The fact that the Emperor Constantine convened the Nicene Council shows how worldly patronage had set in. The time had come when it paid to be a professed Christian. NO longer persecution but patronage was the order of the day. A bishopric with its rich emoluments was a prize to be eagerly sought for by ambitious, unregenerate men. The clergy, as a distinct class in contrast to the laity, vastly increased in numbers, and not for the good of the Church. Bishops were distinguished by their miters, gorgeous robes, croziers, episcopal rings. Vestments such as Stole, Maniple, Alb, Girdle, Tunicle, Biretta, Chasuble, Cope, etc., etc., came into use without any Bible warrant.
There is no doubt that the setting aside of a certain class as priests helped on the movement towards apostasy. The assumption of this class to carry out religious functions, refusing the laity the right to do so, is a denial of the priesthood of all true believers. Christians attending church or chapel, where a one-man ministry obtains, do so with no exercise as to taking part in the service. All is left to one man as a matter of course, whether he be in the Spirit or not, whether he be converted or not. Lip homage given to the truth of Scripture, that all believers are priests to God, the Father, if coupled with the priestly assumption of a special class, is pure hypocrisy. The Apostle Peter wrote: "The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder ... feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof not by constraint; but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock" (1 Peter 5:1-31The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder, and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed: 2Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; 3Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. (1 Peter 5:1‑3)). The elders or bishops (overseers) of the apostolic age were not a professional class, neither were they separated from the rest of the flock as priests versus laity. They were godly, elderly men; who, out of love for their Lord; cared for the flock of God, not for filthy lucre; nor as lords over God's heritage. In sad contrast to this, bishops in this country are called "lords spiritual," living in palaces with handsome emoluments. Well might Dean Alford write:- "The episcopoi [bishops] of the New Testament have officially nothing in common with our bishops." It is interesting to note that the Greek word for "heritage" is kleros, from which is derived the English word, clergy. With the Apostle Peter, God's clergy meant ALL God's people, and, not a special sacerdotal class.
Again we read:- "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, AN HOLY PRIESTHOOD; to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ " (1 Peter 2:55Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5)). "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and hath made us kings and PRIESTS UNTO GOD AND HIS FATHER: to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen (Rev. 1:5, 65And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, 6And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1:5‑6)). Scripture is plain in its teaching that ALL believers are equally priests to God, the Father.
Following the apostolic age things deteriorated rapidly. As time went on the clergy were largely unconverted, ignorant men, often leading shameless, dissolute lives, withholding from the so-called laity the fountain of truth and salvation, the Holy Scriptures.
The clergy built up for themselves extraordinary powers, based on perversion of the Scriptures, and propagated by guile. For instance, there is the evil doctrine of Baptismal Regeneration, claiming that an infant, baptized by a priest, becomes thereby "a member of Christ, the child of God, an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven." This is a blow at the very foundations of the Christian faith, for it substitutes a dogma of the Church, based on the perversion of Scripture, for the plain teaching of Scripture that salvation can come alone through the atoning sacrifice of our Lord upon the cross of Calvary, and received by the sinner through faith in Christ as his own personal Savior. This doctrine puts into the hands of the priest a dominating power, which is not of God, and very evil in its consequences. A prominent clergyman said:- "There is no heresy, which has done more harm than the heresy of Baptismal Regeneration."
Alongside this evil came the doctrine of transubstantiation; that is, the notion that when the priest blesses the elements of the Lord's Supper, the bread and wine cease to be bread and wine, but become the very flesh and blood of our 'Lord, though they continue to look, smell, and taste like bread' and wine. This supposed miracle goes by the name of the Mass in Roman Catholic and Anglo-Catholic circles.
This evil teaching puts great power into the hands of the priest, where this supposed miracle is believed. The withholding of the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper means to such eternal damnation. It is surprising how such superstitions can control the human mind.
It may be mentioned incidentally that the consecrated bread, when reserved for any length of time, begins to grow moldy and corrupt. This does not look like being the very body and flesh of our Lord, for we are plainly told that His body should see no corruption. The Apostle Peter on the great day of Pentecost, quoted David's Psalm (Psa. 16:1010For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption. (Psalm 16:10)):- "He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul was not left in hell [Greek, Hades), NEITHER DID HIS FLESH. SEE CORRUPTION (Acts 2:3131He seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. (Acts 2:31)). To obviate the difficulty of the bread growing moldy, nature's exposure of the deceitfulness of this supposed miracle, biscuit or wafer was substituted for bread..
The practice of confession further fastened on the laity more fully the power of the priest. By it the priest became the depository of the innermost secrets of the penitent. The priest was instructed to ask the most searching questions, the tendency of which was to corrupt the mind of the penitent, 'informing them of sexual and other sins, the nature of which was unknown to many. It can be amply proved that the confessional has helped multitudes to spiritual ruin.
At the end of confession the priest professes to give absolution, or the forgiveness of sins, daringly and blasphemously taking the place of God Himself, who alone can forgive sin. So daring was this claim that Richard Wilkins, a Roman Catholic priest, wrote:- "As has been well and truly said by one not long ago gone to his rest: The man who confesses to God may be forgiven; he who confesses to a priest must be forgiven." (Six Plain Sermons.)
The priest decides what penance he puts on the penitent, often taking the form of the most senseless and degrading tasks, or the payment of money.
To crown all this there was the evil doctrine of purgatory, a purely imaginary state between heaven and hell. Those, who do not die in mortal sin, according to this fabulous deceit, go to the flames of purgatory, there to be purified of their sins before passing into the bliss of heaven. Thus we see where Ritualism landed its dupes.
These four evils-Baptismal Regeneration, the Mass, the Confessional, and Purgatory-were inventions of evil men; chains binding the power of the priesthood upon the deluded so-called laity, blinding them to the truth of the Scriptures, which alone could emancipate them from their chains. No wonder that the Roman Catholics stand in fear of the free circulation of the Scriptures.
Verily we see in all this corruption of Christendom as seen in Pope, Cardinals, Bishops, Clergy, the development springing from neglect of the warnings of Col. 2 against Rationalism and Ritualism. Thus came into existence the corrupt power of Roman Catholicism. Surely we have here very plain and alarming signs of the coming apostasy. In the last days a revival of this hateful system is prophesied in Scripture, only eventually to be destroyed root and branch. But this is anticipating.
When this evil system, we have been describing briefly, seemed to be having it all its own way, the Lord lifted up a standard against it. The very scandals of Christendom brought about a reaction through the Spirit of God working in the hearts of His true people.