Tuesday, June 11, 2019
Goshen of Mediocrity
George Eliot (1819-1880), "Evangelical Teaching: Dr. Cumming," Essays and Leaves from a Note-Book (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1908), pp. 125-169 (at 125):
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Given, a man with moderate intellect, a moral standard not higher than the average, some rhetorical affluence and great glibness of speech, what is the career in which, without the aid of birth or money, he may most easily attain power and reputation in English society? Where is that Goshen of mediocrity in which a smattering of science and learning will pass for profound instruction, where platitudes will be accepted as wisdom, bigoted narrowness as holy zeal, unctuous egoism as God-given piety? Let such a man become an evangelical preacher; he will then find it possible to reconcile small ability with great ambition, superficial knowledge with the prestige of erudition, a middling morale with a high reputation for sanctity.
