"Monsignor, I do not scorn the Church,--but I think that honesty and
fair dealing with one another is better than any Church! Christ had
no Church. He built no temples, He amassed no wealth,--He preached
simply to those who would hear Him under the arching sky,--in the
open air! He prophesied the fall of temples; 'In this place,' He
said, 'is One greater than the temple.' [Footnote: Matt. xii. v. 6.]
He sought to destroy long built-up hypocrisies. 'My house is called
the house of prayer, but ye have made it a den of thieves.' Thieves,
not only of gold, but of honour!--thieves of the very Gospel, which
has been tampered with and twisted to suit the times, the conditions
and opinions of varying phases of priestcraft. Who that has read,
and thought, and travelled and studied the manuscripts hidden away
in the old monasteries of Armenia and Syria, believes that the
Saviour of the world ever condescended to 'pun' on the word Petrus,
and say, 'On this Rock (or stone) I will build my Church,' when He
already knew that He had to deal with a coward who would soon deny
Him?"
"Enough! I will hear no further!" cried Moretti, turning livid with
fury--"Cardinal Bonpre, I appeal to you . . ."
But Cyrillon went on unheedingly,--
"Beware of that symbol of your Church, Monsignor! It is a very
strange one! It seems about to be expanded into a reality of
dreadful earnest! 'I know not the man,' said Peter.
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