登陆注册
19622600000051

第51章 CHAPTER XXVI(2)

It is his raison d'etre. If his parishioners feel that he does this, they approve of him, for they look upon him as their own contribution towards what they deem a holy life. This is why the clergyman is so often called a vicar--he being the person whose vicarious goodness is to stand for that of those entrusted to his charge. But his home is his castle as much as that of any other Englishman, and with him, as with others, unnatural tension in public is followed by exhaustion when tension is no longer necessary. His children are the most defenceless things he can reach, and it is on them in nine cases out of ten that he will relieve his mind.

A clergyman, again, can hardly ever allow himself to look facts fairly in the face. It is his profession to support one side; it is impossible, therefore, for him to make an unbiassed examination of the other.

We forget that every clergyman with a living or curacy, is as much a paid advocate as the barrister who is trying to persuade a jury to acquit a prisoner. We should listen to him with the same suspense of judgment, the same full consideration of the arguments of the opposing counsel, as a judge does when he is trying a case. Unless we know these, and can state them in a way that our opponents would admit to be a fair representation of their views, we have no right to claim that we have formed an opinion at all. The misfortune is that by the law of the land one side only can be heard.

Theobald and Christina were no exceptions to the general rule. When they came to Battersby they had every desire to fulfil the duties of their position, and to devote themselves to the honour and glory of God. But it was Theobald's duty to see the honour and glory of God through the eyes of a Church which had lived three hundred years without finding reason to change a single one of its opinions.

I should doubt whether he ever got as far as doubting the wisdom of his Church upon any single matter. His scent for possible mischief was tolerably keen; so was Christina's, and it is likely that if either of them detected in him or herself the first faint symptoms of a want of faith they were nipped no less peremptorily in the bud, than signs of self-will in Ernest were--and I should imagine more successfully. Yet Theobald considered himself, and was generally considered to be, and indeed perhaps was, an exceptionally truthful person; indeed he was generally looked upon as an embodiment of all those virtues which make the poor respectable and the rich respected. In the course of time he and his wife became persuaded even to unconsciousness, that no one could even dwell under their roof without deep cause for thankfulness. Their children, their servants, their parishioners must be fortunate ipso facto that they were theirs. There was no road to happiness here or hereafter, but the road that they had themselves travelled, no good people who did not think as they did upon every subject, and no reasonable person who had wants the gratification of which would be inconvenient to them--Theobald and Christina.

This was how it came to pass that their children were white and puny; they were suffering from HOME-SICKNESS. They were starving, through being over-crammed with the wrong things. Nature came down upon them, but she did not come down on Theobald and Christina. Why should she? They were not leading a starved existence. There are two classes of people in this world, those who sin, and those who are sinned against; if a man must belong to either, he had better belong to the first than to the second.

同类推荐
  • 心目论

    心目论

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 佛说妇人遇辜经

    佛说妇人遇辜经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 洞真太上素灵洞元大有妙经

    洞真太上素灵洞元大有妙经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 六十种曲四喜记

    六十种曲四喜记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 天原发微

    天原发微

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 佛是一棵树:用佛法智慧经营成功人生

    佛是一棵树:用佛法智慧经营成功人生

    藏传佛教宁玛新伏藏传承者,敦珠法王新宝藏持有者,国际西藏学会发起人,《西藏仁波切》著者。——杨瑞智巴活佛。由西藏活佛亲自作序,第一本真正的佛商养成手册。东方人管理企业,要运用适合东方人的管理方法;现代人感悟佛法,要应用适宜现代人的佛门法则。一个有智慧的人,会无往不利;一个有智慧的团队,将战无不胜。这是一个属于佛商们的时代,你准备好了吗?
  • Letters to Malthus

    Letters to Malthus

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 重生十三岁:通灵少女萌萌哒

    重生十三岁:通灵少女萌萌哒

    前世,她,被至亲陷害,含恨而终,这世,她,发誓要让前世的仇,今生两倍来还!本来她的复仇计划是很完美的,可是他却突然闯进来她的世界,打乱了她的计划。因为爷爷去世,通灵世家千羽家在一夜间破败,可在一年后重新·支起千羽世家的居然是未满十六岁的她?她从那些贪狼的手里夺回了千羽家的家产,让千羽世家在通灵世家的道路上,重回巅峰!(雨萌新浪微博:小逗比汐月雨萌)
  • 盘古记

    盘古记

    杀,可开天辟地!意,可造物弄人!无尽苍茫杀意凛然,芸芸众生谁能寻得心舟踏过奈何抵达彼岸......
  • 小学生最想知道的100个为什么:科学的秘密

    小学生最想知道的100个为什么:科学的秘密

    自《350天为什么》专栏首次出现在《纽约时报》以来,我们收到了大批的信件,里面有来自孩子和大人的各种问题。报纸上每次刊登的栏目都有着自己的独立性和完整性,我们在这本书里也保持这种特点。每个问题中都埋藏着一种最神秘的元素。归根结底,科学只是在试图去描绘这个世界,并且只能描绘出这个世界的冰山一角。
  • 重生之超级侦探

    重生之超级侦探

    流动的水没有形状、飘流的风找不到踪迹,任何案子的推理都取决于心。没有天衣无缝的计划、没有百无一疏的疑案,任何案子的解决都来自不引人注目的细节。前世他是一名神探,代号Sherlock,破案无数。然而在一次追查鬼面人的身份中,被组织中的人出卖,枉死他乡。上天给了他一个重活的机会,让他重生在一名初三的少年身上。从此,故事拉开序幕.....【本书形式如同名侦探柯南,案件一件接着一件】【侦探事务所178386075(空)、欢迎大家加入】
  • 超级组织系统

    超级组织系统

    身携超级组织系统,扫荡世间诸界看谁不顺眼,揍他,谁人有钱,抢他,谁人不服,灭他。
  • 贼日子

    贼日子

    这个少年盗窃团伙,在满是虱子的破袍里,上演着人生的荒诞和异象,当他们以为差不多达到“华美”时,溃烂的阴影便将他们迅速掩埋,不留痕迹。
  • 无尽维度之黎明

    无尽维度之黎明

    因为某种不知名原因在厦门大学一带的人类传送到了某个世界,为了回到或者去到另外的世界他们必须存活着和怪物搏斗并且到达世界中心,通过自相残杀来决定传送人选……
  • 进入植物大战僵尸

    进入植物大战僵尸

    写一写进入游戏的主人公会战胜僵尸吗,请看一下