“I am not defending the Vatican,” exclaimed Lucas, vehemently. “I am defending the word of God⁠—which is one long cry of the human spirit for deliverance from the sway of oppression. Take the twenty-fourth chapter of the Book of Job, which I am accustomed to quote in my addresses as ‘the Bible upon the Beef Trust’; or take the words of Isaiah⁠—or of the Master himself! Not the elegant prince of our debauched and vicious art, not the jewelled idol of our society churches⁠—but the Jesus of the awful reality, the man of sorrow and pain, the outcast, despised of the world, who had nowhere to lay his head⁠—”

“I will grant you Jesus,” interrupted the other.