The  conclusion  to  be  reached  is  that  the  Temple  ritual  is,  by
Divine  ordinance,  the  model  for  the  form  and  order  of  Christian
worship ;  and  the  argument  employed  is  that  the  Ceremonial
Law  was  given  by  God,  and,  having  never  been  revoked  by  His
authority,  is  therefore  still  in  force.  "  The  common  error  "  that
"  the  whole  of  the  system  was  entirely  done  away  by  Apostolic
authority  under  the  guidance  of  the  Holy  Spirit,"  is  "  examined,"
and,  "if  I  do  not  much  deceive  myself,"  says  the  writer,  "it
can  be  thoroughly  dispelled  from  every  mind  which  is  candid
enough  to  be  open  to  conviction  "  (p.  8).  A  mind  need  not  be
pre-eminently  candid  in  order  to  be  convinced  of  what  the
Bishop  undertakes  to  prove,  but  it  must  be  very  open  indeed
to  conviction  if  it  is  convinced  of  what  he  imagines  that  he  is
proving :  for  he  who  has  shown  that  the  Apostles  did  not  abro-
gate the  law,  is  still  far  from  having  proved  that  it  is  now
in  force.
But  even  those  docile  persons  who  will  stand  at  any  point  of
view  at  which  their  guide  may  place  them,  and  who  therefore
will  not  perceive  that  the  whole  plan  of  the  Bishop's  argument
is  a  mistake,  will  yet  be  sensible  of  two  things :  first,  that  its
success  would  be  embarrassing  in  the  extreme ;  and  secondly,
that,  after  the  first  link  or  two,  its  chain  is  broken.
The  Apostles,  then,  were  not  commissioned  to  abrogate  the
Ceremonial  Law ;  for,  first,  no  such  abrogation  can  be  shown :
and,  secondly,  they  themselves  "  walked  orderly  and  kept  the
law,"  as  is  proved  by  their  continued  attendance  on  the  Temple

N


178  PRINCIPLES  AT  STAKE.  [Essay  VI.
