“No can I? Ay verily, friend, I can!”
“But—” Bertram stopped, with a puzzled look.
“Come, out with all thy buts,” said Hugh, smilingly.
“Why, methinks—and holy Church saith it—that this is God’s means whereby men shall approach unto Him: nor hath He given unto us other.”
“Holy Church saith it? Ay so. But where saith God such a thing?”
Bertram was by no means ignorant of Wycliffe’s Bible, and he searched his memory for authority or precedent.
“Well, thou wist that the man which had leprosy was bidden to show him unto the priest, the which was to declare if his malady were true leprosy or no.”
“The priest being therein an emblem or mystery of Christ, which is true Healer of the malady of sin.”
“Ah!” said Bertram triumphantly, “but lo’ thou, when our Lord Himself did heal one that had leprosy, what quoth He? ‘Show thyself to the priest,’ saith He: not, ‘I am the true Priest, and therefore thou mayest slack to show thee to yon other priest, which is but the emblem of Me.’”
“Because,” replied Hugh, “He did fulfil the law, and made it honourable. Therefore saith He, ‘Show thyself to the priest.’ The law held good until He should have fulfilled the same.”