on the right side of this question, i. e., arguing from the
Old Testament, I shall endeavour to prove by several arguments.
They are all comprised in these positions, 1. That the Mosaic
Institutions are most solemnly, and repeatedly declared to be
perpetual; and we have no account of their being abrogated, or to
be abrogated in the Old Testament. 2. They are declared to be
perpetual by Jesus himself, and were adhered to by the twelve
apostles.

1. Nothing can be more expressly asserted in the Old Testament
than the perpetual obligation of those rites which were to
distinguish the Jews from other nations. It appears, for instance,
(from the 17th ch. of Genesis,) in the tenor of the covenant made
with Abraham, that circumcision was to distinguish his posterity,
to the end of time. It is called "an everlasting covenant" to be kept
by his posterity through all their generations. See the ch. where the
condition of the covenant is, that God would give to Abraham and
his posterity, the perpetual inheritance of the promised land with
whatever privileges were implied in his being their God, on
condition that their male children were circumcised in testimony of
putting themselves under that covenant. There is no limitation with
respect to time; nay it is expressly said that the covenant should be
perpetual.

The ordinance of the Passover is also said to be perpetual, Ex. xii.
14, &c. "And this day shall be unto you for a memorial, and you
shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations.
You shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever." This is repeated
afterwards, and the observance of this rite is confined to Israelites,
Proselytes, and slaves who should be circumcised, v. 48.

The observance of the Sabbath was never to be discontinued, Ex.
xxxi. 16. "Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath
throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign
between me and the children of Israel for ever."

The appointment of the Family of Aaron to be Priests, was to
continue as long as the Israelites should be a nation. See Lev. vii.
35.

The Feast of Tabernacles was to be forever. Lev. xxiii. 41. "It
shall be a statute for ever, in your generations." The observance of
this Festival is particularly mentioned in the prophecies, which
foretell a future settlement of the Jews in their own land, as
obligatory on all the world; as if an union of worship at Jerusalem
was to be, according to