There is probably no community and no sect within the range of
the Western culture in which the bounds of permissible indulgence
are not drawn appreciably closer for the incumbent of the
priestly office than for the common layman. If the priest's own
sense of sacerdotal propriety does not effectually impose a
limit, the prevalent sense of the proprieties on the part of the
community will commonly assert itself so obtrusively as to lead
to his conformity or his retirement from office.
Few if any members of any body of clergy, it may be added, would
avowedly seek an increase of salary for gain's sake; and if such
avowal were openly made by a clergyman, it would be found
obnoxious to the sense of propriety among his congregation. It
may also be noted in this connection that no one but the scoffers
and the very obtuse are not instinctively grieved inwardly at a
jest from the pulpit; and that there are none whose respect for
their pastor does not suffer through any mark of levity on his
part in any conjuncture of life, except it be levity of a
palpably histrionic kind -- a constrained unbending of dignity.
The diction proper to the sanctuary and to the priestly office
should also carry little if any suggestion of effective everyday
life, and should not draw upon the vocabulary of modern trade or
industry.
Pages:
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403