1.F 05. Bodily Carriage Posture

Bodily Carriage Posture.

It is not necessary that a man should stand awkwardly because it is natural; it is not necessary that a man, because he may not be able to stand like the statue of Apollo, should stand ungracefully.

He loses, unconsciously, a certain power; for, al though he does not need a very fine physical figure (which is rather a hindrance, I think), yet he should be pleasing in his bearing and gestures. A man who is very beautiful and superlatively graceful sets people to admiring him; they make a kind of monkey-god of him, and it stands in the way of his usefulness. From this temptation most of us have been mercifully delivered. On the other hand, what we call naturalness, fitness, good taste, and propriety, are to be sought. You like to see a man come into your parlour with, at least, ordinary good manners and some sense of propriety; and what you require in your parlour, you certainly have a right to expect in church. One of the reasons why I condemn these churns called pulpits is, that they teach a man bad habits; he is heedless of his posture, and learns bad tricks behind these bulwarks. He thinks that people will not see them.