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Bates, Arlo, 1850-1918

"The Puritans"

Now there is given you an opportunity to see
for yourself, without the possibility of disguise, what your true
feeling is. The question now is whether you are seeking your own will
or the good of religion. Will you fail us and yourself?"
Maurice was touched by the tone in which this was said. While he had
been growing to be less and less in sympathy with Father Frontford and
with the ideals which the brotherhood represented, he had never for an
instant ceased to believe in the sincerity of the Superior. He might
think him narrow, mistaken, even at times so blinded by desire for the
success of the brotherhood as to become almost Jesuitical in method;
but he felt that the Father lived faithful to his belief, ready, if the
cause required, to sacrifice himself utterly. He could not but be moved
by the appeal which the priest made, and by the genuine feeling which
rang through every word.
"Father," he said, raising his eyes to the face of the other, "I cannot
deny that I am less satisfied about our faith than I used to be. I can
see now that I perhaps have not been entirely frank in confession,
though I hadn't recognized it before.


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