Letters on Clerical Manners and Habits; Addressed to a Student in the Theological Seminary, at Princeton, N.J. (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: LETTER XX. See that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise. Ephbs. v. 15. GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF CLERICAL MANNERS. MY DEAR YOUNG FRIEND, In pursuing the subject introduced to your view in the preceding Letter, a question presents itself, which seems to require some discussion, before we proceed to the details which are intended to occupy the following pages. The question is this?Is there any thing peculiar in the style of manners proper for a minister of the gospel ? Ought the manners of a clergyman perceptibly to differ from those of a well-bred man of a secular profession ? I think they ought. That is to say, I am clearly of the opinion that they ought to bear a stamp, in a variety of particulars, cliaracteristick of the hallowed spirit and sacred office with which they are connected. All other professional men, indeed, would be the better for having the same sort of manners Uvit I am about to recommend to ministers of the gospel; but with respect to the 1 itter, they are so indispensably necessary to the complete attainment of all those advantages which manners can impart to their possessor, that they may be said, without impropriety, to be peculiarly clerical in their nature. If I were to attempt to exhibit the peculiarity in question, I should say it max be expressed in six words?Dignity, Gentleness. Condescension, sljfabilily, Reserve, and Uniformity. 1. Dignity. By this I mean that happy mixture of gravity and elevation in human deportment, which evinces a mind habitually thoughtful, serious, and set on high things. An air and manner opposed to levity; opposed to that propensity to jesting, which is so often manifested by some who bear the sacred office; opposed to what is grovelling; opposed, in short, to every species of lightness or...