Duration of the Ceremonial Precepts

When the Old Law was given to men, it made obligatory some ceremonies that were already practiced by good men of prophetic gifts. Other ceremonies were newly set up by the Law.

The cleansing ceremonies of the Old Law were to removeirregularities of a material nature which unfitted a man for ceremonial worship. But they could not take away sin from the soul. They expressed faith in the Redeemer to come, and signified thepurifying of the soul to be achieved through the merits of Christ. But they could not confer grace.

The ceremonial law ceased with the coming of Christ. For, as we have seen, the ceremonies prescribed by the Old Law were also prophecies. And when a prophecy has been fulfilled, it ceases to exist; it has reached its term; it no longer has meaning. Even such Old Law ceremonies as prefigured heaven gave way to the more perfect prophecies and prefigurings of the New Law.

It would be seriously sinful to observe the ceremonies of the Old Law as though they still had significance and binding force. This would be a practical denial that the propheciesexpressed in the ceremonies had been fulfilled. It would be a practical denial of Christ, and of the necessity and sufficiency ofthe Christian order.