fo facredly obferv'd all over the first Christian Church, for really Divine and Apoftolical, as these most certainly were.

IV. These Constitutions appear plainly to be genuine, and deriv'd by the Apostles from our Saviour, because they have those diftinguishing Characters belonging to Divine Appointments, which thofe parallel fettlements under the Law of Mofes, that were undoubtedly Divine, exhibit to us; and are indeed, as to the main ftrokes, evidently of a piece with thofe Laws of Mofes, on which the Jewish Church was originally founded. I fhall mention here fome of the moft obvious particulars. (1) As the Jewish Laws, thofe in particular which typified the Chriftian Difpenfation, were given, as to Place, on a Mountain, Sinai; and, as to Time in juft Forty Days fpace; fo were thefe Conftitutions or Chriftian Laws given, as to Place on a Mountain, Sion; and, as to Time, in juft Forty Days fpace alfo, before our Lord's final Afcenfion. And thefe Circumftances are fo obfervable under the Gofpel, that Memorials both of the Place and Time continued many Ages in the Chriftian Church; and by them the antient Types and Prophecies were eminently fulfilled,as 'tis eafie to obferve from what has been already faid. (2) As the whole ps Body of the Laws of Mofes feem to have been

See pag. 15,

divided into Two main Branches, the one Secret, but the other Open, and publish'd

to

pris.

to all; written for their daily use, and put into every Bodies hands; nay, part of it at least written on Pillars alfo; fo was it; more certainly as to the Laws of Chrift. That part which is contain'd in the Books of the New Teftament being in like manner Open, and publifh'd to all, and conftantly read in their Families and publick Affemblies; but the other part, contain❜d in these Conftitutions, intrufted fecretly with the Governors of the Church, as the proper Rule of their publick Courts, Affemblies, and Administrations, as we have already Se pag. 54, feen. (3) As the Jewish Law ordain'd the method of approaching to the God of Ifrael, of obtaining his pardon and bleffings, to be. not meerly nor principally by the particular repentance and prayers of the Offenders, but in and through a Mediator, in and through his Interceffions, and Atonements, and Bleffing, as we have feen; fo do these Constitutions or Christian Laws, efpecially the Liturgick parts of them, wonderfully imitate the fame. For thus it is ftill there appoint- See pag.50% ed, that the Prayers of Chriftians fhall be &c. priùs. offer'd to the Supreme God only, in, and through our Blefjed Mediator: There the Prayers ftill are only fuppos'd effectual, either on account of that propitiatory Sacrifice which the Bishop or Prefbyter offer'd to, and commemorated before God, for the quick and dead, in the Holy Eucharift; and

that

that as he reprefented the great Mediator himself, in his Prieftly Office or at other times by the Interceffion and Recommenda tion of the fame facred Perfon, in the fame quality, when he again folemnly Presented the Petitions and Wants of the People to God, after themselves had diftinctly and devoutly offer'd them before; and at once did powerfully Intercede for, and with great authority Bless the People. Our modern Liturgies do not indeed wholly omit all that is of this nature. But they do it fo poorly, and in a manner fo different from the original Standards, whether Jewish or Christian,that 'tis high time to reform them; or rather to lay them all afide, and to introduce thefe original, pure, pious, authentick, and apoftolick forms of Chriftian Sacrifice, Worship, and Devotion in their ftead. And if Almighty God does not now so rea dily, as at first, hear and anfwer the Prayers of his Church and People, one plain reafon may be, their fo little obferving these fundamental Rules of Addreffing to the Di vine Majefty; which both the Church of the Jews, and that of the Chriftians are fo folemnly bound to by Divine Inftitution. (4) These Conftitutions fhew themselves to be of a piece with the antient Divine Settlement under Mofes, by carrying on the very fame great and noble Defigns, in a great part of the Laws and Obfervances therein

con*,

contain'd, which are fo eminent in the Books of Mofes. If we take a view of God's antient Precepts given to the Jews, we fhall foon find that, befides the direct import and use of them for the prefent, they did very many of them carry on a farther very noble defign, of commemorating, and imprinting on the minds of that Nation the grand foundations of their Religion, the wonders of God's ftrange Providence towards them, and those miraculous Works by which the Divine Authority of their whole Inftitution was undeniably prov'd, and by which their Religion was originally fettled and fecur'd; and fo, as it were, prevented all poffibility of doubt or fcépticifm, even where the reafons and tendency of very many of the particular Laws themfelves were unknown by them, and still appear at this day not a little unaccountable. Thus the Obfervance after Six Days for Work, of the Seventh Day Sabbath, at once ferv'd for the reading and meditation of the Law, and for the constant purposes of Piety at prefent; and alfo put the Jews in mind of the Creation of the World, by the God of Ifrael, in Six Days; and his Rest on the Seventh; which was the Foundation of their whole Worship to God, as to the Original Creator of all things. To the fame additional moft excellent purpofe did the Laws for the Sabbatical Weeks, and Sabbatical Tears, with the fucceeding

Jubilee

Jubilee ferve alfo. Thus the Feafts of the Paffover, of Weeks, and of Tabernacles, befides the common advantages of fuch holy Solemnities, ftill put that People in mind alfo, the first of that wonderful Deliverance from the Egyptian Bondage; the fecond probably of the aftonishing Promulgation of the Law in Mount Sinai; and the third of the furprizing and miraculous Conduct of God towards their Forefathers for Forty Years together in the Wilderness. And the Examples of this nature in the Books of Mofes, and thofe that followed alfo, are in a manner innumerable. Nor indeed has the fuccefs of this Divine Method been lefs remarkable: Since the Faith of the Jews, even as to thofe ritual and ceremonial Laws of Mofes, appears now ftronger at double the diftance from the Original, than that of the Chriftians at this Day, as to the nobler and more rationable Laws of the Gospel; even under all the difadvantages of Banifhment, Difperfion, and Hardship which they have undergone for about one half of the intire Interval. But then, this Scepticism or Infidelity among Chriftians, has not been owing to any want of the like care in the first Appointments and Laws of the Gofpel before us, but to the laying afide, in great part, of those Divine Rules; and fettling Chriftianity upon other humane, prudential, and political Laws and Confiderations. Thus

the