Page:Short illustration of the commission given by Jesus Christ to his apostles.pdf/3

 which they were scarcely able to bear. In the kingdom of Christ, the ritual observances are only two— and the. It may also be remarked, that, whereas the meaning and import of the former was, in many cases, very obscure, it is the glory of the New Testament ordinances, that they were designed to embody the leading facts and doctrines of the glorious gospel of the blessed God, and so by means of external signs "to make our sense assist our faith.” In their fewness and simplicity they correspond with the spiritual nature of the Messiah’s kingdom, and with its designed universality. Few and simple as they are, however, they have been much misunderstood and grossly perverted by the greater part of professing christians, This has in a great measure arisen from not seeking information as to the mode and import of christian ordinances in the New Testament, but in the Old; and this has been particularly the case in respect to . It must have been matter of remark to all who have Witnessed the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, — that in bringing forth the authority for attending to this ordinance, the minister does not refer his hearers to that portion of Scripture in Exodus, —- where the institution of the Passover is described, but to those passages in the New Testament where the Lord’s Supper is mentioned, —- such as Mat. xxvi. 26. or 1 Cor. xi. 23. This is right; and were the same mode adopted in reference to the ordinance of Baptism, much mistake and