For here the Church was, at bottom, declaring that the State life must be lived upon terms of her own definition.

That was possible before the Reformation; but with the advent of Nonconformity and the growth of rationalism the exclusive character of the Church's solution had become unacceptable.

If the Church was to become so intimately involved with the State as an establishment implied, it had no right to complain, if statesmen with a genius for expediency were willing to sacrifice it to the attainment of that ideal.

For the real secret of independence is, after all, no more than independence.

The Church sought it without being willing to pay the price.