I should belie my own truth, which tramples alike on his
menaces and his pretended claims. And I ask you, priest of Heaven! is
he a god greater than Jehovah, that I should fear him?"
"And durst thou presume, audacious rebel!" exclaimed Beck "that the
light of Israel deign, to shine on a barbarian nation in arms against a
hero of the cross? Reprobate that thou art, answer to thine own
condemnation? Does not the church declare the claims of Edward to be
just! and who dare gainsay her decrees?"
"The voice of Him you pretend to serve! He is no respecter of persons;
he raises the poor from the dust; and by his arm the tyrant and his
host are plunged into the whelming waves! Bishop, I know in whom I
trust. Is the minister greater than his lord, that I should believe
the word of a synod against the declared will of God? Neither anathema
nor armed thousands shall make me acknowledge the supremacy of Edward.
He may conquer the body, but the soul of a patriot he can never subdue."
"Then," cried Beck, suddenly rising, black with choler, and stretching
his crosier over the head of Wallace, "as the rod of Moses shed
plagues, miseries, and death over the land of Egypt, I invoke the like
judgments to fall on this rebellious land, on its blasphemous leader!
And thus I leave it my curse.
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