202 Darwinism and Other Essays. 



The preachers willingly fostered a delusion by 

 which they benefited. . . . They did not scruple to 

 affirm that, by their censures, they could open and 

 shut the kingdom of heaven. . . . The clergy, 

 intoxicated by the possession of power, reached 

 to such a pitch of arrogance that they did not 

 scruple to declare that whoever respected Christ 

 was bound, on that very account, to respect them. 

 . . . Such was their conceit, and so greedy were 

 they after applause, that they would not allow 

 even a stranger to remain in their parish, unless 

 he, too, came to listen to what they chose to say. 

 . . . How they laboured to corrupt the national 

 intellect, and how successful they were in that 

 base vocation, has been hitherto known to no 

 modern reader.&quot; l He also tells us that the 

 Scotch clergy used &quot; means of intimidation,&quot; be 

 cause, being &quot; perfect masters of their own art,&quot; 

 they well knew that &quot; by increasing the appre 

 hensions to which the ignorance and timidity of 

 men make them too liable &quot; they would also &quot; in 

 crease their eagerness to fly for support to their 

 spiritual advisers.&quot; 2 



All this is very significant. It shows that Mr. 

 Buckle is unable to escape from recognizing the 



1 Vol. ii. pp. 344, 347, 348, 357, 365. 



2 Ibid. pp. 366, 384. 



