Scriptural proofs, explanatory and practical inferences, and illustrative anecdotes (New York: M. W. Dodd, 1860) 145.
The festivals of Rome are innumerable; but five of the most important may be singled out for elucidation -- viz., Christmas-day, Lady-day, Easter, the Nativity of St. John, and the Feast of the Assumption. Each and all of these can be proved to be Babylonian. - Alexander Hislop, The Two Babylons, on the PURITAN HARD DRIVE
All human inventions which are set up to corrupt the simple purity of the Word of God, and to undo the worship which he demands and approves, are true sacrileges, in which the Christian man cannot participate without blaspheming God, and trampling his honour underfoot. - John Calvin, on the PURITAN HARD DRIVE
The New Testament plainly discourages the attempt to fill up the calendar with holidays. Gal. 4.9-11; Col. 2.16-23. Even days of fasting or thanksgiving are not holy days; but they are a part of secular time voluntarily devoted to God’s service. And if we are to perform these things at all, we must take some time for them. Yet none but God can sanctify a day so as to make it holy. The attempt to do this was one of the sins of Jeroboam. 1 Kings 12.33. If the clause, Six days shalt thou labour, is merely permissive, it is still enough for us. For who dare take away the liberty which God has here given us? – William S. Plumer (emphases added), on the PURITAN HARD DRIVE
There is a great difference between the works of the devil and the works of the Triune God. The devil deceives by subtle manipulation (Hey, Easter is not all bad; or -– redeem it for God!), and the Triune Godhead commands nothing more than perfect obedience to His will and Word (Thou Shalt not worship any other gods, nor shall you worship God according to the commandments of men). The devil wants you to worship Jesus Christ in the manner that demonic teachings lay out, like Easter. God commands you to worship Him as His Word dictates. Deuteronomy 4:2 states, “You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you.” The devil is the father of lies and wants you to believe the lie that Easter is a Christian holiday, like Lent and Christmas. But our true Father is in heaven who commands us today, as Acts 17:30-31 states, “to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead,” who is Jesus Christ. You should talk about that day and wonder, Christian, if you will stand when He appears. There is safety in appearing in the righteousness of Christ on the Day of Judgment. But there is no safety in any degree of compromises. - Easter: The Devil's Holiday, by Dr. C. Matthew McMahon
God not only rejects all invented manners of worship but strongly abominates them. It must be said, in fact, that as soon as men seek to worship God by their own judgment, whatever they produce is foul profanation. - John Calvin on the Puritan Hard Drive
