登陆注册
4711700000016

第16章

MANNING was now thirty-eight, and it was clear that he was the rising man in the Church of England. He had many powerful connections: he was the brother-in-law of Samuel Wilberforce, who had been lately made a bishop; he was a close friend of Mr. Gladstone, who was a Cabinet Minister; and he was becoming well known in the influential circles of society in London. His talent for affairs was recognised not only in the Church, but in the world at large, and he busied himself with matters of such varied scope as National Education, the administration of the Poor Law, and the Employment of Women. Mr. Gladstone kept up an intimate correspondence with him on these and on other subjects, mingling in his letters the details of practical statesmanship with the speculations of a religious thinker. 'Sir James Graham,' he wrote, in a discussion of the bastardy clauses of the Poor Law, 'is much pleased with the tone of your two communications. He is disposed, without putting an end to the application of the workhouse test against the mother, to make the remedy against the putative father "real and effective" for expenses incurred in the workhouse. I am not enough acquainted to know whether it would be advisable to go further. You have not proposed it; and I am disposed to believe that only with a revived and improved discipline in the Church can we hope for any generally effective check upon lawless lust.' 'I agree with you EMINENTLY,' he writes, in a later letter, 'in your doctrine of FILTRATION. But it sometimes occurs to me, though the question may seem a strange one, how far was the Reformation, but especially the Continental Reformation, designed by God, in the region of final causes, for that purification of the Roman Church which it has actually realised?'

In his archdeaconry, Manning lived to the full the active life of a country clergyman. His slim, athletic figure was seen everywhere in the streets of Chichester, or on the lawns of the neighbouring rectories, or galloping over the downs in breeches and gaiters, or cutting brilliant figures on the ice. He was an excellent judge of horse-flesh, and the pair of greys which drew his hooded phaeton so swiftly through the lanes were the admiration of the county. His features were already beginning to assume their ascetic cast, but the spirit of youth had not yet fled from them, so that he seemed to combine the attractions of dignity and grace. He was a good talker, a sympathetic listener, a man who understood the difficult art of preserving all the vigour of a manly character and yet never giving offence. No wonder that his sermons drew crowds, no wonder that his spiritual advice was sought for eagerly by an ever-growing group of penitents; no wonder that men would say, when his name was mentioned, 'Oh, Manning! No power on earth can keep HIM from a bishopric!'

Such was the fair outward seeming of the Archdeacon's life; but, the inward reality was different. The more active, the more fortunate, the more full of happy promise his existence became, the more persistently was his secret imagination haunted by a dreadful vision--the lake that burneth forever with brimstone and fire. The temptations of the Evil One are many, Manning knew; and he knew also that, for him at least, the most subtle and terrible of all temptations was the temptation of worldly success. He tried to reassure himself, but it was in vain. He committed his thoughts to a diary, weighing scrupulously his every motive, examining with relentless searchings into the depths of his heart. Perhaps, after all, his longings for preferment were merely legitimatehopes for 'an elevation into a sphere of higher usefulness'. But no. there was something more than that. 'I do feel pleasure,' he noted, 'in honour, precedence, elevation, the society of great people, and all this is very shameful and mean.'

After Newman's conversion, he almost convinced himself that his 'visions of an ecclesiastical future' were justified by the role that he would play as a 'healer of the breach in the Church of England'. Mr. Gladstone agreed with him; but there was One higher than Mr. Gladstone, and did He agree? 'I am pierced by anxious thoughts. God knows what my desires have been and are, and why they are crossed. ... I am flattering myself with a fancy about depth and reality. ... The great question is: Is God enough for you now? And if you are as now even to the end of life, will it suffice you? ... Certainly I would rather choose to be stayed on God, than to be in the thrones of the world and the Church.

Nothing else will go into Eternity.'

In a moment of ambition, he had applied for the Readership of Lincoln's Inn, but, owing chiefly to the hostile influence of the Record, the appointment had gone elsewhere. A little later, a more important position was offered to him-- the office of sub-almoner to the Queen, which had just been vacated by the Archbishop of York, and was almost certain to lead to a mitre.

The offer threw Manning into an agony of self-examination. He drew up elaborate tables, after the manner of Robinson Crusoe, with the reasons for and against his acceptance of the post:

FOR AGAINST1. That it comes unsought. 1. Not therefore to be accepted. Such things are trials as well as leadings.2. That it is honourable. 2. Being what I am, ought I not therefore to decline it - (1) as humiliation; (2) as revenge on myself for Lincoln's Inn; (3) as a testimony?

And so on. He found in the end ten 'negative reasons', with no affirmative ones to balance them, and, after a week's deliberation, he rejected the offer.

同类推荐
  • 郑风

    郑风

    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。
  • 瓢泉吟稿

    瓢泉吟稿

    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。
  • 医理真传

    医理真传

    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。
  • 法华十妙不二门示珠指

    法华十妙不二门示珠指

    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。
  • A Millionaire of Rough-and-Ready

    A Millionaire of Rough-and-Ready

    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
  • 误惹妖孽:极品废柴太嚣张

    误惹妖孽:极品废柴太嚣张

    当天才特工穿越成废物花痴之体,后果是……嚣张?纨绔?好色?还是枚吃货!!没事调戏调戏美男,虐虐人渣,这人生过得好不快活,反正天赋绝艳动天下,桃花朵朵遍地开!人生座右铭:节操下限皆浮云,美男快到锅里来!不过是误惹了腹黑霸气高冷帝?为毛从此她的人生,她不做主!?求破!新书《御宠狂妃:王爷有种单挑》火热连载中~~推荐留言收藏一个不能少哟~
  • 最后恋爱的声音

    最后恋爱的声音

    西琴海是一处著名旅游胜地,传说情侣乘船出海,如果互相倾诉恋爱蜜语,就会引来海豚群,而海豚会发出一种声音,最为动人美妙。苏音为此来到这里,遇到了海洋救生队成员欧源。仅仅两次见面,他们就意外“接吻”两次,这样的相遇,让欧源开始留意这个女生。之后的接触中,欧源发现这个女生总是流露出一种悲伤,甚至似乎一直处在一种自我幻想中……
  • 被云覆盖着的蔷薇

    被云覆盖着的蔷薇

    污污的乐薇遇上帅气总裁,会碰撞出怎样的火花呢?“咚”乐薇一脸惶恐的看着眼前的“禽兽”“还跑吗”男人一脸坏笑地看着她。“不跑了不跑了!”她,是俏皮可爱自称御姐的呆萌妹子他,是整个梦城为之恐慌的冷血总裁谁能想到他们竟被缘分缠在了一起。
  • 中国大众影像生产研究:民间的书写

    中国大众影像生产研究:民间的书写

    关于文字与影像、文字文化与视觉文化、平面媒体与电子媒体之间的同与异、电子文化的霸权等方面的研究可以说是汗牛充栋,本文并不打算在这方面忝列旧说,只是认为在中国的影像工业包括影像传媒中,有一些新的现象值得注意,有一些新问题值得探讨,有一些熟视无睹的东西值得从更深的层面上来认真审视。
  • 骗局

    骗局

    到一座城市去大展宏图,我的职业是个骗子,我非常热爱自己的职业,我有绝对优势从事我的职业:我从小就反应机敏,谎话张嘴就来而且天衣无缝得滴水不漏,更重要的是我生就一副粗眉大眼厚嘴唇的憨厚老实相,这使我骗起人来如虎添翼,令对方防不胜防。
  • 佛说群牛譬经

    佛说群牛譬经

    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。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 赌后倾城

    赌后倾城

    她,24世纪的皇家赌城掌权者,人送外号‘黑玖瑰’,拥有的财富,权势,足以颠覆一个国家。然,却因为一个男人,被自已的亲生妹妹背叛,一入阿弥地狱,奈何桥上帮着黑白无常坑了孟婆一把,让她老人家一气之下把她踹了个重生,成了苍古大陆烈焰帝国风家的嫡生千金小姐,从此,懦弱无能的千金小姐恍若凤凰涅槃,风华独立,傲视世人,一身赌技令无数人折服。【情节虚构,请勿模仿】
  • 将门妖妃

    将门妖妃

    秦落羽,21世纪影视歌三栖巨星,风华绝代;一朝穿越,却成了饭都吃不起的乞丐?——导演,你丫拿错剧本了吧?!旁边还有一个忽闪着大眼睛的熊孩子?还是她儿子?——老娘连男朋友都没有啊摔!这一世的她,身为傲苍大陆钟夏国大将军府的嫡女,却徒有美貌,懦弱无能,被两个妹妹欺害,处处遭受凌辱。大婚之日,还没到相爷府上,就被当街掳走,成为只能在城外流浪的落魄乞丐。原以为这是上天对自己的一场捉弄,没想到命运的齿轮才刚刚开始转动。当灵魂交错,现有格局,全部翻盘逆转。驭万兽,练灵丹,制神器,带着上古血脉,云涌天地,傲世苍穹!在这个强者为尊的异世,她就是绝对的主宰!这一世,她不会再钳制于潜规则,因为,她就是规则!这一世,她不会再受挟于小人,因为,顺我者昌逆我者亡!这一世,她不会再听任于命运的安排,因为,命运就在她自己手中!带上儿子,凤凌异世,妖魔鬼怪,奸人贱人,母子齐心,一并扫清。什么?孩子他爹是谁?这个重要吗?【某梨:当然重要了!!◆◆◆◆◆神秘男主篇◆◆◆◆◆传说,他命犯孤煞,所以注定枯骨独亡。传说,他雄踞一方,北方宝地从此成为禁地。传说,他妖邪附体,见过他的人必遭血光之灾,尸骨无存。一代妖皇,世人谈之色变,避之不及;对所有人冷傲疏离,唯独对她极尽宠溺,横亘天下倾绝柔情。好像……和传言不大一样0.0?◆◆◆◆◆◆◆小剧场◆◆◆◆◆◆◆【一】当秦落羽见到眼前这个一袭紫衣,俊如神祗般的男子时,顿时忘记自己现在是偷偷潜入人家的宫殿被当场抓包了。“额……帅哥你好!初次见面请多关照!”“我可不是第一次见你了。”神色慵懒,表情邪魅,如同勾魂一般。秦落羽疑惑的抬眼。“三个月前钟夏城郊的小溪……”随着紫衣男子的话,秦落羽的脸色瞬间变了三变。浑身涨起劲道罡风,直直的向着那男子扫去。“你到底偷看了我多少!”【二】“哇!娘亲!你出名了诶!你看,每个人手里都拿着你的画像呢!”秦小瑾高高扬着一张蜡黄的纸,满脸兴奋,手舞足蹈。马车内的女子一怔,随即心里乐开了花,这还没进城呢就有这么多粉丝了?轻咳一声,拿出身为人母的仪态,故作镇定道:“儿子,无论什么时候都要宠辱不惊,知道不?”秦落羽接过画像,定睛一看,额头上生出一堆黑线。“通缉令?!”【三】某护法躬身禀告:“尊主!”某人半眯着一双眼慵懒道:“嗯。”
  • 猎人者

    猎人者

    男人仍然闭着眼,好像已经睡着了,而林燕,则一动不动地站在床前。因为像头的位置在卧室里面的墙上的空调内……
  • 废材痞妃:帝君,别撩我

    废材痞妃:帝君,别撩我

    她不过是朝九晚五的上班女,却遭邪猫绑架被魂穿,还寄生到一个男人的体内。更欺人太甚的是,这男人,是被诅咒的恶魔,天生不能修行!嘿,这运气,简直了。看什么看!这男人被锁链捆着,却依旧骄傲的扬起美死人不尝命的脸,凶的可爱。看你咋啦!她擦了擦口水,理直气壮,谁让你不穿衣服。白丑儿离开精神世界,却发现夜色里立着个君王般的男人,直直的盯着她。白丑儿气急,烦人!这世界怎么这么多莫名其妙的人跟自己过不去!她捂着自己的男儿胸,你看什么看?没见过娇滴滴的美男子?他不语,可霸气的眼神没有半点妥协,似乎看穿了她灵魂的外强中干。