Ordinance

“ Thus from the four preceding articles, the definition of law may be gathered; and it is nothing else than an ordinance of reason for the common good, made by him who has care of the community, and promulgated. ”

“ To a lawful ordinance then is required, not only that the thing ordained be lawful in itself, but also that it be not inexpedient, so that a thing may be lawful in itself, yet not lawfully ordained, because the ordinance commandeth the doing of it, whereas there are many things lawful which ought not to be done, because they are not expedient, 1 Cor. ”

“ I. Shew the NATURE and EXTENT of the DUTY. II. The MOTIVE by which the Christian is to be actuated in the discharge of it. I. I am to endeavour to shew the nature of the duty enjoined in the text, "Submit yourselves to every ordinance of man." We must understand, then, first, What is meant by every ordinance of man; and this the Apostle himself explains to us in the following words: "Whether to the king as supreme, or unto governors, as unto them that are sent by him." ”

“ Wherefore let us take counsel together, and make to ourselves a statute, to be ordained by John the King, even an ordinance to shut out the stranger and his merchandize, and let us make to ourselves all that is needful to the body. ”

“ Finally, there is none of our opposites but saith so much as inferreth the necessity of this judgment of private and practical discretion; for every smatterer among them hath this much in his mouth, that if the king or the church command anything unlawful, then we ought to obey God rather than men; but when they command things indifferent and lawful, then their ordinance ought to be our rule. ”

“ 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. ”

“ Ex.ch.xii. 14. see also v. 15.—in v. 17. it is said "ye shall observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever."
The ordinance of the day of atonement, is declared to be a perpetual institution, "It shall be a statute for ever unto you," Lev. ch. xvi. 29. "It shall be a Sabbath of rest unto you, and ye shall afflict your souls, by a statute for ever." v. 31. "and this shall be an everlasting statute unto you." v. 34.
The feast of offering the first fruits of the year, is declared Lev. ch. xxiii. 14. "to be a statute for ever throughout your generations, in all your dwellings." ”

“ 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. ”

“ If all ordinances be nothing to thee without God, he will see that thou understandest the true use of ordinances, and put down thy name among his lovers, whom he cannot despise. He loveth not to see men debase their souls, to feed on husks and chaff with hypocrites, any more than to feed on filth and dirt, with sensualists and worldlings. ”

“ Individuals and societies may possess the same land, have the same mode of worship, and the same ordinances administered in the same manner, and submit to the same discipline, as far as may be effected without the assistance of the civil arm. ”

“ And it is further ordained, that all persons now holding any office of honor, profit, or trust, civil or military, under this State (members of the legislature excepted) , shall, within such time, and in such manner as the legislature shall prescribe, take an oath well and truly to obey, execute, and enforce this ordinance, and such act or acts of the legislature as may be passed in pursuance thereof, according to the true intent and meaning of the same ”

“ Kings are the ordinances of man by the permission of God, and they are ordained of God by his instrument man. The powers that be, the present powers, which are ordained by God, and yet in some sense are the ordinances of man, are what you must obey, without presuming to examine into rights and titles; neither can it be reasonably expected, that the powers in being, or in possession, should suffer their title to be publickly disputed by subjects without severe punishment. ”

“ You shall swear truly to observe and keep and of your and every of your parts cause to be observed and kept all the good and lawful rules, ordinances and constitutions contained and specified within this your Ordinal, so far forth as in you is, and by the law of the realm you ought. ”

“ The members of such a society consider that the transgression of a religious ordinance should be punished by civil penalties, and that the violation of a civil duty exposes the delinquent to divine correction. ”

“ And if it shall otherwise appear, as it is our duty whereunto we shall always most diligently apply ourselves to reform our ordinances to God's commission, and to conform our statutes to the determination of Scripture and Holy Church; so we hope in God, and shall daily pray for the same, that your Highness will, if there appear cause why, with the assent of your people, temper your Grace's laws accordingly ”

“ In their legislative edicts, which are almost all devoted to questions of trade and court affairs, they have in a fashion of their own rendered unto God the things that are God's, and so far as these ordinances confine themselves to what we should call a purely religious sphere, we have no reason to doubt the good intentions of the law-givers. ”

“ Of Civil Affairs they teach that lawful civil ordinances are good works of God, and that it is right for Christians to bear civil office, to sit as judges, to judge matters by the Imperial and other existing laws, to award just punishments, to engage in just wars, to serve as soldiers, to make legal contracts, to hold property, to make oath when required by the magistrates, to marry a wife, to be given in marriage. ”

“ But let authority be sent down from heaven and conferred upon man, so that he will have the right to act in the name of the Lord, and so that he will have the right to administer ordinances in his name, and to act, to preach, to testify, and exhort in the name of the Lord. ”

“ You shall also submitt, and observe all such good and wholesome laws, ordinances, and officers as are, or shall be established within the several limits thereof, So help you God, who is the God of Truth and the punisher of falsehood. ”

“ I am a citizen, and the State says, "You must obey all the statutes made by the proper authorities; that is your official business!" Suppose there is a statute adverse to the natural law of God, and the convictions of my own conscience, and I plead that fact in abatement of my obligation to keep the statute, the State says, '^ Obey it none the less, or we will hang you. Religion is an excellent thing in every matter except politics; there it seems to make men mad." Shall I keep the commandment of men, or the law of my God? ”

“ There must be an act of solemnity and importance, such as a statute, and that statute must be by a State, a member of the Union and a public body, owing obedience and conformity to its constitution and laws. ”

“ Lord President—The Court expects you should give them a final Answer; their purpose is to adjourn to Monday next; if you do not satisfy yourself, [Pg 83] though we do tell you our authority, we are satisfied with our authority, and it is upon God's authority and the kingdom's; and that peace you speak of will be kept in the doing of justice, and that is our present work.
King—For answer, let me tell you, you have shewn no lawful authority to satisfy any reasonable man. ”

“ How striking and instructive to observe the abstract rules of justice brought to bear, with equal readiness and precision, upon ordinary and extraordinary combinations of circumstances!—to witness the dead letter of the law become animated with potent vitality for the regulation of human affairs! ”

“ We can see the policeman on his beat, or the judge in court, or the members of the legislature—the men who, respectively, maintain, administer, and make the laws; and we can see the record of the laws in books. But the idea or principle of Law which has caused men to construct all this machinery for the making and enforcing of the laws, exists only in the mind. ”

“ The sacred rights of this society we are to hold fast—such as, her right to elect her own officers, to call her own meetings, appoint her own fasts, and exercise her own discipline, independently of the state. ”

“ We do not admit any binding authority in the decisions and adjudications of the court of king’s bench or common pleas, or the court of chancery, over America; but we quote them as the opinions of learned men. ”

“ See Rites.
ORDINARY. The person who has ecclesiastical jurisdiction, as of course and of common right, in opposition to persons who are extraordinarily appointed. In some acts of parliament we find the bishop called ordinary, and so he is taken at the common law, as having ordinary jurisdiction in causes ecclesiastical; albeit, in a more general acceptation, the word Ordinary signifies any judge authorized to take cognizance of causes in his own proper right, as he is a magistrate, and not by way of deputation or delegation. ”

“ In the formation of the law, regard should be often had to the convenience, to the faculties, to the interests, and to the habits of the citizens, sometimes even to their prejudices, but in the interpretation of it, nothing but justice should be regarded. ”

“ When I shall have learned thy righteous judgments I will keep thy statutes. We cannot keep them unless we learn them; but we learn them in vain if we do not keep them. Those have well learned God's statutes who have come up to a full resolution, in the strength of his grace, to keep them. ”

“ It is necessary for the legislature, in order that each man may know what are the objects of desire which he may enjoy, to fix, not only what are the facts which shall give commencement to a right, but what are the facts which shall put an end to it. ”

“ Questions of Privilege.—These are questions which involve the rights and privileges of individual members, or of the society or assembly collectively. They take precedence over all other propositions, except a motion to adjourn.
9. Questions of Order.—In case of any breach of the rules of the society or body, any member may rise to the point of order, and insist upon its due enforcement; but in case of a difference of opinion whether a rule has been violated or not, the question must be determined before the application of the rule can be insisted upon. ”

“ No break of order, no dodging with the spirit or the letter of an existing regulation can ever be perpetrated, without thereby affording a precedent to those who desire to break that order and dodge those formularies in another direction. ”

“ But law, strictly speaking, is simply the rule of action itself, as for instance, an Act of Parliament; but as in practice all such rules are enforced by a sanction of some kind, our conception of a law is also united with that of a lawgiver, who has both the right and the power to enforce it. ”

“ Willingly, therefore, carrying out the Divine commands, let us give temperate laws to ourselves and to our subjects; laws such as we and our successors, and the whole body of the people, may readily obey; so that no person of whatever rank or dignity may refuse to submit to the power of the law, which the necessity and will of the King has deemed it proper and salutary to inculcate. ”

“ A general or public act is an universal rule, that regards the whole community; and of this the courts of law are bound to take notice judicially and ex officio; without the statute being particularly pleaded, or formally set forth by the party who claims an advantage under it. ”

“ Our Legislature has never passed a law that infringed upon me, because I live above the law through honouring every particle of it. In this course the law is beneath my feet and is my servant, not my master. Thousands live in this way. ”

“ The people in both reserved in a manner the office of judgment to themselves, and brought the decision of civil rights, or of criminal questions, to the tribunal of peers, who, in judging of their fellow citizens, prescribed a condition of life for themselves. ”

“ If, in this institution, we seek to obey the mandate which has gone forth, that knowledge shall be increased; if we act in obedience to the injunction, that in all our gettings we should get understanding ”

“ And if the people have given up to governors, legislatures, the judiciary and to the officers of the law certain powers, rights and privileges, this authority coming of or from the people, it is expected that they shall act for and in the interests of the people ”

“ If any crime is committed respecting which no law has been made, a general assembly of the people shall be called, where judgment shall be pronounced in accordance with the inspiration of Wr-alda’s spirit. If we act thus, our judgment will never fail to be right. ”

“ Upon the most casual examination of the law books we instantly discover that cases declaring a rule of public policy in one year of grace are of very little or no value as authority in ascertaining what is the true rule on the particular subject in another and later year. ”

“ Spiritual privileges do not make void or weaken, but confirm and strengthen, their obligations to civil duties: "Remind them therefore to be subject to principalities and powers and to obey magistrates." And, 2. To be ready to every good work. Some refer this to such good works as are required by magistrates and within their sphere: "Whatever tends to good order, and to promote and secure public tranquility and peace, be not backward, but ready, to promote such things." ”

“ The rules of a society, in a majority of cases, may be conveniently divided into these four classes, though in some societies all the rules are found under one of these heads, being called either the constitution, or the by-laws, or the standing rules. ”