“I hold not the same thought,” said he, “as the great archangel Michael; nor, though I desire the same end which he desires, would I seek it by the same way.  For I know how often power has been given to the good, and how often it has been turned aside and used for evil.  I know that the host of Heaven, and the very stars in their courses, have fought on the side of a favoured nation; yet pride has followed triumph and oppression has been the first-born child of victory.  I know that the deliverers of the people have become tyrants over those whom they have set free, and the fighters for liberty have been changed into the soldiers of fortune.  Power corrupts itself, and might cannot save.

“Does not the Prince Michael remember how the angel of the Lord led the armies of Israel, and gave them the battle against every foe, except the enemy within the camp?  And how they robbed and crushed the peoples against whom they had fought for freedom?  And how the wickedness of the tribes of Canaan survived their conquest and overcame their conquerors, so that the children of Israel learned to worship the idols of their enemies, Moloch, and Baal, and Ashtoreth?

“Power corrupts itself, and might cannot save.  Was not Persia the destroyer of Babylon, and did not the tyranny of Persia cry aloud for destruction?  Did not Rome break the yoke of the East, and does not the yoke of Rome lie heavy on the shoulders of the world?  Listen!”

There was silence for a moment on the slopes of Peacefield, and then over the encircling hills a cool wind brought the sound of chains clanking in prisons and galleys, the sighing of millions of slaves, the weeping of wretched women and children, the blows of hammers nailing men to their crosses.  Then the sound passed by with the wind, and Uriel spoke again: 

“Power corrupts itself, and might cannot save.  The Earth is full of ignorant strife, and for this evil there is no cure but by the giving of greater knowledge.  It is because men do not understand evil that they yield themselves to its power.  Wickedness is folly in action, and injustice is the error of the blind.  It is because men are ignorant that they destroy one another, and at last themselves.

“If there were more light in the world there would be no sorrow.  If the great King who knows all things would enlighten the world with wisdom—­wisdom to understand his law and his ways, to read the secrets of the earth and the stars, to discern the workings of the heart of man and the things that make for joy and peace—­if he would but send us, his messengers, as a flame of fire to shine upon those who sit in darkness, how gladly would we go to bring in the new day!

“We would speak the word of warning and counsel to the erring, and tell knowledge to the perplexed.  We would guide the ignorant in the paths of prudence, and the young would sit at our feet and hear us gladly in the school of life.  Then folly would fade away as the morning vapour, and the sun of wisdom would shine on all men, and the peace of God would come with the counsel of the angels.”