Destined most of them for the Church (for in those days "holy orders"
were seldom heard of), the Simeonites held themselves to have received a
very loud call to the ministry, and were ready to pinch themselves for
years so as to prepare for it by the necessary theological courses. To
most of them the fact of becoming clergymen would be the _entree_ into a
social position from which they were at present kept out by barriers they
well knew to be impassable; ordination, therefore, opened fields for
ambition which made it the central point in their thoughts, rather than
as with Ernest, something which he supposed would have to be done some
day, but about which, as about dying, he hoped there was no need to
trouble himself as yet.
By way of preparing themselves more completely they would have meetings
in one another's rooms for tea and prayer and other spiritual exercises.
Placing themselves under the guidance of a few well-known tutors they
would teach in Sunday Schools, and be instant, in season and out of
season, in imparting spiritual instruction to all whom they could
persuade to listen to them.
But the soil of the more prosperous undergraduates was not suitable for
the seed they tried to sow.
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