Ordinance (Christianity)

“ It concerns us all rightly to understand the meaning of those holy ordinances wherein we worship God, what is the nature and what the end of them, what is signified and what intended, what is the duty expected from us in them and what are the advantages to be expected by us. Every ordinance has a meaning; some ordinances, as sacraments, have not their meaning so plain and obvious as others have; therefore we are concerned to search, that we may not offer the blind for sacrifice, but may do a reasonable service. ”

“ So that you see, whosoever makes a jest of Church Discipline, makes a jest of an ordinance of God; and a man may as well despise the whole Christian Religion, as this power, which is as much the ordinance of Jesus Christ, as preaching, or the use of the Sacraments. ”

“ We at once admit that a spirit cannot personally comply with this ordinance, excepting in one way. A departed intelligence can have that ordinance performed by substitute, and his acceptance of that performance will constitute, according to the statutes of the Gospel, compliance with the law, and entitle him to the privileges of the kingdom of God. ”

“ What we are to understand by an ordinance, and its being founded on a divine institution, which is our only warrant to engage therein, has been before considered; and, indeed, every duty that is to be performed by God’s express command, which he has designed to be a pledge of his presence, and a means of grace, is a branch of religious worship, and may be truly styled an holy ordinance. ”

“ The same part of the Apostle's writings supplies us with a second argument, where the higher powers, meaning kings, are said to be from God, and are called the ordinance of God; from whence it is plainly inferred that we are to honour and obey the king, from motives of conscience, and that every one who resists him, is resisting God. If the word ordinance meant nothing more than a bare permission, that obedience which the Apostle so strenuously enjoins would only have the force of an imperfect obligation. ”

“ To that rule we should always adhere; and hence it is obligatory on all to observe the ordinance who are trusting in Christ for salvation. They should do so, as a visible expression of their subjection to his authority, and of their gratitude and love to him for his marvellous loving-kindness in shedding his blood for the remission of their sins, and for giving his life a ransom for their redemption. ”

“ But what right have we, I would ask, to choose, among the essentials of the mysterious Ordinance, one which, as we conceive, we may dispense with, while we condemn others who select for themselves another? And yet, what do we? what is our practice? the practice so universally adopted throughout our Church, that the exceptions are few, and but of yesterday; so that those who contend for and practise the contrary are deemed visionary and righteous over much? ”

“ Examples of authorized rites in the Christian Church are the laying on of hands in ordination, and the giving of the right hand of fellowship. 3. An ordinance is a symbolic rite which sets forth the central truths of the Christian faith, and which is of universal and perpetual obligation. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are rites which have become ordinances by the specific command of Christ and by their inner relation to the essential truths of his kingdom. No ordinance is a sacrament in the Romanist sense of conferring grace ”

“ THE GOSPEL ALL COMPREHENSIVE. The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ embraces all the laws and ordinances necessary for the salvation of man. Paul declared it to be the "power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth." No man can be saved in opposition to its saving ordinances, but must receive each ordinance in the spirit of humility and faith. ”

“ It is an ordinance pertaining to this state of existence, and by those dwelling in the flesh upon the earth have all these ordinances to be performed. If they are not by ourselves during this life they must be done by some one acting for and in our behalf still existing in the flesh, and in the authority of the holy Priesthood, which has come down from heaven. ”

“ What better, in the sight of Heaven, are those who place their affections upon earthly wealth, than the children of Israel who worshipped a calf?
Those who wish to join us in this great work, must do as we have done, to obtain that which we have obtained. It is not our business to question the validity of any of the laws and ordinances of God. It is no matter to us how simple the ordinance he requires us to submit to, in order to attain a certain end. ”

“ To this one might reply that the objection rests upon an assumption which the Christian believer cannot admit, that the ordinance was merely a product of the human mind. But if, as our Lord constantly taught, and as the chapter explicitly affirms, the ordinance was a matter of Divine, supernatural revelation, then naturally we shall expect to find in it, not man's estimate of the guilt of sin, but God's, which in all ages is the same. ”

“ When there is divine authority in the administration of an ordinance here on the earth, that ordinance is sacred and holy, and is recorded here and in the heavens, and the records of heaven will agree with the records of earth; and by these records and books will mankind be judged. ”

“ Will they submit themselves to every ordinance of man, who refuse subjection to the ordinances of God? I told them plainly, I should only continue with them so long as they continued in the Church of England. ”

“ The sixteenth article, concerning civil magistrates, is received with pleasure, as in harmony not only with civil law, but also with canonical law, the Gospel, the Holy Scriptures, and the universal norm of faith, since the apostle enjoins that "every soul be subject unto the higher powers. For there is no power but of God: the powers that be are ordained of God. Whosoever, therefore, resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive to themselves damnation," Rom. ”

“ Therefore, when the apostle says, 'Let a man examine himself, and so let him eat,' I do not believe he had any reference to the question of their being Christians, or to the laws governing that matter; but reference alone to the law governing their ordinance, and the questions of right views, motives, and purposes, as set forth in that law. ”

“ Another explicit proof that the law of the ten commandments, and, consequently, the law of the Sabbath, is obligatory upon Christians, is found in the answer of the Apostle to an objection to the doctrine of justification by faith: “Do we then make void the law through faith?” Rom. iii, 31; which is equivalent to asking, Does Christianity teach that the law is no longer obligatory on Christians, because it teaches that no man can be justified by it? ”

“ An observance has more than a formal obligation, reaching or approaching a religious sacredness; a stated religious observance, viewed as established by authority, is called an ordinance; viewed as an established custom, it is a rite. The terms sacrament and ordinance, in the religious sense, are often used interchangeably; the ordinance derives its sacredness from the authority that ordained it, while the sacrament possesses a sacredness due to something in itself, even when viewed simply as a representation or memorial. ”

“ Which I prove thus: a worship enjoined by, and performed in obedience to a law, establishing a human ordinance in the church, besides and against the institution of Christ, is a worship not according to Christ's appointment; but the hearing of curates is a worship enjoined by, and performed in obedience to a law establishing a human ordinance, to wit Diocesan Erastian prelacy, with the curates their substitutes. ”

“ No constitution, declaration, or any order of living, can involve an obligation to commit sin, mortal or venial, unless the superior command it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, or in virtue of holy obedience, which shall be done in those cases or persons wherein it shall be judged that it will greatly conduce to the particular good of each, or to the general advantage ”

“ It was requisite that a divine ordinance should be subject to divine rules and restraints, especially because it concerns a thing wherein the corrupt nature of man is as apt as in any thing to be wilful and impetuous in its desires, and impatient of check. ”

“ We know it to be not only an ordinance administered among the various nations according to their civil laws, but know also that it is a religious ordinance, administered by authority from God. If any one wants any proof on this point let him read the 6th verse of the 19th chapter of Matthew. "What God hath joined together let no man put asunder." ”

“ When I speak of the authority of the Christian religion, I do not pretend to confine the extent of that term to the single authority of its holy assemblies, in which, through the mouths of its pastors, the church makes decisions, and holds out to all believers the infallible rules of worship and of doctrine. ”

“ To make that a sin which God's law does not make sin, is only the next step to ecclesiastical regulations to the level of divine commands, we lower divine commands to the level of ecclesiastical regulations. ”

“ That is, when men have power to make laws, customs and ordinances, we must submit to them for the Lord’s sake—that is, in order to please and obey God. The only cases where it is right to resist is, when we are commanded to do what is sinful. ”

“ Yet it is true that here and there in religious affairs some ecclesiastical man still claims Divine right to dictate to the people, setting his authority above their reason, and magisterially telling what they must take for piety, theology, and morality. ”

“ It is the system of government God has revealed to the children of men that gives people a right to the ordinances, blessings and privileges of the Gospel of Christ, and without that they have not any legal right to them, and cannot claim them. ”

“ The fact that certain laws must be observed, and ordinances complied with, is not the ruling of the Latter-day Saints, but the divine mandate of the Author of our salvation, who has said he will judge all men according to their works and opportunities. We are merely complying with the teachings of the Master which we have received, and which are requisite to salvation. ”

“ They ask of me the ordinances of justice, the rules of piety in the worship of God, the rules of equity in their dealings with men, both which are ordinances of justice. (5.) They appear to the eye of the world as if they made conscience of doing their duty: They are as a nation that did righteousness and forsook not the ordinances of their God; others took them for such, and they themselves pretended to be such. Nothing lay open to view that was a contradiction to their profession, but they seemed to be such as they should be. Note, Men may go a great way towards heaven and yet come short ”

“ All the modern christian churches, who deny new revelation, have no more authority to preach, baptize, or administer any other ordinance of the gospel than the idolatrous Hindoos have; ”

“ Since Absolution or the Power of the Keys is also an aid and consolation against sin and a bad conscience, ordained by Christ [Himself] in the Gospel, Confession or Absolution ought by no means to be abolished in the Church, especially on account of [tender and] timid consciences and on account of the untrained [and capricious] young people, in order that they may be examined, and instructed in the Christian doctrine. ”

“ We are under obligations to establish the Zion of our God upon the earth, and establish and maintain its laws, so that the law of the priesthood of the Son of God may govern and control the people.
Go into the world, among the inhabitants of the nations of Christendom, whether Infidels, Episcopalians, Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, or people of any other religious sect, and tell them plainly that the law of God is going to be the law of the land, and they would be terrified, they would fear and tremble. ”

“ God has given us laws to regulate these matters and all our matters before our High Councils, under the direction of inspired men who have been ordained to the holy Priesthood to judge in matters brought before them. And when we turn to the ungodly, we sell ourselves to the devil, which we will not permit men to do and maintain the fellowship of the Saints and a standing in the Church and kingdom of God. ”

“ Now again, for the souls that are alive in Christ, he hath graciously appointed ordinances powerfully sufficient to maintain and cherish that life—armour of proof able to defend them against men and devils. ”

“ No law can issue from man or from any body of men to govern and control in eternal things; consequently, those laws must come from heaven to govern and control both Saint and sinner, believer and unbeliever, and every character upon the earth; and they will be issued according to the capacity, knowledge, and mode of life of the people to whom they are promulgated.
I will now call upon the brethren in the stand to speak, and let you have our testimony, strength, and faith, as we have received yours yesterday. ”

“ Did the church give power to the pastors and teachers, she might make the sacrament and preaching which one doth in order, no sacrament, no preaching; for it is the order instituted of God that giveth being and efficacy to these ordinances; and if the power of ruling, feeding, and dispensing the holy things of God do reside in the faithful, the word and sacrament, in respect of dispensation and efficacy, shall depend upon the order and institution of the society. ”