Chapter I: The Etymology of “Ceremonial Laws,” § 7.
CHAPTER I: THE ETYMOLOGY OF “CEREMONIAL LAWS”
§ 7. Now that we have said these things about ceremonial and forensic laws taken together, it remains for us to discuss the two individually. “Ceremonial laws” have their name from the object or material about which they treat, for they deal with ecclesiastical ceremonies or rituals that were to be observed in the external worship of God. Where the term “ceremonies” comes from can be learned from Valerius Maximus, who writes (Memorabil., bk. 1, ch. 1, example 10):
When (Rome) had been captured by the Gauls, the priest of Romulus and the Vestal Virgins, whose responsibility it was, were carrying off the sacred vessels. They had crossed the Pile Bridge1 and were starting down the slope that leads to the Janiculan hill when Lucius Alvanius, who was carrying his wife and children on a cart, caught sight of them. Because he had a higher regard for the public religion than he had love for his personal affairs, he then ordered his family to get off of the cart and put the Virgins and the sacred vessels on it. He abandoned his present course and went to the town of Caere,2 where they were received with great respect. In loving memory they show their hospitable kindness to this day. Hence the sacred vessels began to be called “ceremonies” [caeremonias] because the people of Caere revered them in the broken state of the republic just as if it were flourishing.
Dionysius Gothofred (Notis ad Festum, p. 1710) recalls that “‘cerus’ in the language of the ancients was the same as ‘sanctus’ [‘holy’].” Some prefer to spell it ceremoniae, which does not fit the etymology of Valerius Maximus.3 It was customary for Hebrews to call the ceremonial laws 
[“ordinances”], in the construct 
, in the feminine 
(especially in connection with the word 
, which denotes political regulations), from the root 
, [meaning] “he established the form of something; he engraved an image.” This was because the Levitical ceremonies were types which especially foreshad-owed Christ and His benefits. The word 4
in Gen. 49:10 means the sacred and august body of seventy elders who would rise from royal lineage, called the “Sanhedrin” by the Greeks and, through a corrupt word, called 
(“the house of great council”) by rabbinic scholars. After the form of royal governance, those men held the highest level of power and authority among the Israelites in the Babylonian captivity as well as after it until the time of Herod. The Septuagint translators rendered 
as τὰδικαιώματα (justificationes [“righteous deeds”], Exod. 15:26; Deut. 4:1; etc.). This is not because the observance of those ceremonies was the Israelites’ righteousness before God, but because they were types and shadows of Christ and His benefits, whom God made “our righteousness” (1 Cor. 1:30). Sometimes a general term is used and they are called πρoστὰγματα (“statutes,” “ordinances,” Lev. 26:46; Deut. 12:1; etc.). So also vόμιμov (“a legal or lawful statute,” Exod. 28:43; Lev. 3:17); νόμoς (“law,” Exod. 12:43; Num. 9:3; Josh. 24:25; etc.); ὲντoλή (“command,” Deut. 16:12, etc.). Luther translates it Satzungen [“regulations”] and Kirchenrechte [“church laws”]. In Rom. 9:4 they seem to be denoted by the word λατρεία [“worship”], as also in Heb. 9:1, since they were5 external exercises of divine worship.