Show ANGLICAN ORDERS the following article was offered to tb the press of cincinnati ohio and declined by them for reasons obvious to the latter day dap faints ha ints the decision of pope leo XIII in rel to the invalidity of anglican orders appears to be creating not only a very great amount of discussion through the columns of the religious press but also considerable ill feeling the religions Telescope for example published at dayton ohio in in its issue of the irth dinst under the caption absolutely invalid says thesis this is the decision of pope leo XIII respecting all ordinations under the anglican rule after a long study of the subject he has confirmed the decision ot his predecessors in regard to this matter his decision sets aside all ordinations outside of the roman catholic church as absolutely invalid so there we have it all ministers of the lutheran the episcopal the baptist the presbyterians rians the methodists in in short all protestant churches are posing under false ordination vowel so his holiness decla declares resl and is is he not infallible Is it not impossible for him to make a mistake Is he not the successor of st peter christs vicegerent on earth does he not hold the keys of the kingdom of heaven does not that aged decrepit old man leo XIII now in in his bis dotage have the power to bind and to loose to admit into or shut out from heaven whomsoever he will does any protestant minister or layman doubt this perish the thought how will thi s august decision handed down from the vatican affect the ministry of the protestant churches in our judgment only about as sensibly as a puff of the popes pope s breath would have affected the st louis cyclone when in in the heights of its fury they will go right on preaching the riches of the gospel of christ in in demonstration of the spirit and power of the lord jesus as here heretofore leaving the pope and his liberty destroying church polity and superstitions to work out their own destruction by demonstrating their disastrous effects on human progress as they have done and are still doing in m mexico spain central and south america and in every roman catholic dominated country in the world this is scarcely the spirit in which one would expect to see a subject of so grave importance treated sarcasm and ridicule doubtless have their place even in polemics but it is only as they may be incidentally used that they can be of force one could no more think of succeeding in in an argument on a serious question by using them exclusively than he would think of making a hearty meal on condiments alone that the subject of the apostolic letter of leo XIII is a serious one no one will deny that it calls for earnest thought and not sarcasm and ridicule admits ot no doubt it involves the question of divine authority in the protestant ministry and churches and for that matter the divine authority of the church of rome itself for if the alleged successor of st peter by a method of reasoning satisfactory to himself and his council arrives at what the protestants of this generation will re gard as a startling conclusion viz that their ministry and churches are without divine authority the protestants will reply in kind they will revive the charges brought against the church of rome during the revolt from the popes authority in that wonderful sixteenth century revolution called the reformation il they will proclaim him the antichrist anti christ of new testament scripture charge upon the church of rome corn com apostasy from primitive christianity and anci accuse all those continuing in communion with her as being idolaters idol idola aters tors a and n d pagans such a rejoinder on the part ot of the protestants is inevitable since it is onla on the ground that the church of rome was become a corrupt church in complete apostasy and dispossessed of divine authority that the so called reformation of the sixteenth century or the existence of protestant churches today can be justified why is the unity of the christian churches broken why does there exist a roman catholic church and numerous protestant churches because the protestants te of the sixteenth century believed that the church of rome was in in a state of apostasy from true christianity and hence they came out irom from her dominion revolted against and rejected her authority while the church of rome on her part regarded the protestants of the same century as heretics as renegade children apostates that there has been no change in the attitude of the respective parties to this great controversy since one first denounced the other as a heretic and the other replied with the charge of anti christ christis is emphasized by this latest utterance ol of the bishop of rome in which he declares that ordinations carried out according to the anglican rite have been and are absolutely null and utterly void this question of possessing divine authority goes right down to the foundations of christianity no one will attempt to say that a man has a right to act in the name of jesus christ without authority from him to do so if it required aired direct authority from god to handle andle the sacred utensils of gods sanctuary in the wilderness and to care tor for the ark of the covenant and for touching these things without authority one was smitten with death see numbers chapter iv and ii samuel vi 30 3 if it required divine authority to burn incense before the altar in the temple of god at jerusalem and for usurping the priests office and attempting without divine divine authority to burn incense one was cursed of god with leprosy even though a king ii chronicles if it required divine authority to cast out devils and certain ones in attempting to cast them out without having authority to so command them were leaped upon by the evil spirits and prevailed against acts axx if fl I 1 say it required divine authority to do these several things thing how show reasonable it is to conclude that it will more abundantly require divine appointment or delegated power from god to make proclamation of the gospel and administer its ordinances As the sacra ments of the christian religion are of infinitely more importance than the handling of sacred utensils touching the ark of the covenant burning incense or casting out devils so too it is to be expected that god will be all the more careful to entrust their administration only to those having a divine commission to say as the bishop of rome does say that the ordinations carried out according to the anglican rite have been and are absolutely null and utterly void I 1 is of course to deny to the english clergy divine authority to deny them divine authority by saying that their orders are and have been null and void is is to say that their administration of th the christian sacraments through all the years that have elapsed since the church in england revolted against the auch authority 0 n of the pope have been useless and nd if yf rome denies the validity of the church oi of england orders it may be taken for granted that she will deny the validity of the orders of all other churches separated from her for of all the churches separated from the roman see the church of england has most nearly conformed to or what would be more accurate to say departed the least from the ritual of the old church in plain terms the church of rome holds all churches that have separated from her and all churches that have sprung into existence from the churches so separated as being without authority from god and regards their ministry as a disorderly crowd I 1 know there area class of protestant churchmen who seek to satisfy themselves on this question of authority by claiming it to have come down to them on lines independent of the church of rome but unfortunately for this contention the church of england herself and the other protestants cut cutoff off not only the source of divine authority that might be claimed as coming from the church of rome but also every other source from which that authority could spring in her great homily on the perils of idolatry the church of england says laity and clergy learned and unlearned all ages and sects and degrees have been drowned in abominable idolatry most detested by god and damnable to man for eight hundred years and more perils of idolatry page 3 by making this charge against all christendom one is unable to see how the church of england can make any claim whatsoever of divine authority for if all christendom was plunged into this awful abyss of apostasy for eight hundred years and more no divine authority survived that period nor is the church of england the only protestant authority which makes this charge of universal apostasy from primitive christianity john wesleyia Wesle yin mak ing an explanation of the cessation of scriptural gilts gifts among christians says it does not appear that these extraordinary gifts of the holy spirit speaking of i corinthians xii were common in the church for more than two or three centuries we seldom hear of them after that fatal period when the emperor constantine called himself a christian and from a vain imagination of promoting the christian cause thereby heaped riches and power and honor upon christians in general but in particular upon the christian clergy from this time they the spiritual gifts almost totally ceased very few instances of the kind were found the cause of this was not as has been supposed because there was no more occasion for them because all the world was become christians this is a miserable mistake not a twentieth part of it was then nominally christians the real cause of it was the love of many almost all christians so called was waxed cold the christians had no more of the spirit of christ than the other he athens the son of man when he came to examine his church could hardly find faith upon earth this was the real cause why the ary gifts of the holy ghost were no longer to be found in the christian church because the christians were turned he athens again and only had a dead form left wesleye We works vol vii sermon 89 pages 26 ay 27 it the christians were turned he heathen athens again agai n and only had bad a dead form of re ligi igdon on left like the other heathens heathers he athens it will be extremely difficult for the followers of mr wesley and those who have received whatsoever of authority they possess from him to point out just where their divine authority came from since their great leader proclaims this entire corruption of the christian church if on the one hand the catholic church denies to protestant christendom the possession of divine authority and if on the other hand protestants declare the universal corruption and apostasy of mediaeval Media eval christianity in order to justify the religious revolution of the sixteenth century and their own existence as so called reformed churches then there is no possible channel through which the they can claim that divine authority to aa administer the ordinances of the gospel has come down to them unless they shall claim that the heavens have again been opened and a new dispensation of the gospel including as it would divine authority has been committed to them not one of all the protestant sects claims that that such a new revelation has been given and as every other source from which divine authority could come is cut oft off by them there is left buton but one econ conclusion to come to and that is that they are without divine authority and hence their administrations of the christian sacraments are vain the position ot of the catholic church is logically more consistent than that of protestants for she insists that there hasl has been an unbroken line of authority and mission divine through the succession ot her bishops bish and more especially through ahr rugh the succession of the bishops of rome from st peter to leo xii but the church ot of rome is asking us to believe too much when it demands that we shall believe that gods authority has come down to modem times through the corrupted line of the catholic priesthood one has only to become acquainted with the melancholy history of the roman popes to be convinced of the impossibility of god acknowledging them as the line down which he has transmitted the power to speak and act in his name one need only contrast the spirit of humility which characterized the apostles and elders of the church of christ with the worldly pride ambition and wickedness of the popes of rome to see how far the latter have departed from the standard of character established by the lives of the former and one need only contrast the beautiful simplicity of the ordinances of the early christian church as described in the new Testament with I 1 the elaborate ceremonial of the catholic church to see how wide a departure has been made from the religion given to the world by the great peasant teacher of 01 judea the fact is this controversy precipitated on the religious world by the decision of pope leo xiii in respect to anglican orders brings us face to face with the great truth prophesied of in holy scripture cowit the universal apostasy from the christian religion men have transgressed the laws changed the ordinances din ances and broken the covenant of the gospel of christ of themselves men have arisen speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after them the time came when men would no longer endure sound doctrine but after their own lusts heaped teachers to themselves having itching ears and those teachers have turned their ears away from the truth unto fables ii timothy IV false teachers arose among the people who brought in damnable heresies her esies even denying the lord that bought them and many have followed their pernicious ways by reason of whom the way of truth has been evil spoken of ii peter ii the great falling fairing away predicted by the apostle of the gentiles which was to precede the glorious coming of the son of god in the clouds of heaven with power and glory has come to pass that man manof of sin the son of perdition who opp oseth and exal teth himself above all that is called god or that is worshiped so that he as god dod in the temple of god showing himself that he issod is god ti thess n x x has had and is having his rule kile and reign in the earth and men have been made to bow down to him and may continue to be compelled to bow down to him until as predicted in holy writ the lord shall destroy him with the brightness of his coming the new testament scriptures are replete with predictions of this great reat apostasy from the christian religion f igdon and one may see in the facts of ecclesiastical history that the whole christian world laity and clergy to use again the language of the church of england learned and unlearned all ages and sects and degrees have been drowned in abominable idolatry most detested by god and damnable to man the actual changes also wrought in the christian religion by the additions to and corruption of its ordinances make it dear clear that men have transgressed the laws changed the ordinances and broken the everlasting covenant of the religion of jesus christ under these circumstances the only way that divine authority can be restored to the earth is by god reopening opening re the heavens and giving a new dispensation of the gospel to the children of men including as it would divine authority to preach its doctrines and administer its ordinances great and urgent as the necessity for such a new dispensation of the gospel is men need not look to either the catholic church or the protestant sects for such a proclamation the former in addition to claiming that there has been an unbroken line of divine authority through its priesthood rejects the idea of revelation subsequent to the alleged closing of the new testament canon of scripture the latter though declaring the apostate condition of if mediaeval Media eval christendom not only make no claim |