CHAPTER III
PURITY
Difficulty of the Subject.
Conventionalisms.
Tacit Tolerations.
Of all subjects this is the most difficult to treat satisfactorily; because there is, and must be, an inevitable reticence that is sure to weaken the argument at the most important points. Besides this, the subject, more than any other, is steeped in conventionalisms, some of which it is considered right or pardonable to act upon, but not pardonable to express. There are tacit tolerations which it is an offence to avow, as if the avowal incurred a new and personal responsibility. And even the most frank and courageous of writers might well shrink from a subject that cannot be fully discussed, at least in an English book.
There is, however, one point of great importance which has never, so far as I know, been frankly touched upon before, and which may help us to understand the varieties and inconsistencies of public opinion.
Partiality of our Conventionalism.
Two Weights and Two Measures.
Opposite Views of the Marriage of Ecclesiastics.
Marriage of a Bishop.