THE " HOLY PRIEST."

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19625, 2 May 1927, Page 12

THE " HOLY PRIEST."

Sir,—One of your correspondents, writing of what goes on in some, and especially in some one church, speaks of the ".holy priest.'' A priest is one who offers a sacrifice on benalf of tthers. At one time every minister of religion in England was a " priest " or a criminal, but a change took place at the Reformation. The Rev. J. R. Oreen, in his history of England, describes what that change was. As Green's history received a very wide acceptance at the harida of the English people, and as the case has rarely been stated more clearly, perhaps it may bo helpful in a very interesting discussion to'quote his words. He says: " A yet more significant change followed. The old tongue "of the Church was now to be disused in public worship. The universal use of Latin had marked the Catholic and European character of the older religion: the use of English marked the strictly national and local character of the new system. In the spring of 1548, a new Communion Service took the place of the Mass; an English book of Common Prayer, the Liturgy, which with slight alterations, is Still used in the Church of England, soon replaced the Missal and Breviary from which its contents are mainly drawn. The name ' Common Prayer,' which was to the new Liturgy, marked its real import. The theory of worship which prevailed through mediaeval Christendom, the belief that the worshipper assisted only at rites wrought for him by priestly hands, at a sacrifice wrought through priestly intervention, at the' offering of prayer and praise by priestly lips, was now set at nought, ' The laity, it has been picturesquely said, ' were called up into the chancel,' the act of devotion became a ' common prayer ' of the whole body of worshippers. The Mass became a ' communion ' of the whole Christian fellowship. The priest was no longer the offerer of a mysterious sacrifice, the mediator between God and the worshipper; ho was set on a lf,vel with the rest, of the Church, and brought down to be the simple mouthpiece of the congregation." Mr. Green thought that the Reforma tion had put the extinguisher on the " holy priest "; but not so, there has been a resurrection, and we have him here in Auckland. Green, writing nearly 50 years ago, perhaps did not realise that the English people were entering upon a period of rankest superstition, indeed, in his day it was already somewhat advanced. Now to-day, in this age of science, we have Sir Oliver Lodge talking to his son on the *' other side," who tells him that life is much the same there as on earth, that he dressed in a tweed suit, that if he wanted a cigar he could have it; indeed, lie had just smoked two! Then Sir Conan Doyle, if not a scientist, at least an educated man, confessing to all the extravagances of the spiritualists, and lately Mr. Hickson, with his spiritual healing campaign. It is truly a superstitious time And now there are- the Anglo-Catholics. The fundamental idea underlying, or, rather, avowed, is the doctrine o? transobstan* tiation. Does the " priest " in the act of consecration turn the bread and wine into the veritable body and blood'' Surely a chemical test weald settle that question. This is a free country, not so always in England, There, after the Act of 1662, many laws were passed to compel people to conform, and, if they would not, they were fined or sent to gaol; to one such sentence we owe Bur) van's " P '"rim'- Progress," perhaps worth the cost! But neither here nor there - are there such laws now. Then, von would be fined or imprisoned if you djd not go to church—the parish church. Now men can do ay, they please. If you do not like the voodooisnt you need sot go to see it; there are other places of worship; there are golf, boating plenty of open spaces. The thi«»sr* com plained of would not last m% months if they we? left a'oruj Tb»rc are no endmrment*. hi* b*- r.-if i»p»erK-» in the dark to *srj«port vjr> antics, and one -may hope there never vril! be. I know yon like your correspondents to sign their names, a thing I also like to do, but perham this stihiect is better diseased in the imperial. NOK Owot Theolgcicch.