"
Anthony could not feel convinced that events bore out the Archbishop's
assertion. Everywhere the Puritans were becoming more outrageously
disloyal. There were everywhere signs of disaffection and revolt against
the authorities of the Establishment, even on the part of the most
sincere and earnest men, many of whom were looking forward to the day
when the last rags of popery should be cast away, and formal
Presbyterianism inaugurated in the Church of England. Episcopal
Ordination was more and more being regarded as a merely civil
requirement, but conveying no ministerial commission; recognition by the
congregation with the laying on of the hands of the presbyterate was the
only ordination they allowed as apostolic.
Anthony said a word to the Archbishop about this.
"You must not be too strict," said the old man. "Both views can be
supported by the Scriptures; and although the Church of England at
present recognises only Episcopal Ordination within her own borders, she
does not dare to deny, as the Papists fondly do, that other rites may not
be as efficacious as her own. That, surely, Master Norris, is in
accordance with the mind of Christ that hath the spirit of liberty."
Much as Anthony loved the old man and his gentle charity, this doctrinal
position as stated by the chief pastor of the Church of England scarcely
served to establish his troubled allegiance.
During these autumn months, too, both between and after the disputations
in the Tower, the image of Campion had been much in his thoughts.
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