Page:Readings in European History Vol 1.djvu/395

 The Mcdiceval Church at its Height 359 against those ungrateful members of the clergy who fail to realize that it is to books that they chiefly owe their exalted position and privileges. Through their ability to read, the clergy are raised above the laity; for when a clerk commits a crime he may, by reading a single line, secure the "benefit of clergy, "- the right to be tried by a church court, which cannot, like the secular tribunals, inflict capital punishment. Thus even the learning which the unworthy clerk had practically for- gotten through neglect rescues him at the last moment from the gallows. Ye [namely, the clergy] are a chosen people, a royal priest- 140. How a hood, a holy race ; ye are a peculiar people chosen into the clergyman lot of God; ye are priests and ministers of God, nay, ye are ^v^dfrom called the very Church of God, as though the laity were the gallows not to be called churchmen. Ye, being preferred to the f^ 6 *^^ laity, sing psalms and hymns in the chancel and, serving the/w/o- the altar and living by the altar, make the true body of biblon of Christ ; wherein God himself has honored you not only above Jjjjj!^ 01 the laity, but even a little higher than the angels; for to whom of his angels has he said at any time: "Thou art a priest forever, after the order of Melchizedek"? Ye dis- pense the patrimony of the Crucified One to the poor, wherein it is required of stewards that a man be found faithful. Ye are shepherds of the Lord's flock, as well in example of life as in the word of doctrine, and your sheep are bound to repay you with milk and wool. Who are the givers of all these things, O clerks? Is it not books ? Do ye remember, therefore, we pray, how many and how great are the liberties and privileges which we books bestow upon the clergy. In truth, taught by us, who are the vessels of wisdom and intellect, ye ascend the teacher's chair and are called of men, Rabbi. By us ye become marvelous in the eyes of the laity, like great lights in the world, and possess the dignities of the Church according to your various