"Are we not taught to follow Christ's example, Dr. Vince?" asked the
boy.
"Hardly in that sense, Samuel," said the terrified doctor. "Christ was
God. And we can hardly be expected--"
"Ah, that is a subterfuge!" broke in Samuel, passionately. "You say
that Christ was God, and so you excuse yourself from doing what He
tells you to! But I don't believe that He was God in any such sense as
that. He was a man, like you and me! He was a poor man, who suffered
and starved! And the rich men of His time despised Him and spit upon
Him and crucified Him!"
Here a new member of the vestry entered the arena. This was the
venerable Mr. Curtis, who looked like a statue of the Olympian Jove.
"Boy," he said sternly, "you object to being put out of the church--
and yet you confess to being an infidel."
"I may be an infidel, Mr. Curtis," replied the other, quickly; "but I
never paid two hundred dollars to Slattery so that the police would
let me block the sidewalks of the town."
And Mr. Curtis subsided and took no further part in the discussion.
"The church cast out Jesus!" went on Samuel, taking advantage of the
confusion. "And it was the rich and powerful in the church who did it.
And he used about them language far more violent than I have ever
used. 'Woe unto you, scribes and pharisees, hypocrites!' he said. 'Woe
unto you also, you lawyers!--Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how
can ye escape the damnation of hell?' And if He were here tonight He
would be on my side--and the rich evil-doers who sit on this board
would cast Him out again! You have cast Him out already! You have shut
your ears to the cry of the oppressed--you make mockery of justice and
truth! You are crucifying Him again every day!"
"This is outrageous!" cried Mr.
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