ll--the company of bullies and prostitutes. You
must have lots of them in this parish. Do you get hold of them? I don't
believe you do, because the chief thing which has struck me is the utter
remoteness of the Church or indeed of any kind of religion from the
life of that class. And their standards are upside-down--actually
upside-down. They're handed over entirely to the powers of darkness.
Now, as far as I can see, the Devil--or whatever you choose to call
him--only cares about people who are worth his while. He hands the
others over to anybody that likes to deal with them. Equally I would say
that God is a little contemptuous of the poor intermediates. The Church,
however, in these hard times for religion is glad to get hold even of
them, and this miserable spirit of mediocrity runs through the whole
organization. The bishops are moderate; the successful parsons are
moderate; and the flock is moderate. To come back to the sinners. You
know, they _would_ be worth getting. You've no idea what a force they
would raise. And now, all their industry, all their ingenuity, all their
vitality is devoted to the service of evil."

Chator could contain himself no longer.

"My dear fellow, you don't understand how impossible it is to get in
touch with the people you're talking about. They elude one. Of course,
we should rejoice to get them. But they're impossible."

"Christ moved among sinners," said Michael.

"It's not because we don't long to move among them," Chator spluttered
in exasperation. "We would give anything to move among them. But we
can't. I don't know why. But they won't relax any of their barriers.
They're notoriously difficult."

"Then it all comes down to a 'no' in answer to my question," said
Michael. "You don't get the real sinners. That's what's the matter with
St. Chad's--until you can compel the sinner to come in, you'll stay in a
spiritual backwater."

"If you were a priest," said Chator, "you'd realize our handicap
better."

"No doubt," Michael agreed. "But don't forget that the Salvation Army
gets hold of sinners. In fact, I'll wager that nine out of ten of the
people with whom I've been in contact lately would only understand by
religion the Salvation Army. Personally I loathe the Salvation Army. I
think it is almost a more disruptive organization than anything else in
the world. But at least it is alive; it's not suet like most of the
Dissenting Sects or a rather rich and heavy plum-pudding li