This is so manifestly true with the Bar that
no barrister in practice scruples to avow that barristers in practice
are the salt of the earth. The personal confidence of a judge in his
own position is beautiful, being salutary to the country, though not
unfrequently damaging to the character of the man. But if this be so
with men who are conscious of no higher influence than that exercised
over the bodies and minds of their fellow creatures, how much
stronger must be the feeling when the influence affects the soul! To
the outsider, or layman, who simply uses a cab, or receives a letter,
or goes to law, or has to be tried, these pretensions are ridiculous
or annoying, according to the ascendancy of the pretender at the
moment. But as the clerical pretensions are more exacting than
all others, being put forward with an assertion that no answer is
possible without breach of duty and sin, so are they more galling.
The fight has been going on since the idea of a mitre first entered
the heart of a priest,--since dominion in this world has found itself
capable of sustentation by the exercise of fear as to the world to
come.
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