form in which they are appointed to be observed in this country. It belongs to the Religious Teacher to insist, in a more especial manner, upon the Spiritua! Efficacy (592) of these Ordinances. We consider them as a portion of the Rule of Christian Duty, in which they are necessarily included.

747. The Supreme Rule of Christian Duty, with regard to Ordinances, is the same as with regard to everything else:-the Will of God. This Will, however made known to Christians, is, as we have said (654), the Christian Rule of Conscience. But the Rules of Christian Duty, with regard to Ordinances, cannot be collected from Scripture in the same manner as the Precepts of Christian Morality: for Rules for Christian Ordinances, as to their Form, are not given in the Scriptures. Hence we must collect the Will of God respecting Ordinances from other sources.

Of such sources, there are four principal ones, which we shall term; Natural Piety; Early Revelation; Apostolic Institution; and Catholic Tradi

tion.

748. We have seen (674) that Public Worship of the Deity is pointed out as a Duty by the Dictates of Natural Piety: and that Public Worship involves the establishment of Sacred Times, Sacred Places, and Religious Ceremonies. Hence it has been, by some Christian writers, reckoned as among the dictates of Natural Piety, that God should be worshipped in a special and marked manner, at the recurrence of certain fixed intervals of time; as, every morning, every seventh day, every tenth day, every month. Certain it is, that such an usage has prevailed very extensively, we might almost say uni versally, among nations in all ages. So has also the celebration of annual festivals, having a reference to the annual phenomena of the seasons, or to some historical event. With regard to some of these observ

ances, as the cycle of seven days, they are found to be so widely diffused in the remotest antiquity, that some persons have judged them to be traces of some Revelation made by God to man, in the early period of the world's history; and before that dispersion of the human race by which they were separated into nations.

749. But of Revelations previous to the com. ing of Christ, we have no authoritative account except the Old Testament. The Law of Moses, delivered in the Old Testament, contains a very large and detailed body of Precepts, concerning Religious Observances; concerning Ceremonies and Sacrifices, Sacred Places and Times. These were delivered to the Jews; and were observed by the Jews, with more or less modification, till the coming of Christ. It is proper to consider how far these Precepts may be regarded as guides for the Christian Church, in the regulation of its ordinances.

750. The Old Testament has a high claim upon the reverence of Christians. The Revelation of Christ is founded upon, and is the sequel to, the Revelations of which the Books of the Old Testament contain the record. Christ and his Apostles, in their teaching, recognize and confirm the authority of Moses and the prophets; and the precepts of Christian morality are often delivered in the way of a commentary upon the Law of Moses. The Jewish prophets predicted the coming of Christ, the promised Messiah; and by their predictions prepared men for the reception of his teaching. The connexion between the Jewish Laws and the Christian Doctrines was so close, that at first, a great number of the Jewish Christians held the whole Law of Moses to be binding on Christians, even as to ceremonies; for instance, circumcision, meats, sabbath-days, new moons, and the like. This opinion was rejected by the teachers of genuine Christianity.

St. Paul argues earnestly against it. The main tendency of his Epistle to the Galatians, for instance, is to prove (Gal. ii., 16), That a man is not justified by the works of the Law of Moses, but by the faith of Jesus Christ. This he urges especially against the necessity of circumcision. But he applies it also to ceremonies in general. He tells the Colossians (ii., 14), that Christ blotted out the handwriting of ordinances; and in connexion with this, exhorts them : Let no man therefore judge you in meat or in drink, or in respect of a holy-day, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath-days, which are a shadow of things to come, but the body is of Christ. Hence it is plain that even the Jews who became Christians, were not bound by the Mosaic ordinances: other nations were never bound by them, either before or after the coming of Christ.

751. But through the ordinances of Moses be not binding on us; yet, inasmuch as they were part of a divine revelation, they may serve, in some degree, as a guide to Christians; since they truly exhibit modes in which God, the Giver alike of the Mosaic and of the Christian dispensation, was willing to be worshipped. And this is especially applicable, in cases which the reason for the ordinance applies alike to Jews and Christians; as in the fixation of times and places of religious assemblies. To which we may add, that the existence of the Jewish Observances, in the time of Christ and the Apostles, exercised an influence in the determination of the Christian Ordinances, as we see in the cases of the Lord's day, Easter, and Whitsuntide.

752. In some instances, the Jewish ordinances were, as we learn from Christ and his Apostles, intended by God to prefigure the events of the Christian Revelation; and therefore ceased, by the reason of the case, when those events had occurred. This is implied by what is said of Jewish ordinances

(Col. ii., 17), that they are a shadow of things to come; but the substance is of Christ. So also Heb. X., 1. In this Epistle to the Hebrews, we are taught that Christ was prefigured, both by the Jewish High priest, and by the sacrifices which the High priest offered; and especially, by the sacrifice of the Paschal Lamb (1 Cor. v., 7): Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us.

753. This sacrifice, in the person of Jesus Christ, was offered at the time of the Jewish Passover; and hence, the annual commemoration of the death of Christ has continued the Paschal feast from the Jewish to the Christian Church; and it has from the first been observed by Christians. A consequence of this connexion of the Christian Easter with the Jewish Pascha is, that the time of Easter is made to depend upon the time of full moon, as that of the Jewish festival did; instead of being kept on a fixed day in the year, like other festivals of the Christian Church.

754. The Pentecost, another of the three great annual festivals of the Jews, the fiftieth day after the Passover, was also rendered memorable among Christians. On that day the Holy Ghost, promised by Jesus Christ to his disciples, as the Comforter who should come to them after his departure, descended in an especial manner upon them, when they were assembled together; and gave them the endowments which enabled them to diffuse the belief in Christ throughout the world. Hence this Jewish festival also is adopted into the Christian church, it bears the name of Whitsuntide.

755. The relation of the Lord's Day of Chris. tians to the sabbath of the Jews will require a special consideration. Besides the Lord's day, there are other Christian Ordinances which prevail among Christians, and of which we shall say a few words; namely, the Sacredness of Places, Forms of Wor

ship; Baptism, the Lord's Supper, Marriage, Funera! Rites, Oaths, the Character and Appointment of Ministers of Religion.

756. As the State, the Jural Community, is the proper Authority for regulating the forms of Civil Institutions, so the Church, the Religious Community, is the proper Authority for regulating the forms of Religious Ordinances. As we must find the determination of what is right, as to political institutions, in the history of the State, we must find the determination of what is right as to Christian Ordinances, in the history of the Christian Church. As, in the State, we refer to a certain fundamental and original scheme of our institutions, the Constitution, on which we look with reverence, and by whose spirit we seek to be guided; so in the Church, we refer to a certain fundamental and original scheme of ordinances, Apostolic Institutions; to which we look with reverence, and by which we wish to be guided, so far as the spirit of the times and the altered forms of life will allow us.

The Evidence of Apostolic Institutions must be found in the New Testament; and this Evidence, so far as we find it, is a most important guide for the forms of Christian Ordinances.

757. But there is a very remarkable distinction to be noticed between Civil Institutions and Christian Ordinances, as to the Authority by which their form is determined. States are many: and each State has its separate Authority, for determining its own institutions; but the Church, in some senses at least, is one; it is a single body, of which Christ is the Head. There is a Universal or Catholic Church, composed of the true Christians of all lands. Their separation of nationality is melted away by their spiritual union. There are Ordinances which belong to them in common, in virtue of this union. And these Ordinances, in spite of the