THE ORDER OF MELCHISEDECH A Defence of ... - Rore Sanctifica

From the unanimity of so many of the Fathers we may conclude with the fullest certainty that the
priesthood was instituted, not in recent times, but in the very cradle of the Church. Wherefore, since
Luther can adduce no orthodox writer who in any book that has ever appeared gives contrary
witness, nor can quote a single syllable of Holy Scripture in opposition to the assertions of the
Fathers, we lay down with the utmost justice against Luther as a matter of prescriptive right the
truth of the priesthood.
The only point that Luther has for his heresy is that the New Testament never uses this term,
namely that it never gives the name "priests" to those to whom today we give it. But this will have
little or no force for one who carefully weighs the reason why the Apostles avoided the term, viz.,
because the ancient! priesthood was still in existence and daily sacrifice was offered in the Temple.
Therefore, so that there might be no confusion between the two priesthoods, they thought it wise for
the time being to use other terms for the new priests. Therefore, as is clear from Scripture, they
called them at one time presbyters, at another ministers, sometimes bishops and pastors, until that
time when, together with the Temple, the ancient priesthood was utterly destroyed. After that
occurred it became usual for all men to call our presbyters priests.
I would have you, dear reader, hold this as a most certain truth, that from the Scriptures Luther has
not one jot or tittle which contradicts a visible priesthood, not a single one of the orthodox prelates
of the Church who even once gives any support to his teaching, but on the contrary that they all
unanimously and emphatically testify to the exact opposite.
Here, then, is our first rejoinder to Luther. Whereas the truth of the priesthood is abundantly and
unanimously witnessed to by all the Fathers through the whole history of the Church, and whereas
there is no orthodox writer who is not in agreement, and no word of Scripture that can be quoted
against it, therefore all must clearly see how justly, against Luther, we claim the truth of the
priesthood as the prescriptive right of the Church.
It would indeed be incredible that when Christ had redeemed His Church at so great a price, the
price of His Precious Blood, He should care for it so little as to leave it enveloped in so black an
error. Nor is it any more credible that the Holy Ghost, Who was sent for the special purpose of
leading the Church into all truth, should allow it for so long to be led astray.
Nor is it credible that the prelates of the Church, who were so numerous even in the earliest period
of her history, and who were appointed by the Holy Ghost to rule her, as we shall afterwards prove,
should have been enveloped in such darkness through so many centuries as to teach publicly so foul
a lie.
Finally, it is beyond belief that so many churches throughout the various parts of Christendom,
hitherto governed with such careful solicitude by Christ and His Spirit, and by the prelates
appointed for the purpose, should now unanimously fall into an error so foul and a lie so ruinous,
according to Luther, that it does an injustice to the very testament of our Lord.
But consider diligently Christ's care for us: consider the certain truths of the presence and the
activity of the Holy Ghost in the Church: consider the numberless clear testimonies of the prelates
of olden times, illustrious not only by their holiness but also by their learning and miracles:
consider the unanimous agreement of all the churches, with no single exception through so many
centuries. How now can it be imagined that at length for the first time has shone upon Luther the
light of a truth that no one of the early Fathers could so much as have suspected, the contrary,
indeed, of what they have unitedly asserted from the very beginning?
For if for so long the truth had remained imprisoned in darkness, waiting during so many centuries
for Luther, and him only, to set, it free, then Christ's solicitude for our Fathers in the faith was in