Page:Tracts for the Times Vol 1.djvu/325

 so does our Divine Master admit us to the Symbols of that eternal worship and service of Him, which shall constitute the blessedness of the next life, a blessedness which it hath not entered into man's heart to conceive. (3.) The ordinances of the Christian Church are held in such high honour, that even to those whom He had first enriched with His miraculous gift, it was yet a farther and indispensable blessing to receive a solemn admission into her sacred mysteries. Mark, for instance, St. Peter's converts, Acts x. 44—48. They had received the, and spake with other tongues: "Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid water, that these should not be baptized, which have received the as well as we? And he commanded them to be baptized in the name of the ." Vide also Acts xiii. 2, 3.

2. provided that the Jews should be able to keep His ordinances; rather interrupting the course of nature, and controlling the feelings of whole nations, than that the ordinances of His service should be set aside on a single occasion. If He commands the observance of the Sabbath in the wilderness. He provides for the people a double store of manna on the day before, and miraculously preserves it from corruption. (Exod. xvi. 5. 24.) If He directs that the land be allowed to lie fallow every seventh year, He sends a triple harvest in the sixth year. (Levit. xxv. 21.) If He enjoins all the males to leave their homes, and appear before Him thrice in the year. He suspends all the jealous and hostile feelings of the neighbouring nations, and promises that they should not even "desire" the land of the Israelites. (Exod. xxxiv. 24.)

3. We cannot dare to conjecture how much evil may come from neglecting positive ordinances. King Saul departed from the express command of God, respecting the way in which sacrifice should be made to Him. He could even make a plausible excuse for what he did; but turn to 1 Sam. xiii. 13, and see what it drew down upon him: "Thou hast done foolishly; thou hast not kept the commandment of the thy  which He commanded thee; for now would the  have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue; the  hath sought Him a man after His own heart,