On The Ruin of Britain | Page 4

of Sion (i.e. of holy mother church), once famous and clothed
in the finest gold, grovelled in dung; and what added intolerably to the
weight of grief of that illustrious man, and to mine, though but an
abject, whilst he had thus mourned them in their happy and prosperous
condition, "Her Nazarites were fairer than snow, more ruddy than old
ivory, more beautiful than the saphire." These and many other passages
in the ancient Scriptures I regarded as a kind of mirror of human life,
and I turned also to the New, wherein I read more clearly what perhaps
to me before was dark, for the darkness fled, and truth shed her steady
light-I read therein that the Lord had said, "I came not but to the lost
sheep of the house of Israel;" and on the other hand, "But the children
of this kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness; there shall be
weeping and gnashing of teeth:" and again, "It is not good to take the
children's meat and to give it to dogs:" also, "Woe to you, scribes and
pharisees, hypocrites!" I heard how "many shall come from the east and
the west and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the
kingdom of heaven:" and on the contrary, "I will then say to them
'Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity!'" I read, "Blessed are the
barren and the teats which have not given suck;" and on the contrary,
"Those, who were ready, entered with him to the wedding; afterwards
came the other virgins also, saying 'Lord, Lord, open to us:' to whom it
was answered, 'I do not know you.'" I heard, forsooth, "Whoever shall
believe and be baptized, shall be saved, but whoever shall not believe
shall be damned." I read in the words of the apostle that the branch of
the wild olive was grafted upon the good olive, but should nevertheless
be cut off from the communion of the root of its fatness, if it did not
hold itself in fear, but entertained lofty thoughts. I knew the mercy of
the Lord, but I also feared his judgment: I praised his grace, but I feared
the rendering to every man according to his works: perceiving the
sheep of the same fold to be different, I deservedly commended Peter
for his entire confession of Christ, but called Judas most wretched, for
his love of covetousness: I thought Stephen most glorious on account
of the palm of martyrdom, but Nicholas wretched for his mark of

unclean heresy: I read assuredly, "They had all things common:" but
likewise also, as it is written, "Why have ye conspired to tempt the
Spirit of God?" I saw, on the other hand, how much security had grown
upon the men of our time, as if there were nothing to cause them fear.
These things, therefore, and many more which for brevity's sake we
have determined to omit, I revolved again and again in my amazed
mind with compunction in my heart, and I thought to myself, "If God's
peculiar people, chosen from all the people of the world, the royal seed,
and holy nation, to whom he had said, 'My first begotten Israel,' its
priests, prophets, and kings, throughout so many ages, his servant and
apostle, and the members of his primitive church, were not spared when
the deviated from the right path, what will he do to the darkness of this
our age, in which, besides all the huge and heinous sins, which it has
common with all the wicked of the world committed, is found an innate,
indelible, and irremediable load of folly and inconstancy?" "What,
wretched man (I say to myself) is it given to you, as if you were an
illustrious and learned teacher, to oppose the force of so violent a
torrent, and keep the charge committed to you against such a series of
inveterate crimes which has spread far and wide, without inter- ruption,
for so many years? Hold thy peace: to do otherwise, is to tell the foot to
see, and the hand to speak. Britain has rulers, and she has watchmen:
why dost thou incline thyself thus uselessly to prate?" She has such, I
say, not too many, perhaps, but surely not too few: but, because they
are bent down and pressed beneath so heavy a burden, they have not
time allowed them to take breath. My senses, therefore, as if feeling a
portion of my debt and obligation, preoccupied themselves with such
objections, and with others yet more strong. They struggled, as I said,
no short time, in fearful strait, whilst I read, "There is a time for
speaking, and a time for keeping silence." At length, the creditor's side
prevailed and bore off the victory: if