In the Christian Church the word has been used in place of the two Greek words (1) rrptajivTepog, which really signifies an elder, and (2) Uoevc, which corre- Bponds i" the Latin sacerdos, i. e. one who offers sacri- fice—words which arc exceedingly dissimilar in mean- ing, but, used in this indiscriminate manner, convey a i as i" the respective offices of priest and preach r. The ( ihristian preacher or minister answers rather to the ancient prophet than to the Old-Testament priest As iepevc. means one who offers sacrifices, and as sacrifices have been abolished since the offering of the one perfect and all-sufficient Sacrifice, i! follows that, in the strict and official sense, there are no "sacri- ficers" under the Mew-Testament or Christian dispensa- tion. If, therefore, the claims of the ministers of the Church are made to rest upon a precise analogy to those founded upon the priestly functions of an abrogated dis- pensation, it surely becomes the advocates of such claims t<> prove from the Christian Institute that the conceived analogy exists. I!ut where is the proof? There is not a single passage in " the book" of apostles and evangel- ists to support the assumption. Nowhere are the min- isters "I the Gospel represented as "sacriticers;" no- where is provision made for such a succession, as in any respect similar to the Levitical, and still less the Aaron- ical priesthood. To the prophets, and riders of the Synagogues, it is admitted that there are allusions de- scriptive of ministerial duties: for the work of instruc- tion was the appropriate business of these ecclesiastical functionaries, and not performing the services of a pre- scribed ritual. lint sacerdotal dignities are nowhere ascribed to Christian presbyters.
The priesthood, as a religious order, perished with Judaism. The priesthood was the shadow, and disap- peared when the substance came. Asa mediator, Je- sus Christ is the only priest ; as a servant of God, whose duty it is to consecrate his full time and energies and thoughts to the divine service, every Christian is a "priest unto God." The New Testament, then lore. contains no hint of any priest, nor of any officer answer- ing to a priest, in the early Church: and. on the con- trary, contains many passages which teach more or less directly and distinctly that the priesthood of the class is merged in the priestly character of Jesus Christ and that of the wlmle discipleship (comp. Heb. ii, 17 ; iii, 1 ; iv, 11: v. 5-10; vii. "J7. 28; x, 11. 12; Rev. v. 10). It is very clear that the apostles, when they so plainly as- sert the abolition of sacrifices since the offering of the one perfect and all-sufficient Sacrifice, could never intend to institute such an office as a surrijiriiir/ priest. When they use the term, they apply it to Christ alone. The office of a Christian pastor is not to atone, but to preach the atom nil nt. In Rom. xv, 16 the application of the term by the apostle Paul is figurative. The modern minister answers rather to the ancient prophet than to the ancient priest. At least this is the universal opin- ion of nearly all Protestant Christendom, though some relics of the old priestly idea of a special sacerdotal or- der, with peculiar privileges and prerogatives, ami pos- culiar holiness, still linger in the < Ihurch. The advocates of hierarchical claims, whether Rom- ish, Greek, or Protestant Christians, assume that min- isters an' entitled to be regarded as succeeding to the same relation to the Church with that which was sus- tained by the priesthood under the Jewish economy. Heine the tinns ami offices peculiar to tin- ancient priests an- conceived to be analogous to the functions and designations of the Christian ministry. On this assumption, it i- contended that the duties performed and tin' authority exercised under the direct sanction of the Mo.-t High are now transferred to those who are
duly qualified, by a certain order of succession, to dis- charge the offices of the ministry under the present dis- pensation. In the grades of the hierarchy the priest- hood is second in order only to that of bishop, Bishops and priests possess the same' priestly authority, but the bishop has the power of transmitting it to othi rs, which an ordinary priest cannot do. The priest is regarded as the ordinary minister of the Eucharist, whether as a sacrament or as a sacrifice; of baptism, penance, and extreme unction; and although the contracting partus
are held ill the modem schools to be 1 h< tn-> 1\ .— the ministers of marriage, the priest is regarded by all schools of Roman divines a- at hast the normal and official witness of it~ celebration. The priest i~ also officially charged with the instruction of the people and the direction of their spiritual concerns, and, by long- established use. special districts, called parish* - •;. \ .■. are assigned to priests, within which they are intrusted with the care ami supervision of the spiritual want- of all the inhabitants. The holy order of priesthood can only he conferred by a bishop, and he is ordinarily as- sisted by two or more priests, w ho. in common with the bishop, impose hands on the candidate. The rest of the ceremonial of ordination consists in investing the candidate with the sacred instruments and ornaments of his order, anointing his baud-, and reciting certain prayers significant of the gifts ami the duties of the of- fice. Dens defines the priesthood as •■ a sacred order and sacrament, in which power n conferred of consecrating the body ol Christ, of remitting sins, and of adminis- tering certain other sacraments." Accordingly, at the consecration of a priest, after unction ami prayer, the chalice, with wine and water, and the paten upon it with the host, are given to him. with these awful words,