| 9 THE MELCHISEDEC PRIESTHOOD.
The subject of the priesthood is one that seems to be forgotten, looked over, or passed by by most of this generation; and indeed has been by many generations past with very few exceptions. The Roman church, it is true, have made some pretensions to a priesthood, as also the church of England; both of which profess to trace it by lineal descent through the papal succession, or a continued unbroken chain of bishops from the apostolic days down to the present time; there is a kind of mongrel priesthood professed to be adhered to by the Episcopal Methodists, but it is more formal than otherwise, as neither the preachers nor people adhere to it with very great tenacity.
The many contentions that there has been among the claimants of the papal chair, the frequent and glaring abuses that have been practised [practiced] and permitted by papal authority have not passed unobserved by a discerning and scrutinizing public; these together with the unfounded and illegitimate pretensions of the church of England and other dissenters, who lay claim to the priesthood have had a tendency to bring the very name of a priest into disrepute.
We have not time to enter into the various abuses of the Church of Rome, but will merely state that if they had continued pure, their priesthood would also have been pure; and their authority to administer in the ordinances of the church would have been legal; not because they had a succession of popes, but in consequence of their adherence to the pure principles of the gospel, for the priesthood can not continue when the gospel is perverted; hence John was commanded to write to the angels of the churches of Asia, and to tell several of them that if they did not repent, their candlesticks would be removed out of their place.
When our Savior said to his disciples-"Lo I am with you always even unto the end of the word;" he just before said unto them in the same connexion [connection];-"Go ye therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you." But as they have departed from his gospel, introduced the ordinances of men and neglected to teach the things that God commanded them, they have lost the authority, blessings and power of the priesthood, their candlestick is removed out of its place, and Christ has ceased to be with them. In regard to the church of England and other dissenters, who profess to obtain a priesthood through the professed unbroken chain of their priestly line,-their situation is if possible more deplorable than that of the Church of Rome.-They claim a priesthood, but trace it through the Romish church-yet they tell us that the Church of Rome is fallen and corrupt, and was so at the time that they dissented from them; if so how could they impart a pure, healthy, and legal priesthood? "a corrupt fountain cannot send forth pure streams," so out of their own mouths we must necessarily condemn them; therefore, so far as their pretensions to priesthood go, they are imbecile and foolish, and their holy orders a mere figment; and without a priesthood there can be no pure church, as there is no one legally ordained of God to administer in ordinances, or to preserve pure and unadulterated the principles of truth.
But in regard to the professions of Protestantism in general; from whence did it come? from the Church of Rome; did God ever authorize the scism [schism]? or did the Church of Rome ever sanction their separation? verily no! if not, how did they become a church? as these are the only authorities that could impart the priesthood, or make them a church, even if the church of Rome had continued pure. But although the Church of Rome might have had authority to impart priesthood, it never could have had authority to sanction another church separate from, and in contradistinction to itself; and God never would sanction such proceeding; he might have cut off the Church of Rome, and given them the priesthood, and authority, but he never would acknowledge both at once to be his churches, while they themselves were at variance; and if he had reinstated them in the place of the Church of Rome it must have been by revelation, and this principle they deny-but if it should be here said that these dissenters had the priesthood when they left the Roman church,-we would remark that they obtained it from a corrupt church, according to their own acknowledgment and testimony; and consequently it could be of no use to them; if it should further be stated that although corrupt they had power to impart priesthood; we would further add, if they had power to impart priesthood they had power to take it away; if they had power to bind on earth, and in heaven; they had power to loose on earth and in heaven; consequently whichever way you look at it, all claims to a church and priesthood since the apostacy [apostasy] of the Church of Rome are futile and without foundation.
There have been many good men since then, both in the Church of Rome, among the dissenters, and also among those who belong to no society, who have strove to benefit the world.
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