of divine authority, implied in their respect to the rit- ual which that authority is conceived to have aanc- tioned, may be taken as a proof that they hare nothing to apprehend from the violation of the law under which they are placed (Watson, s. v.).
'* The rites and ceremonies of the Christian Church, agreeably to the general rules of Scripture, ought to be of such a kind as to promote the order, the decency, and the solemnity of public worship. At the same time they ought not to be numerous, but should pre- * serve that character of simplicity which is inwparaUe fttmi true dignity, and which accords eiipecially with the spiritual character of the religion of Christ. The apostles often remind Christians that they are deliv- ered from the ceremonies of the law, which are styled by Peter 'a yoke whidi neither their fiithers nor they were able to bear' (Acts xv, 10). The whole t^or of our Lord's discourses, and of the writings of hu apos- tles, elevates the mind above those superstitions observ- ances in which the Pharisees placed the substance of religion ; and, according to the divine saying of Panl, * The kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but right- ousness and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghosf (Rom. xiv, 17). The nature of this kingdom is forgotten when frivolous observances are multiplied by human authority ; and the complicated, expensive pageantry of Roman Catholic worship, tc^ether with the still lyore childish ceremonies which abound in die Eastern or Greek Church, appear to deserve the application of that censure which the apostle pronounced when he represented the attempts made in his days to Perive the Mosaic ritual as a * turning again to weak and be^^- garly elements.' Further, all the Scripture rules and examples suggest that, in enacting ceremoniee, regard should be had to the opinions, the manners, and* prejn- dices of those to whom they are prescribed, and that those who entertain more enlightened views upon the subject should not despise their weak brethren. Upon the same principle, it is obvious that ceremonies ought not to be lightly changed. In the eyeB of most peo- ple, those practices appear venerable which have been handed down from remote antiquity. To many the want of those helps to which they have been accus- tomed in the exercises of devotion might prove very hurtful, and frequent changes in the external parts of worship might shake the steadfiutness of their frith. The last rule deducible ftt>m the Scripture examples is this, that the authority which enacts the ceremonies should cleariy explain the light in which they are to be considered ; should never employ any expressions, or any means of enforcing them, wldch tend to convey to the people that they are accounted necessary to sal- vation ; and should beware of seemhig to teach that the most punctual observance of things in themselves indifferent is of equal importance with judgment, mer- cy, and the love of God." — Hill, Lectures on Dhmtty (N. T. ed., p. 778). See also Palmer, in Herzog's Jieal' Encyhlopddie, Supplem. i, 814; Farindon, Sermons, ii, 180, 161; iU, 27, 226; Common Prayer (Ch. of Eng- land), Of Ceremonies; Barrow, Works (N. Y. ed.), I, 598; ii,d89; iii, 168.
Cerinthians, followers of Cerinthus (q. v.).
CerinthuB (K^pivOoc), a heresiarch, who lived in the time of the apostle John, towards the end of the first and at the beginning of the second century. The accounts of the ancients and the opinions of mod- em writers are equaUy at variance with respect to him. He was a Jew by nation and religion, who, af- ter having studied in the schools of Alexandria, ap- * peered in Palestine, and spread his errors chiefly in Asia Minor. Onr sources of information as to his doc- trines are Irenieus, adv. Hcsr, i, 26 ; Eusebius, HitL Bed, iii, 28 ; vii, 25 ; Epiphanius, Bar, 28 ; and The- odoret. Fab, Hair, ii, 8 (0pp. tom. iii). Epiphanius makes him to have been one of those Jews who, in their zeal for the law of Moses, troubled the Church
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of Antioch hj insisting on the necessity of the legal ceremonies for the Gentile converts ; bat in this he is probably mistaken. The aocoont of Irenasos is that be appeired about the year 88, and was known to St. John, who wrote his (gospel in reftitation of his errors. Irensos, on the authority of Polycarp, narrates that the apostle John, when at Ephesus, going on a cer- tain day to the bath, and finding Gerintibos within, fled from the boilding, saying, ** Let us even be gone, lest the bath should fall to pieces, ^Jerinthus, that ene- my of the truths being within." Eusebios (iii, 28), qnothig from the presbyter Cains, states that Cerin- thus put forth some BeoeiaUoHt, written by hunself, as it were by some great apostle, filled with the most monstrous narrations, which he pretended ta have re- ceived from angels.