The town incumbent, therefore, is rarely a man well to do in the world. He is one who earns his bread hardly in the sweat of his brow, and too often earns but very poor bread. It is not he who has married or who will marry the bishop’s daughter. Indeed, before he becomes a town incumbent{68} he has generally put himself beyond such promotion as that by marrying the girl of his heart without a penny. Had he not done so, and thus become terribly in want of an income,—an income at once, though it be a small income,—he would not have taken a district church, and have submitted his neck to the yoke8 of town incumbency9. He knows that in doing so he is consenting to place himself in that branch of his profession which is the least honoured, though not perhaps the least honourable10. He is subjecting himself to the heaviest clerical work with but a small prospect11 of large clerical loaves or fine clerical fishes; and he is prepared to live in a much lower social rank than that which is enjoyed by his more fortunate brothers in the country. The country parson is all but the squire12’s equal,—is below the squire in parish standing13 only as a younger brother is below his elder; but the town incumbent is not equal to the town mayor, and in the estimation of many of his fellow-townsmen is hardly superior to the town beadle. Indeed, he is too often simply recognized as the professional gentleman who has taken his family into the last built new house in{69} Albert Terrace. There, in Albert Terrace, he looks out upon a brickfield, and writes his sermons with very little of that prestige which belongs to the genuine British parson of the parish. His flock are his hearers, not his parishioners. They sit under him, some because his district church of St. Mary is the nearest to them, some because the sittings at St. Mary’s are 5s. 6d. a year cheaper than they are at the next place of worship,—for St. Mary’s is a place of worship rather than a church to the minds of the townsmen,—and some because they prefer his preaching to the preaching of another town incumbent. They sit under him, but they are not his people jure divino, for him to deal with them concerning their eternal welfare as he may please. He does not even know the name of the man who lives next door to him in Albert Terrace; whereas the true parson of the parish knows every detail as to every child born within his domain14. The one is simply the town incumbent of St. Mary’s as another man may be an attorney, and a third an apothecary15; whereas the rural parson is the personage of his parish.{70}
To the position of the town incumbent are attached none of those half-barbarous but picturesque16 circumstances which still make the position of our country parsons almost unintelligible17 to the inquiring foreigner. One clergyman, with little or nothing to do in his parish, has fifteen hundred a year and a beautiful house for doing that little,—which after all is done by a curate; while his neighbour in the next parish with four times the area and eight times the population, receives one hundred and fifty pounds a year in lieu of the little tithes18! And yet neither does the one feel himself to have been unduly19 favoured, nor does the other think himself to be injured! Such are the more-than-half-barbarous, but still picturesque circumstances of our rural parishes. But there is nothing either barbarous or picturesque about the town incumbent. He has allotted20 to him a district, with such or such a population,—a certain number of thousands over whom it must be much beyond his power to achieve anything approaching to a pastoral surveillance,—with a church in the middle of it, and an income which will fluctuate as the seats in it may be full or empty. Here, in this arrangement, all the{71} principles of political economy are kept in view. Here are supply and demand. Those who want him will come to him and pay him,—as they do to the baker21 or the dentist. If they don’t think he suits them, they will leave him,—as also in similar circumstances they leave their baker and their dentist. If he can fill his church he will live well and become sleek22. If his gifts in preaching are small, or if his piety23 be unrecognized and his labours disregarded, he will live badly and his outward man will become rusty25. Among town incumbents26 the rusty greatly exceed the sleek in numbers.
The town incumbent of whom we are here speaking generally finds himself located among the growing outskirts27 of a manufacturing town. Here he sees the world increasing around him with wonderful rapidity, and sees also much of the success of the world. The man who began his struggle in life as a manufacturer, when he, the incumbent, also began his struggle, soon rises from step to step, adding chimney to chimney, and buys his villa28 residence and sets up his carriage. In his career, failure was, of course, possible, but the road to success was open to him,{72} and has been quickly reached. This his neighbour, the clergyman, sees, and tells himself, not without bitterness, that for him there is no such road. For him there must always be poverty and hard work,—that worst of all poverty which has to hide itself under a black coat, and work which is not only ceaseless, but too often thankless and apparently without adequate result! This must be his lot in life, he tells himself,—unless he can preach himself into a reputation. If he can do that, if he can be a M‘Neale or an English Ward24 Beecher, then, indeed, there will be a career open to him. Then he will be sleek, and people will ask him to dinner, and the wife of his bosom29 will hold up her head among other dames30, and his name will become familiar in the columns of newspapers. This after all is what men want, town incumbents as well as others; and so the town incumbent sets himself to work to make a reputation for himself by pulpit eloquence31. As he walks along the dull new streets of his district he fills himself with this ambition, and declares to himself that he will be great as a preacher. He will fill his seats, and draw men to him,—or, if not men,{73} at least women. He will denounce sins with a loud voice and eager accents. And he will denounce not only sins, but heresies32 also, and lax doctrines33. By denouncing simply sin few clerical aspirants34 have become noted35 among their neighbours, but the man who will denounce his neighbours’ opinions as well as his sins will become famous. And so the town incumbent settles himself to his desk and goes to work.
It will be said, no doubt, that a monstrous36 accusation37 is here brought against a body of men who are very eager in doing good works. It is not meant as any accusation. No charge is intended to be made against town incumbents, or against any clergyman, in the description here given. They endeavour simply to succeed in their profession, as every man blessed with activity will attempt to succeed in his profession if it be one in which there is room for success. Given the church to fill, and the incumbency to be made valuable by filling it, and it is simply human nature that an energetic man shall endeavour to fill his church and make his profession valuable. He cannot fill his church by visiting the poor. He cannot earn for himself{74} even a decent position in the district in which he lives by a careful performance of ordinary clerical duties. If he simply reads the services and officiates at the communion table, and preaches drowsy38 sermons, he will starve on some 200l. a year, and never get his head above water, either as regards money or reputation. Of course he will do his best for himself, and of course he will teach himself to believe that in doing so he is doing the best for the cause which he really loves in his heart. He is not a bad man, or a hypocrite, because he denounces heresies and lax doctrines in a loud voice, instead of endeavouring to teach his people simply that they should not lie, or get drunk, or steal. He is probably a very good man; but he is a good man who would like to have 1,000l. a year and a name, instead of 200l. a year and no name at all.
But he probably fails. It is sad to say it, and sad to think of it, but failure is the ordinary lot of man. A few among us do advance far enough in the accomplishment39 of their aspirations40 to merit the reputation of success, and they are heard of in the world; but the mass of men strive for a while to{75} do something, and then sink down into the common ruck, finding the struggle to be too hard for them. They earn bread and live; and at last, perhaps, are contented41. So it is with the town incumbent. He preaches for a while with all his force. He spends sleepless42 nights in the composition of his sermons. He becomes bolder and bolder in his denouncings. But it is of no avail. He has not the gift of pouring forth43 either honey or liquid fire from his lips, and his energy is all wasted. He throws himself in despair on the bosom of his wife, who alone has believed in him, and declares that his people have adders’ ears and hearts of stone. From that time forth, with saddened spirit and heart all sick within him, he trudges44 on upon his daily round of duties, not cursing the day, but reviling45 the day with an asperity46 purely47 clerical, on which he became—a town incumbent.
But it is possible that he does not fail. There are, no doubt, town incumbents who succeed in preaching themselves into fortunes and reputations, and who become very sleek and very famous, who are able to mount higher than their pulpits, on to platforms,{76} and can then enjoy the inestimable privilege of abusing their opponents without fear of reply. But, of all clergymen, the successful town preacher seems to be the farthest removed from those clerical excellences48 of charity and good-will among men, and the farthest also from those special clerical duties for which our clergy6 are most valued. They will preach;—yes, by the hour together! Nine times a week we have heard of such a one preaching, and have then known him to speak of himself as a martyr49 in the service! But they will do nothing else.
For the unsuccessful town incumbent we all of us have sympathy. His work is hard, his payment is small, and his lines have fallen to him in unpleasant places. But for the successful town incumbent, for the clergyman who fills his church with prayerful, tearful, excitable, but at the same time remunerative50 ladies, few men can have any sympathy.
The position of the town incumbent is not, in truth, in unison51 with the Church of England as established among us. The glory of the English parson is that his position is ensured to him whether he satisfies those whom he is called upon to serve,{77} or whether he does not satisfy them. Consequently he can be, and is, independent of his congregation. He will wish of course to be on pleasant terms with them, but it will not be for his pocket’s sake. And it seems that such independence as this is essential to the position of a clergyman of the Church of England. It is doubtless true that the number of rural rectors and vicars among us will never be increased, whereas the number of town incumbents will continue to increase from year to year. As the population grows, so will their number grow. But it is to be hoped that the peculiar52 evils of their position may be remedied by altered arrangements as to their income. If this be not possible, or be not done, we shall hardly find that sons of English gentlemen will continue to seek the Church as a profession.
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1
incumbent
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| adj.成为责任的，有义务的；现任的，在职的 | |
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legitimately
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| ad.合法地；正当地，合理地 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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promotion
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| n.提升，晋级；促销，宣传 | |
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parlance
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| n.说法；语调 | |
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clergy
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| n.[总称]牧师，神职人员 | |
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aspirant
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| n.热望者；adj.渴望的 | |
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yoke
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| n.轭；支配；v.给...上轭，连接，使成配偶 | |
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incumbency
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| n.职责，义务 | |
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honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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squire
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| n.护卫, 侍从, 乡绅 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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domain
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| n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围 | |
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apothecary
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| n.药剂师 | |
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picturesque
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| adj.美丽如画的，（语言）生动的，绘声绘色的 | |
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unintelligible
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| adj.无法了解的，难解的，莫明其妙的 | |
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tithes
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| n.（宗教捐税）什一税，什一的教区税，小部分( tithe的名词复数 ) | |
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unduly
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| adv.过度地，不适当地 | |
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allotted
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| 分配，拨给，摊派( allot的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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baker
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| n.面包师 | |
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sleek
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| adj.光滑的，井然有序的；v.使光滑，梳拢 | |
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piety
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| n.虔诚，虔敬 | |
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ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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rusty
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| adj.生锈的；锈色的；荒废了的 | |
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incumbents
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| 教区牧师( incumbent的名词复数 )； 教会中的任职者 | |
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outskirts
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| n.郊外，郊区 | |
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villa
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| n.别墅，城郊小屋 | |
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bosom
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| n.胸，胸部；胸怀；内心；adj.亲密的 | |
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dames
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| n.（在英国）夫人（一种封号），夫人（爵士妻子的称号）( dame的名词复数 )；女人 | |
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eloquence
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| n.雄辩；口才，修辞 | |
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heresies
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| n.异端邪说，异教( heresy的名词复数 ) | |
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doctrines
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| n.教条( doctrine的名词复数 )；教义；学说；（政府政策的）正式声明 | |
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aspirants
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| n.有志向或渴望获得…的人( aspirant的名词复数 )v.渴望的，有抱负的，追求名誉或地位的( aspirant的第三人称单数 )；有志向或渴望获得…的人 | |
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noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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accusation
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| n.控告，指责，谴责 | |
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drowsy
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| adj.昏昏欲睡的，令人发困的 | |
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accomplishment
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| n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能 | |
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aspirations
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| 强烈的愿望( aspiration的名词复数 )； 志向； 发送气音； 发 h 音 | |
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contented
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| adj.满意的，安心的，知足的 | |
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sleepless
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| adj.不睡眠的，睡不著的，不休息的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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trudges
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| n.跋涉，长途疲劳的步行( trudge的名词复数 ) | |
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45
reviling
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| v.辱骂，痛斥( revile的现在分词 ) | |
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asperity
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| n.粗鲁，艰苦 | |
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purely
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| adv.纯粹地，完全地 | |
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excellences
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| n.卓越( excellence的名词复数 )；（只用于所修饰的名词后）杰出的；卓越的；出类拔萃的 | |
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49
martyr
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| n.烈士，殉难者；vt.杀害，折磨，牺牲 | |
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50
remunerative
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| adj.有报酬的 | |
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51
unison
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| n.步调一致，行动一致 | |
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peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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