Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1894-02-10
A Voice from Washington.

Editor Richmond PLANET IL no.
tice in the January 9th issue OF
your paper an article purportiDg to
have been written by "a priest" In
it be endeavors to prove the exls-
tence in the Christian church of a
distinct order known as the priest
hood, of an altar, and OF q sacrifice
offered thereon IN the Mass.
Alter very careful search in the
New Testament, know of no
priests mentioned therein except oil
Melchisedec, Hebrew and heather,
on the one hand; and on the other OF
Christ our great High Priest, and OF
the priesthood of all who believe In
him. There Is a priesthood men
toned In the Old Testament and
which is obviously pointed to as ex-
listing during the gospel dispense
ton, but what authority II there for
interpreting it as any other than
that spoken OF In the New Testa-
ment
Moreover in l Corinthians XII
- Taul tells rs shat or
,aou naUn set In the Church;
and uRdsStinet order Known as the
ffiesthood then existed, and one
which assumed SO much prominence
and authority as the Roman Catho-
lie priesthood now assumes, 1t Is
passing strange that no meRtion
was made of IL.
Again Pau speaks of ordainiDg
elders in the churches, but never III
ordaining priests.
But would "a priest" have Us be-
lieve that our blessed Lord before
his death, and while yet sitting OF
reclining at the table, handed toeach
of bis disciples bis own body and
blood, and that each of them
swallowed him whole while he was
yet beside them7 In the chapter
preceding the one TO which have
referred Paul uses these words
doth not even nature itself teaci
you 2" Aud IL appears to me prop
er to use the same language ia thil
case. II anything appears unreason
able, absurd and nonsensical il is th,
claim to trans-substantiou in tn
the Mass, 1t is the idea that by sa.
ing u few words over 1
wafer of bread it becomes in
instantly converted into the Twins
Christ. Ii mistake not, the grea
sin of idolatry lay In worshipini
things that any man of C mmol
sense must have known were inca
pable of crt ating him and powerlek
Co do him either good or evil. Th
sin lay in believing things s
unreasonable and nonsensical, an
was an index showing the degree {
abasement of the human minC
And so In the case before us. liz
evident to our every sense that q
ter conservation the wafer has no
been changed into flesh and bloc
and imbued with life; and that on
Lord liz not being swallowed at th
same moment by thousands commit
uicantF scattered all over the worIC
Our all-wise Creator has kindly gi'
en- US our senses and Judgment, an
these for our guidance.
do not want TO unnecessaril
hurt the feelings of any brother
Christ. however misguided he ma
be: but considering how often on
Lord drew comparison betwee
things in nature and things spiritus
and considering how frequently bot
he and the other writer's OF the Hol
Scriptures employed fgurative Ian
guage, why should we necessarily IL
fer and say that these words of his
This is my body" and This is m
blood" must be taken literally? Ii
to what absurdities would We be lie
were we TO interpret the whole Bib
that way For instance we woul
have to believe that Jacob was tt
ann and aloO fho naronf 0f a varfof
of animals. Genesis xxxvii an
xix. We would also have to b
lieve that Pharaoh was both a re,
dragon and as a dragon" Ezeki
xxix:3; xxxiI:2. The travelle
passing through Palestine woul
have to recognize every rose
Sharon" and every Oily of the va
ley" to be the Christ, and ought
bow down to them as to the Wafe
A PROTESTANT.