Parousia

“ Then, in the first place, we say that it is by the power and keys of the holy Priesthood, and the ordinances and spirit thereof.
This people, composed of diverse nations, tongues, habits and religions, have all been baptized by one Spirit into one body. So far as they have, in all honesty repented, and been baptized, they have all received a portion of the Holy Spirit of promise by the laying on of the hands of the Priesthood, in the name of Jesus, and they have one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one Holy Spirit, and one God and Father of all. ”

“ A young priest sustains him; St. Paula, kneeling, kisses one of his thin bony hands; the saint fixes his eager eyes on the countenance of the priest, who is about to administer the sacrament,—a noble dignified figure in a rich ecclesiastical dress; a deacon holds the cup, and an attendant priest the book and taper; the lion droops his head with an expression of grief; the eyes and attention of all are on the dying saint, while four angels, hovering above, look down upon the scene. ”

“ The clergy, including the monks and friars, were one throughout Latin Christendom. Whatever antagonism, feud, hatred, and estrangement might rise between rival prelates, rival priests, rival orders, whatever irreconcilable jealousy there might be between the seculars and regulars, yet the caste seldom betrayed the interest of the caste. The clergy in general were first the subjects of the Pope, then the subjects of their temporal sovereign. The Pope came to be acknowledged over the whole of Christendom as the guardian, and in some respects the suzerain, of Church property all over the world. ”

“ Of this kind, in fact, was the answer of Christ in the Gospel, when He said that concerning the Day of Judgment no one had any knowledge, neither the Angels in Heaven, nor the Son: that is, according to the interpretation of the Fathers, such knowledge that He could communicate to others. Now this is the condition of Catholics in England: they are in peril of their liberty, their fortunes, and their lives, if they should have a Priest in their houses. How can it be forbidden them to escape these evils by an equivocal answer, and to confirm this answer, if necessary, by an oath? ”

“ How many have become dissenters almost of necessity; have been allured to the meeting not from the Church, but from the streets and the alehouse, and remain there partly from habit, partly because the claims of Christ's Church, and the blessedness of her children, have never been set before them. Let our parochial system be made universally efficient, and we may hope that we shall soon find them among us. ”

“ He laid aside his sumptuous apparel, entered the order of priests, became an itinerant preacher, went barefoot and wearing a sheepskin, and having his body girt with a cord. He exposed the worldly-minded and degenerate clergy of his time, and became popular, having obtained from the Pope a roving licence to preach. Whenever he entered a village or approached a castle, the herdsmen who caught sight of him circulated the news; the bells were rung, and young and old hastened to church, where, after performing Mass, he exhorted the people. ”

“ So long as poorly clad, emaciated, clean-living Franciscan or Eremite priests could be found to act as confessors, priests, or preachers, the people deserted the parish clergy, flocked to their confessionals, waited on their serving the Mass, and thronged their chapels to listen to their sermons. ”

“ No person who is infirm shall be compelled by priests to make a will. (18) The sacrament shall not be withheld from any one for debt or other reason. The church or priest has a remedy in court. (19) Fines for adultery and fornication belong to the king, not to the bishop. (20) The Gospel shall hereafter be taught in every school. (21) Bishops shall consecrate no priest who is incompetent to preach the Word of God. (22) No one shall be made a prelate, canon, or prebend unless he has been recommended by the king, or his name submitted to the king. ”

“ In an age of faith, it is easy to see how profound was the impression made when the population of every parish and mission was assembled in its church and listened to such utterances in the name of Christ and the pope, with their reduplication of threats and promises, and each one was required to raise his right hand and solemnly swear on the cross and the gospels to accept it all and obey it to the letter. ”

“ Since the apostle says that we ought not to be partakers with the sins of other men, [537] what else does he do but make himself partaker with the sins of other men, who holds communion with heretics without the baptism of the Church? And therefore I pronounce my judgment that heretics should be baptized, that they may receive remission of their sins, and so communion be allowed to them. ”

“ It is a most miserable thing to have to speak of oneself, especially in regard to religious things; but it is forced upon me by the peculiarity of my position in being thus sent among you.
Some have said,—"How is it possible that you, with your peculiar views about the Church, should again become a parish Priest in the Church of England? We thought you were going to be a Catholic, (by which they mean a Roman Catholic.) ”

“ Wherefore, as in the days when Christ walked on the earth and companied with the clergy, the high priests, priests and Pharisees—the different grades of the priesthood—observing the traditions of their own making, and asserting that they had God for their Father and that they were of Abraham's seed, and at no time served any man and enjoying a reputation among the people, did not do all these things, so that the clergy might by antonomasia and truly be called the holy church, inasmuch as Christ himself said of them, Matt. ”

“ And subsequently the Priesthood was taken from among men, this authority was re-called into the heavens, and the world was left without the Priesthood—without the power of God—without the Church and Kingdom of God. There were tens of thousands that hearkened to the teachings of the disciples and yielded obedience to the Gospel; and they suffered persecution such as the people of God in this generation have never begun to suffer. ”

“ The higher Priesthood after the order of the Son of God, we are told, in a modern revelation, holds the power to commune with the Church of the First-born that are in heaven, and that too not in a spiritual sense alone ”

“ The parochial system, though shaken by the fatal poor-law, is still the most ancient, the most comprehensive, and the most popular institution of the country; the younger priests are, in general, men whose souls are awake to the high mission which they have to fulfil, and which their predecessors so neglected ”

“ St. SIRICIUS, [2] L.C. “As it has been decreed in our Synod, we admit these, with the Novatians and other heretics, to the communion of the faithful, by invoking the Holy Spirit, and by the imposition of the hand of the Bishops, as it is practised in all the Churches of the East and West.” Ep. ad Himer. c. 1. Conc. Gen. T. ii. p. 1018.
St. JEROM, L.C. The schismatic, against whose party he writes, is introduced, saying: “You cannot be ignorant that it is the practice in the Church to impose hands on those that have been baptised, and to invoke the Holy Spirit. ”

“ Our parsons and priests, like our ecclesiastical architecture and general church management, do not seem to have improved upon their ancestors. Priests are not as jolly as they once were. In olden days “holy fathers” could wear horse-hair shirts and scarify their epidermis with a finer cruelty than their modern successors, and they could, after all that, make the blithest songs, sing the merriest melodies, and quaff the oldest port with an air of jocund conscientiousness, making one slyly like them, however much inclined to dispute the correctness of their theology. ”

“ The word “parish”—the English equivalent for the Latin parocia—is derived from the Christian use of the Greek word παροικία in the sense of a district or diocese under the rule and jurisdiction of a bishop. In a recent paper on “The Rise of the Parochial System,” printed in the Transactions of the Exeter Architectural and Archæological Society, the author, the Rev. Oswald Reichel, has treated this [Pg 3] question fully and in a most satisfactory manner. What has been so well done need not be done over again. ”

“ Hold you fast that which you believe is most acceptable to God, and I will do the same. I believe the Episcopal form of church government to be scriptural and apostolical. If you think the Presbyterian or Independent is better, think so still, and act accordingly. I believe infants ought to be baptized; and that this may be done either by dipping or sprinkling. If you are otherwise persuaded, be so still, and follow your own persuasion. It appears to me, that forms of prayer are of excellent use, particularly in the great congregation. ”

“ The rule of conduct of the parochial clergy has appeared to me to be to keep their influence over their flocks in purely ecclesiastical matters, and run no risk of straining that influence by interfering with their personal morality, or by making Christianity the difficult rule of life which it is in Puritan countries. ”

“ Yes, they hold keys between him and Jesus. Here we all see that we have only got a portion of the Priesthood and the keys, the others are in the possession of the congregations of Saints in the heavens, and before we are prepared to be ministered to by them and enjoy their society, we must alter considerably. Some say, why, the coming of the Lord is nearer than some of you suppose. ”

“ The Pope's court on earth plunders the Heavenly court of Christ. The clergy never read the Book of God; but they are ever studying the book of this world. I once loved priests more than men and even angels. The kiss of those fornicating priests is the kiss of Judas when he betrayed our Lord!”—Montagu, pages 305-6.
An essential factor in the power of this evil one, and an important part of the iniquity of ecclesiasticism is the Romish confessional, which many Episcopal and Protestant ecclesiastics would, if they could, establish in the harlot daughters, the daughter churches, Protestantism. ”

“ He is more gained over by the eye than by the ear, and is with difficulty persuaded that a priest in a black gown or plain white surplice can be as important a person as one of his 'Papas,' who wears a magnificent vestment in the church, shouts and chants loudly, and makes a thousand signs of the cross, and as many genuflexions. ”

“ Aided by divine grace, they awakened the indifferent, converted heretics, gathered about them the few Catholics who immigrated from Europe, attracted all men by their affable and conciliating manners, their intelligence and education, and the disinterestedness of their lives. Soon on this apparently sterile soil Catholic parishes grew up and flourished in the midst of people who had never before seen a priest. ”

“ The priest offers Him up to His heavenly Father in the name of the Catholic Church, or rather He offers Himself up, and we can confidently hope that we will obtain more through prayers at the holy Mass than through our own unaided prayers. In order to have part in the holy sacrifice of the Mass a person should follow the actions and prayers of the priest, especially at the offertory, consecration, and communion ”

“ And in seeking thus to provide for the spiritual growth of souls committed to his care, the priest, on the principles of the Anglican formularies, is justified and entitled to make use of the means in use throughout Catholic Christendom. He is quite justified in calling his people together for a prayer meeting, if in his judgment that will be for their spiritual good ”

“ With such thunderbolts as the excommunication and interdict in the hands of the great High Priest of the Church, which could be hurled at will against any individual or people, and when the people blindly and unquestionably submitted to them, it can be seen how the power of the Papacy was augmented and the subjection of the clergy and laity alike increased. ”

“ The Roman Catholic priest is debarred by celibacy from the family tie, bound by his vow of blind obedience, by the tenets of his faith, as well as by external interest, to the Bishop of Rome, and thus withdrawn and estranged from the interests of his fatherland. Instead of awakening and strengthening patriotism and community of feeling, the Catholic priest, as teacher of the people, is engaged, by the statutes of his Church, to stifle both. ”

“ Our articles are Protestant and scriptural; our ceremonies are derived from the Papacy, and are antiscriptural. [476] Hence we account for the existence of the two orders of clergy who officiate at our altars—the evangelical and the Tractarian. We are a kingdom divided against itself, and what the final issue of the contest will be no human foresight can decide. You are for reforming the Prayer-book by expunging that which savours so strongly of the Papacy ”

“ We came forward, when we see our sins, with honest hearts, determined to do right, believing in Jesus Christ; then some Apostle or Elder that had received the Priesthood through the ministration of Joseph Smith, or that grew out of his administration, took us and buried us in the waters of baptism in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins, and we then resolved to lead a new life. ”