mitted, that in this respect, the Catholic priest is more consistent than the Protestant who wears the title, and calls the table at which he officiates an altar, but disclaims the power of presenting on it an oblation or sacrifice. The Protestant altar, if not erected, like that at Athens, to an unknown God, is erected for an unknown purpose. this inducement for those who desire " priest's orders," that in it they may find a complete office.

The Catholic church has

But, before an individual, who wishes fully to understand the ground of every step which he takes, will seek " 'priest's orders" any where, or repose any confidence on priestly rites by whomsoever performed, he will require to be shown the scriptural authority by which, under the christian dispensation, the office is sustained, and the rites are discharged. The reasonableness of such a requirement must at once be seen and felt. There have been so many impositions practised upon men under the name and profession of religion, in all ages, and in almost all countries, that caution, in surrendering ourselves to religious orders of men, rather than unhesitating and implicit credence, becomes a duty :-a duty, enforced not only by the reason of the case, and the immensely important interests which it involves, but also

by the direct injunctions of the Saviour and his apostles. Take heed that no man deceive you.' Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they be of God, because many false prophets are gone into the world."

More especially will every minister of religion, who is enlightened, honest, and sincere, be desirous that these precepts should be fully enforced. He will resent the impositions which have been practised by others, and be ready, cheerfully and promptly, to give a reason for every official title which he wears, and every part of the work which he performs. He will be concerned, so far as in him lies, to keep his conscience before God as the noon-day clear, and his character for sincerity and integrity before men, unimpeached and unimpeachable. He will not, with a christian name and office, yield pre-eminence, in any moral respect, to a Jewish priest, who, be it remembered, could discharge all the functions of his office, without the embarrassment of a single conscientious scruple in his own mind, without a rational ground for suspicion, which could desecrate him in the eyes of others.

Had a Jewish priest been asked for the origin of the office which he sustained, he could

have produced the Book of the Law, and have pointed with his finger to the express passage of institution. He could have given full and explicit quotations, not only in support of the title and authority of the office itself; but also, descriptions in detail of every particular which related to its services, and even of the vestments which were to be worn in its discharge. Had he been asked for his own individual and particular right to execute the office, he could have produced the genealogical tables, and have led the inquirer, ascending or descending through every link of the chain which connected him with God's first anointed-Aaron. Had he been asked for the authority of any of the varied rites which he performed, he could again, in every instance, have referred to the specific and divine prescription. to those who wear the title, office, and perform the rites of a priest in the Christian church, and ask them to show us, in the New Testament, the specific institution of their office ;-to prove their descent, natural or ecclesiastical, from any priest who ever officiated, by God's appointment, in heaven or earth; to give us divine prescription for the rites which they discharge; we ask for that which no priest in existence can produce,-we present a difficulty which cannot be satisfac

But, if we turn pretend to the

torily removed,-we lay naked to the eye the fallacy and impotence of names and pretensions derived from another dispensation of religion, without the comprehension of its principles, or the firm basis of its authority and facts. In no particular has the church and the world been more extensively and injuriously misled, than in ministerial pretensions derived from Judaism. These pretensions were introduced into the Christian church at a very early period of its history, and were the source from which the greater part of its subsequent corruptions flowed.* So long as they remain in any of

"The Christian doctors had the good fortune to persuade the people, that the ministers of the Christian church succeeded to the character, rights and privileges, of the Jewish priesthood: and this persuasion was a new source both of honours and profit to the sacred order. This notion was propagated with industry some time after the reign of Adrian, when the second destruction of Jerusalem had extinguished among the Jews all hopes of seeing their government restored to its former lustre, and their country arising out of its ruins. And, accordingly, the bishops considered themselves as invested with a rank and character similar to those of the high-priest among the Jews, while the presbyters represented the priests, and the deacons the Levites. It is indeed highly probable, that they who first introduced this absurd comparison of offices, so entirely distinct, did it rather through ignorance and error than through artifice or design. The notion, however, once introduced, produced its natural effects; and these effects were pernicious. The errors to which it gave rise were many; and one of its

their modifications, christianity will be encumbered with that which is incongruous with its nature, which obscures its lustre, fetters its liberty, and confuses the interesting and instructive relation which the two systems, coming from the same hand, and comprised in the one volume of inspiration, bear to each other.

The difficulty, as it has already been stated, which lies in the way of an individual who would substantiate his right to the priestly office in the Christian church, on an analogy drawn from Judaism, is insurmountable. He can produce no inspired warrant of institution,no genealogical table of descent, no divine prescription of priestly rites. But the case is not yet presented in the whole of its strength. As the Christian dispensation is the last in order of time which has been given to the world; so is it allowed by all, to be the clearest in light, and most abounding in privileges. "Life and immortality are brought to light by the gospel." "When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of

immediate consequences was, the establishing a greater difference between the christian pastors and their flock than the genius of the gospel seems to admit."-Mosheim, Cent. II. chap. ii. sect. 4.