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Priest

The Greek and Latin words translated as 'priest' are derived from words that signify holy; and so the word priest, according to the etymology, signifies him whose mere charge and function are about holy things, and therefore seems to be a most proper word to him who ia set apart to the holy public service. The distinguishing vestment of the priest is the chasuble (Lat. plantta). In Roman Catholic countries, priests wear even in public a distinctive dress.

The influence of the Hebrew priesthood on the thought and organization of Christendom was the influence not of a living institution, for it hardly began till after the fall of the Temple, but of the theory embodied in the later parts of the Pentateuch. Two points in this theory were laid hold of- the doctrine of priestly mediation and the system of priestly hierarchy. The language of the New-Testament writers in relation to the priesthood recognise in Christ the first-born, the king, the Anointed, the representative of the true primeval priesthood after the order of Melchizedck (Heb. vii, viii), from which that of Aaron, however necessary for the time, is now seen to have been a deflection. But there is no trace of an order in the new Christian society bearing the name and exercising functions like those of the priests of the older Covenant.

Some relics of the old priestly idea of a special sacerdotal order, with peculiar privileges and prerogatives, and possessing peculiar holiness, still linger in the Church. The advocates of hierarchical claims, whether Romish, Greek, or Protestant Christians, assume that ministers are entitled to bo regarded as succeeding to the same relation to the Church with that which was sustained by the priesthood under the Jewish economy. Hence the terms and offices peculiar to the ancient priests are conceived to be analogous to the functions and designations of the Christian ministry. On this assumption, it is contended that the duties performed and the authority exercised under the direct sanction of the Most High are now transferred to those who are duly qualified, by a certain order of succession, to discharge the offices of the ministry under the present dispensation.

In the grades of the hierarchy the priesthood is second in order only to that of bishop. Bishops and priests possess the same priestly authority, but the bishop has the power of transmitting it to others, which an ordinary priest cannot do. The priest is regarded as the ordinary minister of the Eucharist, whether as a sacrament or as a sacrifice; of baptism, penance, and extreme unction; and although the contracting parties are held in the modem schools to be themselves the ministers of marriage, the priest is regarded by all schools of Roman divines as at least the normal and official witness of its celebration. The holy order of priesthood can only be conferred by a bishop, and he is ordinarily assisted by two or more priests, who, in common with the bishop, impose hands on the candidate. The rest of the ceremonial of ordination consists in investing the candidate with the sacred instruments and ornaments of his order, anointing his hands, and reciting certain prayers significant of the gifts and the duties of the office.

The priest is also officially charged with the instruction of the people and the direction of their spiritual concerns, and, by long established use, special districts, called parishes, are assigned to priests, within which they are intrusted with the care and supervision of the spiritual wants of all the inhabitants. The head of every parish in pre-Reformation days was the priest. He might be a rector or vicar, according to his position in regard to the benefice ; but in either case he was the resident ecclesiastical head of the parochial district. The word "parson," in the sense of a dignified personage-" the person of the place "-was, in certain foreign countries, applied in the eleventh century, in its Latin form of persona, to any one holding the parochial cure of souls. Besides the rector or parson and the vicar, several other classes of clergy were frequently to be met with in mediaeval parishes. Such were curates, chantry priests, chaplains, stipendiary priests, and sometimes even deacons and subdeacons.