000 - Ryder - Priesthood of the Laity

Ryder - Priesthood of the Laity: Historically and Critically considered The Priesthood of the Laity:
Historically and Critically Considered. By the Rev. A. R. Ryder, B.D.,
Canon of Down; Rector of Drumbeg Hodder and Stoughton
St. Paul’s House, Warwick Square London,
E.G. MCMXI Donnellan Lectures 1907-1908

105 5 Printed By Hazel, Watson & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury. TO THE PROVOST OF TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN, TO THE LAITY OF THE CHURCH OF IRELAND, TO THE PILOTS WHO WEATHERED THE STORM OF DISESTABLISHMENT, AS A CONTRIBUTION TO THE DEFINITION OF THE PRINCIPLES WHICH MAY HAVE ANIMATED THEM, WITH THANKFULNESS FOR THE PAST AND HOPE FOR THE FUTURE, THIS BOOK IS DEDICATED.

CONTENTS Introduction xix I. Two Characteristics of the Age. 3 II. What is a Layman? 31 III. The Great Commission 57 IV. The Commission in Exercise 89 V. Church Officers 119 VI. The General Priesthood of All Christians in the Apocalypse 143 VII. What is a Priest? 167 VIII. Priesthood and Sacrifice 191 IX. The Catena of Proof... 205 X. Practical Advantages... 233 XI. Conclusion 267

INDEX. 281

PREFACE THE leading thought in this volume is largely occupying the minds of men at the present day. This may be seen from the following sentences in the Report of the Conference of Bishops of the Anglican Communion held at Lambeth in July 1908, issued since these lectures were delivered. The Church needs to realise in new ways the inherent priesthood of the Christian people." "At the heart of the conception of the Church which Christ has taught us is the Spirit of Service." "The Spirit of Service is awake." "The field of service is the world." "It is a significant fact, that when we review the work of the Conference and ask what aspect or idea of the Church has been predominant in our deliberations, we find that through them all in the many fields over which they have travelled has been the ever-present thought of the Church as ordained by God for the service of mankind." "By the word Church in this connection we mean the whole society of Christian men throughout the world. We shall speak later of what belongs more distinctly to our own Communion." For many years the present writer has felt that the words "ye are a royal priesthood" are much more than mere metaphor, and that the idea underlying them has a definite reality. To speak of the Priesthood of the Laity may seem to some as if one uttered a paradox, but to the present writer it seems a truth which has solid foundations in revelation and in history. An historical examination of early institutions has caused a very considerable change in the views of scholars. The well-established facts with regard to the Early Church have been often questioned, but have not been overthrown. The views of such writers as Bishop Lightfoot in his Dissertation on the Christian Ministry, Dr. Hatch in The Organisation of the Early Christian Churches, Professor Hort in The Christian Ecclesia, Professor Lindsay in The Church and the Ministry in the Early Centuries, Dr. Bright in Some Aspects of Primitive Church Life, are not disproved but corroborated by Professor Harnack, a dispassionate historian, in his editions of the Didache and Sources of the Apostolic Canons, and other works. Many statements once fiercely combated are now taken as commonplaces. Canon Moberly’s Ministerial Priesthood is reverent in tone and scholarly in execution, but has been well answered by Professor Sanday in his Some Conceptions of Priesthood and Sacrifice. To the discussion of this most interesting question these lectures are offered as a contribution, their aim being especially to commend personal service to every member of the Christian Church.

AUTHORITIES CONSULTED

Allen: Christian Institutions. T. & T. Clarke, 1898. Ante-Nicene Christian Library, Additional Volume, 1897. Apostolic Fathers: Bishop Lightfoot’s Edition, 1898. Apostolical Constitutions: Ante-Nicene Library. Barry, Bishop: On the Position of the Laity. Benson, Archbishop: Cyprian, His Life and Times. Bernard, Dean: The Pastoral Epistles, 1899. Bright: Some Aspects of Primitive Church Life, 1898. Christus in Ecclesia: Hastings Rashdall. Clement, St., of Rome: Ep. to Corinthians. Contentio Veritatis: By Six Oxford Tutors, 1902.

Convocation: Report to Convocation of Canterbury on Position of the Laity, 1902. Didache, The. Eusebius: Ecclesiastical History.

Gardiner, Percy: Historic View of the New Testament, 1904.

Gore: Church and the Ministry (Longmans); Body of Christ, 1901; The Mission of the Church, 1892; Essays on Church Reform, 1902.

Gott, Bishop: On the Priesthood of the Laity. Grimm: Greek-English Lexicon (Thayer), 1893.

Harnack: What is Christianity? Didache; Sources of the Apostolic Canons, 1895; The Sayings of Jesus, 1908; Expansion of Christianity.

Hastings Dictionary of the Bible, 1901.

Hatch: The Organisation of the Early Christian Church, 1901.

Hippolytus, Canons of: Achelis Edition, 1891. Hooker: Ecclesiastical Polity, Keble’s Edition, 1865.

Hort: The Christian Ecclesia, 1900; Judaic Christianity, 1904.

Ignatius Letters.

Inge: Faith and Knowledge, 1904.

Jerome: Works.

Justin Martyr: Rev. G. T. Purves, 1888.

Lightfoot: St. Paul’s Epistle to the Philippians, including the Essay on Ministry, 1873.

Lindsay: The Church and the Ministry in the Early Cen turies, 1903.

Liverpool Church Congress Report.

Lux Mundi, 1890.

Macaulay’s Essay on Von Ranke’s History of the Popes.

Maurice: Kingdom of God.

Milman: Latin Christianity.

Milligan: Ascension of our Lord, and Heavenly Priesthood, 1901.

Ministry of Grace: John Wordsworth, Bishop of Salis bury, 1901.

Moberly, George, Bishop of Salisbury: Administration of the Holy Ghost in the Church of Christ, Bampton Lectures, 1868.

Moberly, R. C. (Canon of Christ Church, Oxford): Ministerial Priesthood.

Neander: History of Christian Religion and Church. Origen: Commentary on Matthew and John. Orr, Professor: The Early Church, 1901. Peile: The Reproach of the Gospel, 1907.

Rackham: Essay on Position of Laity in Early Church, 1902.

Robinson, Dean Armitage: Epistle to the Ephesians, 1904.

Robinson: The Ministry of Deaconesses, Deaconess Cecilia Robinson, 1898.

Salmon, Provost: Introduction, 1889; Infallibility, 1888.

Sanday: The Conception of Priesthood in the Early Church and in the Church of England, 1899; Different Conceptions of Priesthood and Sacrifice, 1900; Conference at Oxford, 1899.

Swete: The Apocalypse of St. John. Tertullian: De Baptismo; De Exhortatione Castitatis. Testament of our Lord. T. & T. Clarke, 1902. Wernle, Professor: Beginnings of Christianity, 1904.

Westcott: The Gospel of Life, 1895; Lessons from Work, 1902; Epistle to the Hebrews, 1889; Revelation of the Risen Lord, 1884.

Wordsworth, Bishop of Salisbury: Report on Position of the Laity.