Grocott & Ward, comps. Grocott’s Familiar Quotations, 6th ed. 189-?.
Nations
When nations are to perish in their sins,
’Tis in the church the leprosy begins;
The priest, whose office is, with zeal sincere,
To watch the fountain, and preserve it clear,
Carelessly nods and sleeps upon the brink,
While others poison what the flock must drink.
Cowper.—Expostulation, Line 95.