40 CHURCH AND STATE. 



But in such a country as Egypt Disestablishment is 

 a dangerous thing. During long centuries the people 

 had been taught to associate innovation with impiety. 

 That venerable structure, the Egyptian constitution, 

 had been raised by no human hands. As the gods 

 had appointed certain animals to swim in the water, 

 and others to fly in the air, and others to move upon 

 the earth, so they had decreed that one man should be 

 a priest, and that another should be a soldier, and that 

 another should till the ground. There are times when 

 every man feels discontented with his lot. But it is 

 evident that if men were able to change their occupa- 

 tion whenever they chose, there would be a continual 

 passing to and fro. Nobody would have patience to 

 learn a trade ; nobody would settle down in life. In 

 a short time the land would become a desert, and 

 society would be dissolved. To provide against this 

 the gods had ordained that each man should do his 

 duty in that state of life into which he had been called ; 

 and woe be to him that disobeys the gods ! Their 

 laws are eternal, and can never change. Their ven- 

 geance is speedy, and can never fail. 



Such, no doubt, was the teaching of the Egyptian 

 Church, and now the Church had shown it to be false. 

 The revolution had been begun, and, as usually hap- 

 pens, it could not be made to stop half way. As soon 

 as the first precedent was unloosed, down came the 

 whole fabric with a crash. The priest king, Sethos, 

 reigned in peace; but as soon as he died the central 

 government succumbed; the old local interests which 

 had been lying dormant for ages raised their heads ; 

 the Empire broke up into twelve States, each governed 

 by a petty king. 



We now approach the event which first brought 



