Somewhat dazedly, too, he realised at this close range the severely practical aspects of much that he had taught in theory.

It was strange, almost unnerving, to behold his own teachings naked of their pulpit rhetoric; to find his long-cherished ideals materialised by literal-minded, practiced men.
He heard again the oath he had sworn, back on the river-flat: "_I will assist in executing all the decrees of the First President, Patriarch, or President of the Twelve, and I will cause all who speak evil of the Presidency or Heads of the Church to die the death of dissenters or apostates_--" And then he had heard the business of the meeting discussed.

Decisions were reached swiftly, and orders given in words that were few and plain.

Even had these orders been repugnant to him, they were not to be questioned; they came from an infallible priesthood, obedience to which was the first essential to his soul's salvation; and they came again from the head of an organisation to which he was bound by every oath he had been taught to hold sacred.

But, while they left him dazed, disconcerted, and puzzled, he was by no means certain that they were repugnant.