The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1903-10-10

| CONVERSATION XII-Continued.
The ancient Gentle priesthood, [
Think said Diefenbach. had their
origin in good rather than in evil. God
has established for the human race
two powers, the priestly and the king
ly. In the beginning these powers
were not detached the one from the
I other but were both United in the per-
son of the patriarch or pater-familias,
! the patrician CT early Roman history,
who was both priest and king for his
own family, household or gems. This
order, the patriarchal, was the original
or earliest form of government. and
| is that from which all other forms
| have been developed 1t was in the
early ages of the world universal, and
we find traces of it among all nations,
ancient and modern, especially in the
gentes of the Romans, the hordes of
/ Tartary, the septs of Ireland, the clans
of Scotland, the tribes of the American
Indians, and in the village of the
Hindus and Russians. In this order
originally, as l have said, the two pow
ers were united but in the time of
Nemrod, as I read the Biblical records,
the kingly power detached itself FROM
the priestly. and erected itself into n
separate power. Nemrod would build
cities, found a mighty empire, and
reign alone as absolute lord and mas
ter. The priesthood still remained IL
the paterfamilias, till gradually it be-
came confined to certain priestlY Ia
milias, who in process of time became
priestly corporations, and in some ma
tons a priestly caste. The separation
was not sought or effected by t.ie
priestly power, but by the kingly, and
the union continued in the Biblical
go,
Levitical priesthood, and the conse-
Grafton of Aaron With the Gentiles-
that is, the people who broke from the
patrarchal order and apostatiZed from
the patriarchal religiOn-the separa-
ton took place at a much earlier date
and by violence not as in the Levitt
zeal priesthood by divine authority and
arrangement. But even in these apos-
tate nations the Gentle priesthoods
were in some sense the continuation,
though in a heterodoX line of the
primitive and true priesthood. which
God had originally established among
men. They succeeded, in some sort.
to the patriarchal priesthood, and rep
resented for the Gentiles the ideal, OF
the divine element in human life and
affairs. They did not all at once lose
the primitive doctrine, or even their
original character. and all the great
states of antiquity were. most likely
founded while they were comparatively
pure. They became corrupt and cor
rupted doctrine and worship only by
degrees, and all the historical records
bearing on the case go to prove that
while they remained comparatively
pure thar power was greatest. and
precisely while their power was great
est their respective nations were the
loi ha q nj
their grandeur, and made their most ,
rap id strides in civilization. To the /
superficial observer these nations may !
seem to have become more respondent |
as the influence of the Priesthood de-
clined, and as the lay power became |
more and more predominant; but it Is !
only with a phosphorescent splendor, I
indicative of their increasing rotten
ness. The decadence of q nation dates
from the decadence of the power and !
influence of its priesthood. The heroic
ages of Greece and Rome are the ages
when the sacredotal order exerted the /
most influence and the nation was
most careful to observe the worship of
the gods. The philosophers came aft |
erwards and undermined the belief in
the popular religion, taught the people
to speculate, to doubt and to Tidicule
the popular worship, and Greece fell
before the invader and ceased to be an
nation. Rome, founded by
a colony not yet become idolaters, be-
came gradually corrupt, and the pow
er and influence of her priesthood de-
clined. the piety of her people, so re-
nowned during her ages of progress,
disappeared, and the mistress of the
world entered upon her long agony
under her Caesars. The decline of the
of Protestant ministers in
his country is visibly attended by an
Increase of luxury, crime, immortality
and corruption, in which we already
nearly rival pagan Rome or Babylon,