"Then, says Raymond, let the bishops look to themselves. There is such a thing as judicial blindness: and there is such a thing as salt that has lost its savour, and is trodden under foot of men. If the Church cast out the children of God, God may cast out the Church of England. There are precedents for it in the Books of Heaven. And in all those cases, God let them go on for a while: over and over again they grieved His Spirit and persecuted His servants; but at last there always came one time which was the last time, and after that the Spirit withdrew, and that Church, or that nation, was left to the lot which it had chosen." "Oh, Ephraim, that sounds dreadful." "It will be dreadful," he answered, "if we provoke it at the Lord's hand." "One feels as if one would like to save such men," I said. "Do you? I feel as if I should like to save such Churches. It is like a son's feeling who sees his own mother going down to the pit of destruction, and is utterly powerless to hold out a hand to save her. She will not be saved. And I wonder, sometimes, whether any much sorer anguish can be on this side Heaven!" I was silent. "It makes it all the harder," he said, in a troubled voice, "when the Father's other sons, whose mother she is not, jeer at the poor falling creature, and at her own children for their very anguish in seeing it. I do not think the Father can like them to do that. It is hard enough for the children without it. And surely He loves her yet, and would fain save her and bring her home." And I felt he spoke in parables. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Note 1. At this date, an innkeeper stood higher in the estimation of society than at present, and a clergyman considerably lower, unless the latter were a dignitary, or a man whose birth and fortune were regarded as entitling him to respect apart from his profession. CHAPTER FOURTEEN. HOW THINGS CAME ROUND. "They say, when cities grow too big, Their smoke may make the skies look dim; And so may life hide God from us, But still it cannot alter Him. And age and sorrow clear the soul, As night and silence clear the sky, And hopes steal out like silver stars, And next day brightens by and by." ISABELLA FYVIE MAYO. On the Monday morning, we left Gloucester on horseback, with two baggage-horses beside those we rode. We dined at Worcester, and lay that night at Bridgenorth. On the Tuesday, we slept at Macclesfield; on the Wednesday, at Colne; on the Thursday, at Appleby; and on Friday, about four o'clock in the afternoon, we reached home. On the steps, waiting for us, stood Father and Sophy.