The Ritualist Priest and the Ass

[Book of Jeremiah]

Laughter doeth good like a medicine! Spurgeon and Frederick James Brown do not disappoint the reader in this little story.....

The Ritualist Priest and the Ass ​

RITUALIST PRIEST meeting an ass, thus accosted her—" How durst thou presume to wear the sign. of the holy rood, seeing that thou art an unbaptized and unregenerate ass?"

The meek-spirited beast replied—"Brother! God placed the cross on my back but I know not who placed it on thine."

Moral.—Self-imposed crosses occasion arrogancy.



FREDERICK JAMES BROWN.
S&T Tract 32

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

Priestism Brought to the Touchstone​

"Search the Scriptures."​

1. No person in the Christian church, whether he be an apostle, an elder, or an evangelist, is ever spoken of in the New Testament as a priest; nor do we find the most distant allusion to the appointment of an order of priesthood.

2. For the work of the ministry, Christ "gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;" but never do we read of his giving priests.

3. The apostle wrote Timothy and Titus particular directions relative to the appointment of bishops, deacons, etc.; but no mention is made of priests.

4. And why this silence of Scripture? Simply because the office of priests was unknown in the primitive church; and, moreover, in no way needed, for the weakest and humblest believer may now enter with boldness, even into the holiest, by the blood of Jesus.

5. Having so great a High Priest as Jesus the Son of God, who is "touched with the feeling of our infirmities," and "ever liveth to make intercession for us," what need we of any earthly priest?

6. Priestly confession is not needed; for if we confess our sins to the Lord, "He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 1 John 1:9.

7. Priestly absolution is not needed; because the blood of Jesus Christ, and that alone, "cleanseth us from all sin."

8. Priestly intercession is not needed; for "if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."

9. "No man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron;" but this cannot be said of any humanly-appointed priest.

10. Every priest under the law was ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices for sin, and "without shedding of blood is no remission;" but no such sacrifices are now offered, nor are they needed, Christ "hath appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself," and "by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified."

11. But the Scriptures distinctly teach, that all believers, by virtue of their union with the Lord Jesus Christ, are made kings and priests unto God, a holy and a royal priesthood, "to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ." 1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6.

12. From all this it clearly follows, that a humanly-appointed order of priesthood is a deceptive invention of man, and directly opposed to the teaching of Holy Scripture.

"To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." Isaiah 8:20.


Excerpts from The Sword and the Trowel

 

[Book of Jeremiah]

FABLE.

CERTAIN MAN had long accustomed himself to eat out of the same trough with a beast, and being rebuked for such unclean feeding, he replied that he did not object to it, and that by long-established custom he had acquired a right to eat in that fashion, for his fathers had so fed before him for many generations. As there was no other way of curing him of his degrading habit, his friends began to remove the trough, whereat he struggled and raved like a madman, calling them robbers and villains, and many other bad names. Meanwhile the beast at the other end of the trough patiently submitted to lose its provender.​

FACT.

tate support of religion, by tithes and other forced payments, is the trough. The Irish Church feeds out of the same trough with the Church which it is wont to call the Romish beast, only it stands at the fullest end of it. The beast only gets a few handfuls of Maynooth Grant, but the Irish clergy are fed with tithes to the full. We want to see Protestants act like men who have faith in God and their own doctrines, and then they will maintain their own religion voluntarily; but, alas! it seems as if nothing but force will get them away from the degradation of state pay. How true it is that slavery deprives many men of the desire to be free! Wait a little, and when the trough is broken altogether, perhaps the man will play the man. Let every true Protestant help to deliver the Irish Church from her present; condition; and may God defend the right.​

S&T Tract 33

 

[The Great Goose]

Lucy Hamilton

You're kinda a' thread huh?