ty? I do not say (God forbid) that her Grace is a Nero, or
even a Poppaea; but there is no particular reason why some successor of
hers should not be. However, Nero or not, the principle is the same. I do
not deny that a National Church may be immensely powerful, may convert
thousands, may number zealous and holy men among her ministers and
adherents--but yet her foundation is insecure. What when the tempest of
God's searching judgments begins to blow?

"Or, to put it plainer, in a parable, you have seen, I doubt not, a
gallant and his mistress together. So long as she is being wooed by him,
she can command; he sighs and yearns and runs on errands--in short, she
rules him. But when they are wedded--ah me! It is she--if he turns out a
brute, that is--she that stands while my lord plucks off his boots--she
who runs to fetch the tobacco-pipe and lights it and kneels by him. Now I
hold that to wed the body spiritual to the body civil, is to wed a
delicate dame to a brute. He may dress her well, give her jewels, clap
her kindly on the head--but she is under him and no free woman. Ah!"--and
then Mr. Buxton's eyes began to shine as Anthony remembered they had done
before, and his voice to grow solemn,--"and when the spouse is the Bride
of Christ, purchased by His death, what then would be the sin to wed her
to a carnal nation, who shall favour her, it may be, while she looks
young and fair; but when his mood changes, or her appearance, then she is
his slave and his drudge! His will and his whims are her laws; as he
changes, so must she. She has to do his foul work; as she had to do for
King Henry, as she is doing it now for Queen Bess; and as she will always
have to do, God help her, so long as she is wedded to the nation, instead
of being free as the handmaiden and spouse of Christ alone. My faith
would be lost, Mr. Norris, and my heart broken quite, if I were forced to
think the Church of England to be the Church of Christ."

They talked late that evening in the private baize-curtained parlour on
the third floor. Anthony produced his difficulties one by one, and Mr.
Buxton did his best to deal with them. For example, Anthony remarked on
the fact that there had been no breach of succession as to the edifices
and endowments of the Church; that the sees had been canonically filled,
and even the benefices; and that therefore, like it or not, the Church of
England now was identical with the Pre-Reformation Church.

"_Distinguo_,