but
more especially spiritual authority, the sentence reads as if it were
written by an adversary of the Church,--a hater of its Prelacy,--an
advocate of universal liberty of thought and license of crime: whereas
the sentence is really written in the conviction (I might say knowledge,
if I spoke without deference to the reader's incredulity) that the
Pastoral Office must forever be the highest, for good or evil, in every
Christian land; and that when _it_ fails in vigilance, faith, or
courage, the sheep _must_ be scattered, and neither King nor law avail
any more to protect them against the fury of their own passions, nor any
human sagacity against the deception of their own hearts.

178. Since, however, these things are instantly so, and the Bishops of
England have now with one accord consented to become merely the highly
salaried vergers of her Cathedrals, taking care that the choristers do
not play at leapfrog in the Churchyard, that the Precincts are elegantly
iron-railed from the profane parts of the town, and that the doors of
the building be duly locked, so that nobody may pray in it at
improper times,--these things being so, may we not turn to the
"every-man-his-own-Bishop" party, with its Bible Society, Missionary
zeal, and right of infallible private interpretation, to ask at least
for some small exposition to the inhabitants of their own country, of
those Scriptures which they are so fain to put in the possession of
others; and this the rather, because the popular familiar version of the
New Testament among us, unwritten, seems to be now the exact contrary of
that which we were once taught to be of Divine authority.

179. I place, side by side, the ancient and modern versions of the seven
verses of the New Testament which were the beginning, and are indeed the
heads, of all the teaching of Christ:--

_Ancient._

Blessed are the Poor in
Spirit, for their's is the
kingdom of Heaven.

Blessed are they that mourn,
for they shall be comforted.

Blessed are the meek, for
they shall inherit the
earth.

Blessed are they which do
hunger for righteousness,
for they shall be filled.

Blessed are the merciful, for
they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart,
for they shall see God.

Blessed are the Peacemakers,
for they shall be called the
children of God.

_Modern._

Blessed are the Rich in
Flesh, for their's is the
kingdom of Earth.