"With regard to public worship, the Presbyterian system is characterized by great simplicity and plainness. Many have censured the Presbyterian mode of worship as too plain--as not availing itself enough of those external means which tend to excite reverential emotion. But in this point, also, it took for its rule the simplicity of the Scriptures. The great idea presented in the Gospel is spiritual worship, free alike from multitudinous forms that cumber memory and distract the mind, and from a gorgeous apparatus that dazzles and beguiles the senses. Its object is to direct the eye of faith to the Saviour alone, and to fill the mind with nothing but sacred truth. Such is scriptural simplicity in worship and in instruction; and this perfect example the Presbyterian Church strove closely to follow. Praise, prayer, and preaching, all simple, all direct, all spiritual, all from the heart, all for God's glory and man's salvation, were the sole elements and aim of Presbyterian worship. This was its idea of what public worship ought to be; because this was all for which the Gospel record gave authority."
Hetherington, Introductory Essay, in History of the Church of Scotland. 7th Edition, Edinburgh 1852. xxix-xxx
