Gerhardt.

"Saint Basil spoke of extraordinary occasions when no priest could be
had."

"But if it be lawful at any time to receive without priestly
consecration, it cannot be unlawful, at every time."

It did not occur to the Bishop to ask the pertinent question, in what
passage of Scripture priestly consecration of the Eucharist was
required,--nay, in what passage any consecration at all is ever
mentioned. For at the original institution of the rite, our Lord
consecrated nothing, but merely gave thanks to God [Note 1], as it was
customary for the master of the house to do at the Passover feast; and
seeing that "if He were on earth, He should not be a priest." [Note 2.]
He cannot have acted as a priest when He was on earth. We have even
distinct evidence that He declined so to act [Note 3]. And in any
subsequent allusions to this Sacrament in the New Testament [Note 4],
there is no mention of either priests or consecration. It did not,
however, suit the Bishop to pursue this inconvenient point. He passed
at once to another item.

"Ye dare to touch the sacred cup reserved to the priests--"

"When did Christ so reserve it? His command was, `Drink ye all of it.'"

"To the Apostles, thou foolish man!"

"Were they priests at that time?"

This was the last straw. The question could not be answered except in
the negative, for if the ordination of the Apostles be not recorded
after the Resurrection [John twenty 21-23], then there is no record of
their having been ordained at all. To be put in a corner in this manner
was more than a Bishop could stand.

"How darest thou beard me thus?" he roared. "Dost thou not know what
may follow? Is not the King here, who has the power of life and death,
and is he not an obedient son of holy Church?"

The slight smile on Gerhardt's lips said, "Not very!" But his only
words were--

"Ay, I know that ye have power. `This is your hour, and the power of
darkness.' We are not afraid. We have had our message of consolation.
`Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake; for
theirs is the kingdom of the heavens.'"

"Incredible folly!" exclaimed Lincoln. "That was said to the early
Christians, who suffered persecution from the heathen: not to heretics,
smarting under the deserved correction of the Church. How dare you so
misapply it?"

"All the Lord's martyrs were not in the early Church. `We are the
circumcision, who worship God in spirit, and glor