"The Church, then, at present," said Willis, "is a kingdom tending to dissolution?"
"Certainly it is," answered Campbell.
"And will ultimately fail?" asked Willis.
"Certainly," said Campbell; "when the end comes, according to our Lord's saying, 'When the Son of man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?' just as in the case of the chosen people, the sceptre failed from Judah when the Shiloh came."
"Surely the Church has failed already before the end," said Willis, "according to the view you take of failing. How can any separation be more complete than exists at present between Rome, Greece, and England?"
"They might excommunicate each other," said Campbell.
"Then you are willing," said Willis, "to assign beforehand something definite, the occurrence of which will constitute a real separation."
"Don't do so," said Reding to Campbell; "it is dangerous; don't commit yourself in a moral question; for then, if the thing specified did occur, it would be difficult to see our way."
"No," said Willis; "you certainly would be in a difficulty; but you would find your way out, I know. In that case you would choose some other ultimatum as your test of schism. There would be," he added, speaking with some emotion, "'in the lowest depth a lower still.'"
The concluding words were out of keeping with the tone of the conversation hitherto, and fairly excited Bateman, who, for some time, had been an impatient listener.