Having dwelt so long upon the leading principles of the Reformation, it will now suffice to present a very brief statement of the results proceeding from the practical application of these principles. Among the earliest of them was the discovery that Christianity is a distinct and peculiar institution, complete in all its parts, and requiring no addition, from any system of religion previously established.

      No clear and just distinctions had heretofore been made between the different religions presented in the [55] Bible; but, on the contrary, such were the confused notions of the religious public, that Christianity was supposed to be merely an emendation of Judaism, as the latter was, in turn, regarded as an improvement upon the more simple system of the patriarchal age. In short, it was supposed that the Bible contained but one religion; and it was usual to attempt to cover the confusion of thought and the practical incompatibilities arising from this view, under the notion that this religion was presented in three dispensations, each of which was a modification of the one that preceded it; and that in the form called Christianity, we were to find, as it were, a mere change of external rites, or a substitution of one thing for another, without any radical or essential difference in principle, administration, or authority.

      Hence, in different parties, we have so much of Judaism incorporated with Christianity, from the external pomp of Temple-worship and the simulated robes of the Aaronic priesthood, to the more serious commixture of the discordant introductory principles--mere fleshly descent, and a living faith in Christ.

      It is not be denied, indeed, that the great principles of religion and morality have been the same in all ages, and that the essential means of access to God and of acceptance with Him, have remained unchanged since the faith of Abel. But it is equally true, that for special purposes, connected with the [56] development of the Divine character and government, there have been established, at different periods of the world's history, peculiar institutions, administrations, or economies, which, differing as they do in most important particulars, it is essential to distinguish from each other, in order to a just comprehension of any one of them. We recognise, then, as remedial systems--1st. The PATRIARCHAL INSTITUTION, which continued from the fall of Adam to the Divine mission of Moses. 2d. The JEWISH RELIGION, which remained in force from Moses until the coronation of Jesus as Lord and Messiah; and 3d. The CHRISTIAN ECONOMY, which continues from that time to the present, and is never to be superseded by any other.

      The Patriarchal institutions of religion were adapted to the early period of the world. The head of the family was its officiating priest; religious knowledge rested upon tradition, with special revelations to those who were distinguished for their faith and piety. This age had, accordingly, its own proportion of Divine truth; its own special promises; its peculiar faith; and its appropriate religious rites.

      The Mosaic system, also, had its own specific purposes to subserve. It was a theocracy; a peculiar form of government; a civil polity, as it contained the political regulations of an entire nation: yet it [57] was, at the same time, a religion,¹ embodying in its precepts, and shadowing forth in the various types and symbols of its elaborate ritual, the most sacred truths, and revealing the Divine character in new and most important lights. As an institution, indeed, it was so peculiar and so different from any other that has ever existed, that there is not the slightest difficulty in determining its nature and defining its boundaries.

      Especially is it to be distinguished from Christianity, in whose spiritual and literal truths its carnal and typical observances found their destined fulfilment; and to whose simple faith and all-embracing amplitude, its outward ceremonial and restricted boundaries gave place. Differing thus in its very nature and in its principles of membership, the Jewish institution contrasts with Christianity in all essential points. In its covenants, its promises, its mediator, its priesthood, its laws, its ordinances, and its sanctions, it is exhibited upon the sacred page as wholly diverse from the gospel institution. How indispensable it is, then, to a just view of Christianity, that these important differences, which are so distinctly noted by the apostle to the Gentiles, in [58] his Epistles to the Hebrews and Galatians, should be fully understood and acknowledged; and that the simple gospel of Christ should be freed from the corrupting admixture of Judaism, with which it is still contaminated in the minds of so many of the religious public!

[PORR 55-59]