River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1909-02-04
Which One is the
Church OF Christ?
Continued from last week.

1 NOAOAN - GuliSl gave his Apostles
certain powers.
This is proven from Saint Mat
thew xviii 1920. The eleven
went into Galilee, into a mountain
where Jesus had appointed them
and Jesus spake unto
them, saying, All power is given un-
to me in heaven and in earth; Go We
therefore and teach all nations, bap-
tizing them in the Name of the Fa-
Their, and of the Son and of the
Holy Ghost: teaching them to OBJ
serve all things whatsoever l have
commanded you: and 10, am with
you always, even unto the end of
the world. Amen" And again, by
Saint John Xxx. 21-23, Then said
Jesus unto them again, Peace be un-
to you: as My Father hath sent Me
even SO send you. And when He
had said this, He breathed or them,
and said unto them, Receive we the
Holy Ghost, Whosesoever sins We
remit, they are RENTED unto them;
and whosesoever sins we retain, they
are retained"
s. THE APOSTOLIC SUCCESS
SION = The Apostles transmitted
these powers to others.
Christ, as seen above, promised to
be with His Apostles even unto the
end of the world. The eleven must,
therefore, either live until then, or
their commission must be transmit
ted to others who represent them.
That the latter is the case is practic-
ally admitted by all who venture to
baptize, for otherwise they would
have no authority to do so. We co
know that the Apostles appointed
Saint Matthias in the room of Judas
and that Saints Timothy, Titus,
Barnabas, and others were appoint
ed to do those things that the Apos-
ties had been commanded to do, and
thus the authority was transmitted
to others in scriptural times, or
down to A. D. 100. (I Cor. iv. IL.
After this, the fact of it's trans
mission becomes fact of general
history that can be proved as any
other matter of history.
When we come to look over the
churches, we again find that among
them all there are only two that lay
any claim to possessing the Apos-
tolic Succession, viz; - the Anglo
and the Roman Catholic; the others,
without exception, not only do not
claim it, but often boast of the fact
that they do not possess it. They
freely admit that they are not in this
particular, in historical union with
the Church which Christ founded.
There is not minister of any re-
ligious body, except of these two,
that will dare to call himself Priest,
or claims that he offers a sacrifice;
that dare stand up before his con-
gregation and, in the words that
| these tw o churches put into his
mouth, proclaim that: God hath Civ
en- him power and commandment TO
declare and pronounce to His peo-
Pile, being penitent, the Absolution
and Remission of their sins; not one
that dare assert that the elements
on the Altar, after their Consecra-
ton, become verify and indeed the
Body and Blood of Christ. Not one
of these powers is claimed by any
minister, except one of the Anglo
Catholic or t h e Roman Catholic
Church, but on the other hand they
are expressly disclaimed.
AS before said, the validity of the
claim made by the two branches of
the Catholic Church, is not now un-
der discussion, sufficient for the
present argument is the fact that
| they do make the claim, and all the
| other churches admit that they can
not make it. Yet these powers were
given by Christ to His Apostles.
Continued next week.)