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.ÿþreading in the privacy of his own study.9 Did his dress on all occasions identifyhim as a clergyman? Did his dress conform to canonical prescriptions? Or had10clerical fashions changed and made the latter hopelessly out of date?For Virginia s parsons, as for clergy before and since, the   high calling was impossible to fulfill.They took solemn vows to direct their lives by stan-dards no mere human being could attain, vows that made them responsiblenot just for their own lives but also for those to whom they would minis-ter.A few saints might approximate the model but most parsons fell short.11The responsibility of ministers through sermon, homily, and private confer-ence to instruct, chastise, and inspire meant a constant reiteration of the veryideals that their own lives failed to match.Clerics consequently have been easy,obvious, and repeated targets of ridicule, satire, and denunciation.Minstrels,bards, poets, comedians, and novelists have made merry with them.The fol-lowing supplication occurs in the preface to one of Goronwy Owen s poems:  Fair Lord, as I am a minister, let me minister unimpeachably.If shepherdinga flock is an honourable calling, then the shepherd s burdens are many.Theday will breakwhenI must face the Lordtoanswer for many a soul.Hearme and help me, Lord, to sustain my revered and yet frightened vocation.  12Even if others did not record this tension, they likely experienced it.Some,it is true, may have satisfied themselves that a minimal standard of faithfuldischarge of duties sufficed.From this distance in time, one is left with littlemore than the mixed messages of their recorded behavior by which to assessclerical standards.Facing the parsons expectations of themselves would be the parishionersexpectations of their parsons.The ideal standard the minister as a modelof   holy living   was as much a part of the laity s understanding as it wasthe clergy s.It could be called upon to acknowledge exceptional piety and ex-ceptional impiety.But what were the operative everyday expectations? Parish-ioners reacted when parsons neglected their duties or when parsons ran afoulof the law, fell into debt, or violated the community moral code.13 These re-sponses, however, tell little or nothing of the qualities or behaviors they prizedin their clergy.Early in the century, the Reverend Hugh Jones observed that Virginiansexpected their parsons to   be persons that have read and seen something moreof the world, than what is requisite for an English parish; they must be such ascan converse and know more than bare philosophy and speculative ethicks, andhave studied men and business in some measure as well as books; they may actlike gentlemen, and be facetious and good humored; without too much free-.148 parsons [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]

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