By so characteristic a remark Hodder was both amused and moved. It revealed so perfectly the point of view and predicament of the lawyer, and it was also an expression of an affection which the rector cordially, returned.... Before answering, he placed his visitor in the chair, and the deliberation of the act was a revelation of the unconscious poise of the clergyman. The spectacle of this self-command on the brink of such a crucial event as the vestry meeting had taken Langmaid aback more than he cared to show. He had lost the old sense of comradeship, of easy equality; and he had the odd feeling of dealing with a new man, at once familiar and unfamiliar, who had somehow lifted himself out of the everyday element in which they heretofore had met.
The clergyman had contrived to step out of his, Langmaid"s, experience: had actually set him--who all his life had known no difficulty in dealing with men--to groping for a medium of communication....
Hodder sat down on the other side of the fireplace. He, too, seemed to be striving for a common footing.
"It was a question of proclaiming the truth when at last I came to see it, Langmaid. I could not help doing what I did. Matters of policy, of a false consideration for individuals could not enter into it. If this were not so, I should gladly admit that you had a just grievance, a peculiar right to demand why I had not remained the strictly orthodox person whom you induced to come here. You had every reason to congratulate yourself that you were getting what you doubtless would call a safe man."
"I"ll admit I had a twinge of uneasiness after I came home," Langmaid confessed.
Hodder smiled at his frankness.
"But that disappeared."
"Yes, it disappeared. You seemed to suit "em so perfectly. I"ll own up, Hodder, that I was a little hurt that you did not come and talk to me just before you took the extraordinary--before you changed your opinions."
"Would it have done any good?" asked the rector, gently. "Would you have agreed with me any better than you do now? I am perfectly willing, if you wish, to discuss with you any views of mine which you may not indorse. And it would make me very happy, I a.s.sure you, if I could bring you to look upon the matter as I do."
This was a poser. And whether it were ingenuous, or had in it an element of the scriptural wisdom of the serpent, Langmaid could not have said.
As a lawyer, he admired it.
"I wasn"t in church, as usual,--I didn"t hear the sermon," he replied.
"And I never could make head or tail of theology--I always told you that. What I deplore, Hodder, is that you"ve contrived to make a hornets" nest out of the most peaceful and contented congregation in America. Couldn"t you have managed to stick to religion instead of getting mixed up with socialism?"
"So you have been given the idea that my sermon was socialistic?" the rector said.
"Socialistic and heretical,--it seems. Of course I"m not much of an authority on heresy, but they claim that you went out of your way to knock some of their most cherished and sacred beliefs in the head."
"But suppose I have come to the honest conclusion that in the first place these so-called cherished beliefs have no foundation in fact, and no influence on the lives of the persons who cherished them, no real connection with Christianity? What would you have me do, as a man?
Continue to preach them for the sake of the lethargic peace of which you speak? leave the church paralyzed, as I found it?"
"Paralyzed! You"ve got the most influential people in the city."
Hodder regarded him for a while without replying.
"So has the Willesden Club," he said.
Langmaid laughed a little, uncomfortably.
"If Christianity, as one of the ancient popes is said to have remarked, were merely a profitable fable," the rector continued, "there might be something in your contention that St. John"s, as a church, had reached the pinnacle of success. But let us ignore the spiritual side of this matter as non-vital, and consider it from the practical side. We have the most influential people in the city, but we have not their children.
That does not promise well for the future. The children get more profit out of the country clubs. And then there is another question: is it going to continue to be profitable? Is it as profitable now as it was, say, twenty years ago?
"You"ve got out of my depth," said Nelson Langmaid.
"I"ll try to explain. As a man of affairs, I think you will admit, if you reflect, that the return of St. John"s, considering the large amount of money invested, is scarcely worth considering. And I am surprised that as astute a man as Mr. Pair has not been able to see this long ago. If we clear all the cobwebs away, what is the real function of this church as at present const.i.tuted? Why this heavy expenditure to maintain religious services for a handful of people? Is it not, when we come down to facts, an increasingly futile effort to bring the influences of religion--of superst.i.tion, if you will--to bear on the so-called lower cla.s.ses in order that they may remain contented with their lot, with that station and condition in the world where--it is argued--it has pleased G.o.d to call them? If that were not so, in my opinion there are very few of the privileged cla.s.ses who would invest a dollar in the Church. And the proof of it is that the moment a clergyman raises his voice to proclaim the true message of Christianity they are up in arms with the cry of socialism. They have the sense to see that their privileges are immediately threatened.
"Looking at it from the financial side, it would be cheaper for them to close up their churches. It is a mere waste of time and money, because the influence on their less fortunate brethren in a worldly sense has dwindled to nothing. Few of the poor come near their churches in these days. The profitable fable is almost played out."
Hodder had spoken without bitterness, yet his irony was by no means lost on the lawyer. Langmaid, if the truth be told, found himself for the moment in the unusual predicament of being at a loss, for the rector had put forward with more or less precision the very cynical view which he himself had been clever enough to evolve.
"Haven"t they the right," he asked, somewhat lamely, "to demand the kind of religion they pay for?"
"Provided you don"t call it religion," said the rector.
Langmaid smiled in spite of himself.
"See here, Hodder," he said, "I"ve always confessed frankly that I knew little or nothing about religion. I"ve come here this evening as your friend, without authority from anybody," he added significantly, "to see if this thing couldn"t somehow be adjusted peaceably, for your sake as well as others". Come, you must admit there"s a grain of justice in the contention against you. When I went on to Bremerton to get you I had no real reason for supposing that these views would develop. I made a contract with you in all good faith."
"And I with you," answered the rector. "Perhaps you do not realize, Langmaid, what has been the chief factor in developing these views."
The lawyer was silent, from caution.
"I must be frank with you. It was the discovery that Mr. Parr and others of my chief parishioners were so far from being Christians as to indulge, while they supported the Church of Christ, in operations like that of the Consolidated Tractions Company, wronging their fellow-men and condemning them to misery and hate. And that you, as a lawyer, used your talents to make that operation possible."
"Hold on!" cried Langmaid, now plainly agitated. "You have no right--you can know nothing of that affair. You do not understand business."
"I"m afraid," replied the rector, sadly, "that I understand one side of it only too well."
"The Church has no right to meddle outside of her sphere, to dictate to politics and business."
"Her sphere," said Holder, "--is the world. If she does not change the world by sending out Christians into it, she would better close her doors."
"Well, I don"t intend to quarrel with you, Holder. I suppose it can"t be helped that we look at these things differently, and I don"t intend to enter into a defence of business. It would take too long, and it wouldn"t help any." He got to his feet. "Whatever happens, it won"t interfere with our personal friendship, even if you think me a highwayman and I think you a--"
"A fanatic," Holder supplied. He had risen, too, and stood, with a smile on his face, gazing at the lawyer with an odd scrutiny.
"An idealist, I was going to say," Langmaid answered, returning the smile, "I"ll admit that we need them in the world. It"s only when one of them gets in the gear-box...."
The rector laughed. And thus they stood, facing each other.
"Langmaid," Holder asked, "don"t you ever get tired and disgusted with the Juggernaut car?"
The big lawyer continued to smile, but a sheepish, almost boyish expression came over his face. He had not credited the clergyman with so much astuteness.
"Business, nowadays, is--business, Holder. The Juggernaut car claims us all. It has become-if you will permit me to continue to put my similes into slang--the modern band wagon. And we lawyers have to get on it, or fall by the wayside."
Holder stared into the fire.
"I appreciate your motive in coming here," he said, at length, "and I do you the justice of believing it was friendly, that the fact that you are, in a way, responsible for me to--to the congregation of St. John"s did not enter into it. I realize that I have made matters particularly awkward for you. You have given them in me, and in good faith, something they didn"t bargain for. You haven"t said so, but you want me to resign.
On the one hand, you don"t care to see me tilting at the windmills, or, better, drawing down on my head the thunderbolts of your G.o.ds. On the other hand, you are just a little afraid for your G.o.ds. If the question in dispute were merely an academic one, I"d accommodate you at once. But I can"t. I"ve thought it all out, and I have made up my mind that it is my clear duty to remain here and, if I am strong enough, wrest this church from the grip of Eldon Parr and the men whom he controls.
"I am speaking plainly, and I understand the situation thoroughly. You will probably tell me, as others have done, that no one has ever opposed Eldon Parr who has not been crushed. I go in with my eyes open, I am willing to be crushed, if necessary. You have come here to warn me, and I appreciate your motive. Now I am going to warn you, in all sincerity and friendship. I may be beaten, I may be driven out. But the victory will be mine nevertheless. Eldon Parr and the men who stand with him in the struggle will never recover from the blow I shall give them. I shall leave them crippled because I have the truth on my side, and the truth is irresistible. And they shall not be able to injure me permanently.
And you, I regret deeply to say, will be hurt, too. I beg you, for no selfish reason, to consider again the part you intend to play in this affair."
Such was the conviction, such the unlooked-for fire with which the rector spoke that Langmaid was visibly shaken and taken aback in spite of himself.
"Do you mean," he demanded, when he had caught his breath, "that you intend to attack us publicly?"
"Is that the only punishment you can conceive of?" the rector asked. The reproach in his voice was in itself a denial.