matters to which you refer; and I agree that it is not the province of the Church to make war on socialism or any other economic doctrine. Her concern, as the same report declares, is with the spirit, and not with any outward form of society. Nor, by the same token, can the Church afford to have one of her priests appear as the protagonist of an economic policy which, carried to its logical conclusion, would destroy the life of the Church."
Again the bishop started to controvert Westgate's statement, again checked himself, and asked, as quietly as before:
"Are you aware that our beloved Phillips Brooks approached very close to the position which you are condemning this priest for occupying?"
"I am aware that Bishop Brooks was a Christian democrat, but a Christian socialist, never!"
The bishop smiled. He admired Westgate's pugnacity. He longed to lock horns with him in argument, but he felt that he must yield his desire to the necessities and proprieties of the occasion. With a sigh he picked up the written complaint which was lying on the table before him, and glanced at it.
"You have here charged your rector," he said, "with having administered the holy communion in a manner contrary to the rubrics. Will you please specify?"
"Certainly," was the response. "The rubric for the holy communion commands that the minister shall not receive any one to the communion who has done any wrong to his neighbor by word or deed. Mr. Farrar has repeatedly administered this sacrament to avowed socialists who preach the confiscation of their neighbors' goods, and who stand ready to practice what they preach so soon as they can so change the law that they will not suffer the usual penalty."
The bishop smiled again, but he shook his head impatiently.
"Is not that objection rather far-fetched?" he asked.
