"A mere animated edition of Rules and Forms of Procedure."
"Yes."
"But did you not explain to him the exceptional situation, demanding exceptional treatment?"
"Yes. I explained it very fully."
"And could the old dry-as-dust not understand? Could he not understand that at the time you did this you were likely to die within twelve hours? Could he not understand that, if you had died and you had left no one to take the lead, all this work, this Church you have builded, was likely to go to smash before they could get another man capable of carrying it on? Could he not understand that?"
"No, he could not understand. And if he could, the total destruction of the native Church would be nothing as compared with the calamity of having broken a rule framed for the Church in Canada, but not in China."
"A case of man's being made for the rules, and not the rules for man."
"Exactly."
"I suppose he can't help it. He has been reared in a groove. He lives in a groove. He will die in a groove. And if he gets to heaven it will be through a groove fenced in by rules and precedents."
"If you like to put it that way."