cognised familiar
faces, Mr. Kernan began to feel more at home. His hat, which had been
rehabilitated by his wife, rested upon his knees. Once or twice he
pulled down his cuffs with one hand while he held the brim of his hat
lightly, but firmly, with the other hand.

A powerful-looking figure, the upper part of which was draped with
a white surplice, was observed to be struggling into the pulpit.
Simultaneously the congregation unsettled, produced handkerchiefs and
knelt upon them with care. Mr. Kernan followed the general example. The
priest's figure now stood upright in the pulpit, two-thirds of its bulk,
crowned by a massive red face, appearing above the balustrade.

Father Purdon knelt down, turned towards the red speck of light
and, covering his face with his hands, prayed. After an interval, he
uncovered his face and rose. The congregation rose also and settled
again on its benches. Mr. Kernan restored his hat to its original
position on his knee and presented an attentive face to the preacher.
The preacher turned back each wide sleeve of his surplice with an
elaborate large gesture and slowly surveyed the array of faces. Then he
said:

"For the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the
children of light. Wherefore make unto yourselves friends out of the
mammon of iniquity so that when you die they may receive you into
everlasting dwellings."

Father Purdon developed the text with resonant assurance. It was one of
the most difficult texts in all the Scriptures, he said, to interpret
properly. It was a text which might seem to the casual observer at
variance with the lofty morality elsewhere preached by Jesus Christ.
But, he told his hearers, the text had seemed to him specially adapted
for the guidance of those whose lot it was to lead the life of the world
and who yet wished to lead that life not in the manner of worldlings. It
was a text for business men and professional men. Jesus Christ with His
divine understanding of every cranny of our human nature, understood
that all men were not called to the religious life, that by far the vast
majority were forced to live in the world, and, to a certain extent,
for the world: and in this sentence He designed to give them a word of
counsel, setting before them as exemplars in the religious life those
very worshippers of Mammon who were of all men the least solicitous in
matters religious.

He told his hearers that he was there that evening for