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162
ISLAMISM UNSUPPORTED

and useful and significant under that particular economy, becomes a senseless imposition and grievous burden on the Musulmans, because among the former people, they had a typical meaning and reference, and were intended as temporary and preparatory to a future and more perfect dispensation under the Messiah, intimations of which had been frequently given by the prophets; whilst as far as the Musulmans are concerned, these impositions degenerate into unmeaning forms, or badges of vassalage and subjection. Jesus Christ enjoined two ordinances as of perpetual obligation in his Church, viz. Baptism and the Lord's Supper, the one an initiatory rite performed on our admission into the Church, the other a standing ordinance commemorative of our Lord's death to be often received, as a proof of our adherence to the faith and devotedness to his service.

Again, Islamism, like all other systems of