@@@@@ “A very praiseworthy practice,” said
@@@@@
“A very praiseworthy practice,” said Edmund, “but not quite universal
I am one of the exceptions, and being one, must do something
for myself
“‘But why are you to be a clergyman? I thought that was always
the lot of the youngest, where there were many to chuse before
him
“Do you think the church itself never chosen, then?”
“Never is a black wordBut yes, in the never of conversation, which
means not very often, I do think itFor what is to be done in the
church? Men love to distinguish themselves, and in either of the
other lines distinction may be gained, but not in the churchA
clergyman is nothing
“The nothing of conversation has its gradations, I hope, as well as
the neverA clergyman cannot be high in state or fashionHe must
not head mobs, or set the ton in dressBut I cannot call that situation
nothing which has the charge of all that is of the first importance
to mankind, individually or collectively considered, temporally
and eternally, which has the guardianship of religion and morals,
and consequently of the manners which result from their influence
No one here can call the office nothingIf the man who holds
it is so, it is by the neglect of his duty, by foregoing its just importance,
and stepping out of his place to appear what he ought not to
appear
“You assign greater consequence to the clergyman than one has been
used to hear given, or than I can quite comprehendOne does not see
much of this influence and importance in society, and how can it be
acquired where they are so seldom seen themselves? How can two
sermons a week, even supposing them worth hearing, supposing the
preacher to have the sense to prefer Blair’s to his own, do all that you
speak of? govern the conduct and fashion the manners of a large congregation
for the rest of the week? One scarcely sees a clergyman out
of his pulpit
“You are speaking of London, I am speaking of the nation at large
“The metropolis, I imagine, is a pretty fair sample of the rest
81
Jane Austen
“Not, I should hope, of the proportion of virtue to vice throughout
the kingdomWe do not look in great cities for our best morality
It is not there that respectable people of any denomination can
do most good; and it certainly is not there that the influence of the
clergy can be most feltA fine preacher is followed and admired;
but it is not in fine preaching only that a good clergyman will be
useful in his parish and his neighbourhood, where the parish and
neighbourhood are of a size capable of knowing his private character,
and observing his general conduct, which in London can rarely
be the caseThe clergy are lost there in the crowds of their parishioners
They are known to the largest part only as preachersAnd with
regard to their influencing public manners, Miss Crawford must
not misunderstand me, or suppose I mean to call them the arbiters
of good-breeding, the regulators of refinement and courtesy, the
masters of the ceremonies of lifeThe manners I speak of might
rather be called conduct, perhaps, the result of good principles; the
effect, in short, of those doctrines which it is their duty to teach and
recommend; and it will, I believe, be everywhere found, that as the
clergy are, or are not what they ought to be, so are the rest of the
na