Ordinance an institution established by lawful authority. Religious ordinances must be instituted by the great institutor of religion, or they are not binding: minor regulations are not properly ordinances. Ordinances once established are not to be varied by human caprice or mutability.
Human ordinances, established by national laws, may be varied by other laws, because the inconveniences arising from them can only be determined by experience. Yet Christians are bound to submit to these institutions, when they do not infringe on those established by divine authority; not only from the consideration that if every individual were to oppose national institutions no society could subsist, but by the tenor of Scripture itself. Nevertheless, Christianity does not interfere with political rights, but leaves individuals, as well as nations, in full enjoyment of whatever advantages the constitution of a country secures to its subjects.
The course of nature is the ordinance of God; its laws are but "the ordinances of heaven;" and every planet obeys that impulse which the divine Governor has impressed on it. (Jer 31:36).
The Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature was edited by John McClintock and James Strong. It contains nearly 50,000 articles pertaining to Biblical and other religious literature, people, creeds, etc. It is a fantastic research tool for broad Christian study.
John McClintock was born October 27, 1814 in Philadelphia to Irish immigrants, John and Martha McClintock. He began as a clerk in his father's store, and then became a bookkeeper in the Methodist Book Concern in New York. Here he converted to Methodism and considered joining the ministry. McClintock entered the University of Pennsylvania in 1832 and graduated with high honors three years later. Subsequently, he was awarded a doctorate of divinity degree from the same institution in 1848.WikipediaRead More