This serious error may have been derived, in part,
from Judaism and, in part, from paganism. It has become incorporated in
the creed of the Roman Catholic Church, and the Greek Church as well,
and has been productive of the most disastrous results. Among the
deliverances of the Council of Trent, held at intervals from 1545 to
1564, and the last Council, which Romish authorities regard as of
binding authority, are the following sentences, quoted by the late A.
A. Hodge, in his Outlines of Theology: "Whereas, therefore, in the New
Testament, the Catholic Church has received, from the institution of
Christ, the holy, visible sacrifice of the Eucharist; it must needs,
also, be confessed that there is, in that church, a new, visible and
external priesthood, into which the old has been translated. And the
sacred Scriptures show, and the traditions of the Catholic Church have
always taught, that this priesthood was instituted by the same Lord,
our Saviour, and that to the apostles, and their successors in the
priesthood, was the power delivered of consecrating, offering and
administering his body and blood, as, also, of forgiving and retaining
sins.
Pages:
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55