Page:History of England (Froude) Vol 4.djvu/92

72 danger of evil communications. You can make excuses—we doubt it not. Never yet was there conduct so flagitious that palliation could not be found to disguise it. But examine the Scriptures. See there the vengeance which alighted upon those who usurped the functions of the high priest. In a private household every member has his allotted place. In the House of God every Christian has his allotted function. The servant may not rise against his master; and in the Church the master is the priest. What is the lesson of the story of Uzzah? Uzzah might have thought his act was innocent when no Levite was present; but God would not have it so. Do not you, like Uzzah, take on yourself the omce of the priest at the bidding of self-made reformers. Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, the reformers of the old Church, were swallowed up alive in the earth. Uzziah was a good prince, but he offered incense on the altar, and was smitten with leprosy.

'To the clergy alone Almighty God has given power to bind and to loose. It is a vain excuse that your edicts are but for a time—that you wait for a council. You have meddled with things which are not yours to touch. Wicked men may be among priests, but God alone may punish them; and ever in history it has been seen that those princes only have prospered