Bishop J B Lightfoot

"The kingdom of Christ, not being a kingdom of the world, is not limited by the restrictions which fetter other societies, political or religious. It has no sacred days or seasons, no special sanctuaries, because every time and place alike are holy. Above all, it has no sacerdotal system. It interposes no sacrificial tribe or class between God and man, by whose intervention alone God is reconciled, and man forgiven.

(in the original idea of the Church) "every member of the human family was potentially a member of the Church, and, as such, a priest of God. The influence of this idea on the moral and spiritual growth of the individual believer is too plain to require any comment ; but its social effects may call for a passing remark. It will hardly be denied, I think, by those who have studied the history of modern civiliza- tion with attention, that this conception of the Christian Church has been mainly instrumental in the emancipation of the degraded and oppressed, in the removal of artificial barriers between class and class, and in the diffusion of a general philan- throphy, untrammelled by the fetters of party or of race ; in short, that to it mainly must be attributed the most important advantages which constitute the superiority of modern societies over ancient. Consciously or unconsciously, the idea of a univer- sal priesthood, of the religious equality of all men, which, though not untaught before, was first embodied in the Church of Christ, has worked, and is working, untold blessings in political institutions, and in social life. But the careful student will also observe that this idea has been very imperfectly apprehended ; that, throughout the history of the Church, it has been struggling for recognition, at most times discerned in some of its aspects, but at all times wholly ignored in others ; and that, therefore, the actual results are a very inadequate measure of its efficacy, if only it would assume due prominence, and were allowed free scope in action."

The Christian ministry