Disappointment was in store for those who came to Christ Church on the Sunday morning following the vestry meeting in the expectation of hearing a continuance of the rector's sermons on the duty of the rich toward the poor, and of the poor toward the Church.
No larger congregation had gathered there at any time during the two years' pastorate of the Reverend Mr. Farrar. Pews that, by reason of the voluntary absence of disaffected parishioners, would otherwise have been vacant, were filled by curious and interested persons who seldom went to any church. Long before the Venite was reached in the order of service every seat was occupied.
But the sermon, forceful and eloquent though it was, dealt only with the parable of the talents, and the lesson to be drawn from it. Nevertheless the humble folk who listened to it went away, for the most part, feeling that they had partaken of something that satisfied and strengthened them.
There was some discussion among his parishioners as to whether the rector had, after all, decided to comply with the expressed wish of his vestrymen, and forego his public criticism of the existing social order. Some of them said, with a knowing smile, that discretion was often the better part of valor. They did not know the man. Nor had they, as yet, heard of his brief address at the labor meeting in Carpenter's Hall the evening before. When, later, they did hear of it, they were indignant. In their judgment it was utterly inexcusable for the rector of Christ Church to take the stump
