The rector of the church knew his record perfectly; knew that his
gains were ill-gotten blood money, ground from the suffering poor by
the power of monopoly, and from confiding fools by smart lures and
scheming tricks. But this young clergyman, having recently been
called to preside over the fashionable church, had no idea of being
so impolite as to refuse to administer the bread and wine to one of
its most liberal supporters!

There were constant demands upon the treasury of the church; it
required a vast outlay of money to maintain the splendour and
elegance of the temple which held its head so high above many others;
and there were large charities to be sustained, not to mention its
rector's princely salary. The millionaire pewholder was a liberal
giver. It rarely occurs to the fashionable dispensers of spiritual
knowledge to ask whether the devil's money should be used to gild the
Lord's temple; nor to question if it be a wise religion which allows
a man to rob his neighbours on weekdays, to give to the cause of
charity on Sundays.

And yet if every clergyman and priest in the land were to make and
maintain these standards for their followers, there might be an
astonishing decrease in the needs of the poor and unfortunate.

Were every church member obliged to open his month's ledgers to a
competent jury of inspectors, before he was allowed to take the holy
sacrament and avow himself a humble follower of Christ, what a
revolution might ensue! How church spires would crumble for lack of
support, and poorhouses lessen in number for lack of inmates!

But the leniency of clergymen toward the shortcomings of their