Page images
PDF
EPUB

are so totally ignorant of the world; so unacquainted with the most obvious and established proprieties of life; and so little aware how greatly a striking defect, as to this point, affects any man's acceptance and usefulness in society, that when they hear the subject introduced as a matter of serious discussion, they consider it as beneath their attention. Prejudices arising from such a source are, surely, unworthy of respect. As well might we allow the judgment of the profoundly illiterate man to weigh against learning. He despises or undervalues that of which he is not a competent judge; while those who are the best judges, that is, who themselves possess the accomplishment in question, and who have had the most ample opportunity of witnessing its influence and value, have always been found to estimate it most highly. I never met with a man of tolerable manners himself, who did not consider the subject as very important, and worthy of the diligent attention of every one who desired to be acceptable and useful to his fellow

men.

The prejudices of others against every attempt to regulate and polish clerical manners, seem to arise from that eccentricity, or, as I would rather call it, that affectation of singularity, which prompts them to delight in those manners which are strange and peculiar, and to look with a sort of contempt on all rules of behaviour. There are persons, and even ministers of the gospel, who love to be singular; who take pleasure and pride in being thought above the ordinary laws of social intercourse: who, of course, violate those laws without ceremony; and make no scruple of indulging in what they know to be con

sidered as rough, offensive manners. The miserable vanity of being thought independent, of setting at defiance public sentiment, makes them entirely undervalue, for themselves, every code of rules of which the object is to make them act like civilized people. And not content with this, they endeavour to pour ridicule on every attempt either to form or enforce such a system in regard to others. When weak or wicked men allow themselves to take this ground, it is little to be wondered at, and will probably do little mischief: but when good men permit themselves to assume so absurd a position, they know not what they do. The consequences cannot fail to be injurious, and sometimes to a deplorable extent.

But a still larger class, I suspect, are prejudiced against all such discussion as that to which I would request your attention, from an entire misapprehension of the object aimed at in such discussion. Many have seen so much of the affectation and folly of false pretensions to politeness; and heard so much of the hollow, insincere system of artificial manners inculcated by Lord Chesterfield, and others, of the same school, who have sometimes appeared willing to sacrifice every substantial quality at the shrine of "the graces;"that they have conceived a disgust at every thing like rules or precepts on the subject of manners. And whenever they hear the subject mentioned, they take for granted that the object aimed at is that courtly polish, that graceful and punctilious adjustment of smiles, bows, dress, and minute attentions, which form so large a part of the Chesterfieldian code. Nothing, my dear young friend, is more remote from my purpose than the adoption of this

exceptionable, and, in some of its parts, profligate system. For, although it certainly embraces many precepts and suggestions which are worthy of the attention of every man who wishes to be acceptable in well-bred society, it also embraces much, very much, which no Christian can regard but with unmingled abhorrence. It has been, indeed, not unjustly said, by some one, that the "Letters to his Son," of that far-famed nobleman, inculcate "the morals of a prostitute, and the manners of a dancingmaster." This is all true; and no one reprobates the spirit, and many of the details, of those "Letters" more heartily than he who addresses you. Still, however, let us not indulge in prejudice against a whole subject, because it has been weakly or wickedly treated. Let us not imagine that it is unworthy of our serious regard, because perverted and corrupt views of it have been sometimes taken. No man in his senses considers the use of our daily food as improper or unnecessary, because the votaries of sensual indulgence have ransacked all the stores of ingenious refinement, to pamper the appetite, and gratify the palate, and have sometimes employed the most shameful means to accomplish their object.

Let me entreat you, then, to recollect, that when I earnestly recommend to you the cultivation of proper clerical manners, it is by no means my purpose to recommend those starched, artificial, formal manners, which display constant effort and constraint; or those ostentatious, splendid, and gracefully refined manners, which are formed upon mere worldly principles; which qualify their possessor to make a distinguished figure in a ball-room, or at the levee of a

[blocks in formation]

15

great man, and which manifest that he has studied Chesterfield more than his Bible. So far from this is my aim, that. I am persuaded, many persons who pass for well-bred, and even highly bred, in such scenes, are among the most disgusting and troublesome, and, of course, among the worst-bred people in the world. But my object is to recommend those manners which become the Christian gentleman; which naturally flow from the meekness, gentleness, purity, and benevolence of our holy religion; and which both the precepts and examples of the Bible equally recommend.

There are others, who, whenever we speak of appropriate clerical manners, consider us as designing to recommend that habitual restraint and sanctimoniousness of demeanor, which approaches to a sort of professional dissimulation. They suppose that, in the formation of clerical character, there are certain glosses and concealments which clerical policy requires to be studied, and which are intended to deepen and extend their impression on the popular mind. And, therefore, whenever they hear of precepts and advices to candidates for the ministry, in relation to this subject, they regard them as making an attempt to initiate them into the mysteries of their profession, by which their reign over the minds of men may be more effectually maintained. This seems to be the prevailing opinion of infidels; and also of all those professed friends to the Christian ministry, who, being in a great measure regardless of spiritual living, and holy example themselves, are apt to refer to affectation, and even to hypocrisy, every thing which would establish a system of de

portment more retiring, serious, and self-denied, than their own. Such artificial manners, it must be owned, have not been uncommon among ecclesiastics in certain parts and ages of the world. But they will be regarded with unmingled abhorrence by every honest man, to say nothing of Christian principle. I can only say, that I neither plead nor wish for any thing of this kind. My object is by no means to help you to weave a "professional cloak," for the purpose of covering mental imbecility, corrupt practice, or sinister design. It is not to recommend a buckram dress, for the purpose of repelling familiarity, or inspiring with awe. But, simply, to help you to appear, what you ought to be, a pious, benevolent, amiable man; respectfully attentive to the welfare and comfort of all around you; and seeking, habitually and supremely, to promote the best interest of mankind.

[ocr errors]

By good manners, then, I beg you will understand me to mean those manners which Christian purity and benevolence recommend, and which, where those graces reign, they will ever be found substantially to produce. Dr. Witherspoon, in his "Letters on Education," while strongly urging the utility and importance of polished manners, remarks, that "true religion is not only consistent with, but necessary to, the perfection of true politeness;" and fortifies his opinion by "a noble sentiment," as he calls it, of the Prince of Conti, viz. that "worldly politeness is no more than an imitation or imperfect copy of Christian charity, being the pretence, or outward appearance, of that deference to the judgment, and attention to the interest of others, which a true Christian has

« PreviousContinue »