He was the innocentest, best old soul I ever see (pg.232)

"He was the innocentest, best old soul I ever see. But it warn't surprising; because he warn't only just a farmer, he was a preacher, too, and had a little one-horse log church down back of the plantation, which he built it himself at his own expense, for a church and schoolhouse, and never charged for his preaching, and it was worth it, too. There was plenty other farmer-preachers like that, and done the same way, down South. "




Here Twain satirizes Silas much like the widow, but in a more serious case. Silas is a farmer and a preacher that people of the town claim to be a great preacher because he preaches for free and his preachings is very much worth listening to. In the novel, Twain writes that he also owns slaves in his plantation. So he is a slave owning preacher which Twain satirizes much like the widow, because she is also a strong Christian. This places Silan, the priest, in a weird predicament, where he disobeys the Bible by owning a slave of his own to work for him. This kind of activity can be seen today where people like Silan go out and do things that the Bible doesn't necessarily agree with. On the news you can see gay men getting ordained everyday. Even though being gay is accepted, in legal terms, but in the Bible being a homosexual is highly unacceptable. In the picture you can see a openly gay priest kissing another man, which breaks the priest's catholic oath to not be in a relationship, but to only stay true to God, and in addition be gay. This is a perfect example of how people disobey the Bible when they say they are strong Christians.