He Must be Depised: Hostility to Ministers in Early Modern Cambridgeshire

Date

2003-10

Authors

Pisani, Jana

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Abstract

In The Country Parson (1632) poet and minister George Herbert discussed the relationship between the Anglican clergyman and his parishioners. In Chapter XXVIII, entitled “The Parson in Contempt,”Herbert wrote that all ministers realize “the generall ignominy which is cast upon the profession,� and that this profession ensures that “he must be despised.” He went on to say that such hatred of the ministry had always “been the portion of God his master and of God’s Saints his Brethren, and this is foretold that it shall be so still until things be no more.” Herbert recommended that in order to reach his parishioners spiritually, however, such hostility must be overcome by using “a courteous carriage and winning behaviour,� as well as firm discipline.

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Keywords

Cambridgeshire, Modern history, England, Arminianism, Clerical discipline, Alayperson, Puritanism

Citation

Pisani, J. (2003). "He must be despised": Hostility to ministers in early modern Cambridgeshire. World History Review, 1(1), pp. 62-84.

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