and constitutions.
One person may have a severe illness caused by fever, and the skilled
doctor will give him cooling remedies; and when at some other time the
condition of this person has changed, and fever is replaced by chills,
without doubt the skilled doctor will discard cooling medicine and permit
the use of heating drugs. This change and alteration is required by the
condition of the patient and is an evident proof of the skill of the
physician.

Consider, could the Law of the Old Testament be enforced at this epoch and
time? No, in the name of God! it would be impossible and impracticable;
therefore, most certainly God abrogated the laws of the Old Testament at
the time of Christ. Reflect, also, that baptism in the days of John the
Baptist was used to awaken and admonish the people to repent from all sin,
and to watch for the appearance of the Kingdom of Christ. But at present
in Asia, the Catholics and the Orthodox Church plunge newly born children
into water mixed with olive oil, and many of them become ill from the
shock; at the time of baptism they struggle and become agitated. In other
places, the clergy sprinkle the water of baptism on the forehead. But
neither from the first form nor from the second do the children derive any
spiritual benefit. Then what result is obtained from this form? Other
peoples are amazed and wonder why the infant is plunged into the water,
since this is neither the cause of the spiritual awakening of the child,
nor of its faith or conversion, but it is only a custom which is followed.
In the time of John the Baptist it was not so; no, at first John used to
exhort the people, and to guide them to repentance from sin, and to fill
them with the desire to await the manifestation of Christ. Whoever
received the ablution of baptism, and repented of sins in absolute
humility and meekness, would also purify and cleanse his body from outward
impurities. With perfect yearning, night and day, he would constantly wait
for the manifestation of Christ, and the entrance to the Kingdom of the
Spirit of God.(85)

To recapitulate: our meaning is that the change and modification of
conditions, and the altered requirements of different centuries and times,
are the cause of the abrogation of laws. For a time comes when these laws
are no longer suitably adapted to conditions. Consider how very different
are the requirements of the first centuries, of the Middle Ages, and of
modern times. Is it possi