For them, as
for him, the accidental star rose somewhat red and angry. As
for poor Knox, his position was the saddest of all. For the
juncture seemed to him of the highest importance; it was the
nick of time, the flood-water of opportunity. Not only was
there an opening for him in Scotland, a smouldering brand of
civil liberty and religious enthusiasm which it should be for
him to kindle into flame with his powerful breath but he had
his eye seemingly on an object of even higher worth. For
now, when religious sympathy ran so high that it could be set
against national aversion, he wished to begin the fusion
together of England and Scotland, and to begin it at the sore
place. If once the open wound were closed at the Border, the
work would be half done. Ministers placed at Berwick and
such places might seek their converts equally on either side
of the march; old enemies would sit together to hear the
gospel of peace, and forget the inherited jealousies of many
generations in the enthusiasm of a common faith; or - let us
say better - a common heresy. For people are not most
conscious of brotherhood when they continue languidly
together in one creed, but when, with some doubt, with some
danger perhaps, and certainly not without some reluctance,
they violently break with the tradition of the past, and go
forth from the sanctuary of their fathers to worship under
the bare heaven.
Pages:
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333
334
335
336
337
338
339
340
341
342
343
344
345
346
347
348
349
350