THE CLAIMS OF THE PRIESTHOOD CONSIDERED. BY HENRY HARRIS, B.D., RECTOR OF WINTERBOURNE-BASSETT, WILTS.; AND LATE FELLOW AND Orford and London: JAMES PARKER AND CO. 1868. 110. K. 268. IN PREFACE. N the first four chapters of the following treatise a general statement is made of the extent to which human ministrations are employed in the service of religion. In the succeeding chapters enquiry is made into the qualifications necessary for the efficient exercise of these ministrations. I cannot venture to hope that the views here put forth will meet with the entire approval of either of the two great schools of opinion into which, for the most part, the Church of this country is divided. To the one I shall appear to lay too much stress upon the Church and her ordinances; to the other I shall appear to underrate the qualifications requisite for the due representation of the Church, and for the efficient administration of her ordinances. I can only say that the conclusion at which I have arrived is the result of a long and careful attention to the subject, in the course of which I have been led to modify many opinions respecting it formerly entertained by me. In the exercise of that liberty of judgment which, in Chapter IX. of this treatise, I have claimed as the common inheritance of every Christian, I have freely criticised some passages in the Charge recently delivered by my own Diocesan, the Bishop of Salisbury. But I should be very sorry indeed to be thought guilty of the least disrespect towards one who is most justly entitled to the affection and veneration of all who know him. CONTENTS. HUMAN MINISTRATIONS, PHYSICAL, MENTAL, AND MORAL-us con- HUMAN MINISTRATIONS INTRODUCTORY TO THE CHRISTIAN LIFE -as supplied by 1. The Human Nature of Jesus Christ; 2. Faith; 3. The Bible; 4. Preaching in the first meaning of the term. 5. The Sacrament of Baptism a medium of introduction to our new life in Jesus Christ, first, in respect of the material of which it is composed, and secondly, in respect of the person by whom it is administered; 6. Our introduction, through Baptism, into a new social as well as individual state of existence in Jesus -as supplied by 1. Jesus Christ; 2. Faith and Love; 3. The Christian Family; 4. Confirmation; 5. The Sacrament of the HUMAN MINISTRATIONS RESTORATIVE OF THE CHRISTIAN LIFE- |