The church
of Rome is sustained by apostolical succession; but
apostolical succession is not an institution complete in
itself; it is a part of a whole; if it be not part of a whole
it has no foundation. The apostles succeeded the prophets.
Our Master announced himself as the last of the prophets.
They in their turn were the heirs of the patriarchs: men who
were in direct communication with the Most High. To men not
less favoured than the apostles, the revelation of the
priestly character was made, and those forms and ceremonies
ordained, which the church of Rome has never relinquished.
But Rome did not invent them: upon their practice, the duty of
all congregations, we cannot consent to her founding a claim
to supremacy. For would you maintain then that the church did
not exist in the time of the prophets? Was Moses then not a
churchman? And Aaron, was he not a high priest? Ay! greater
than any pope or prelate, whether he be at Rome or at Lambeth.
"In all these church discussions, we are apt to forget that
the second Testament is avowedly only a supplement. Jehovah-
Jesus came to complete the 'law and the prophets.'
Christianity is completed Judaism, or it is nothing.
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