Life & Mortality Quote by Arthur Middleton

Calling a priest a "slave" is meant to jolt, but it also does careful political work. Arthur Middleton - a politician in a slaveholding society - borrows the bluntest social category around him and flips it into a devotional ideal. The shock value isn’t accidental; it harnesses the moral force of Christian paradox: the highest authority (Christ) chooses the lowest status (slave), and the priest imitates that descent. It’s humiliation as credibility.

The subtext is a defense of hierarchy that tries to launder itself through service. By framing priestly authority as radical submission, Middleton can argue that obedience isn’t a loss but a pathway to "true freedom". That’s a neat rhetorical turn: freedom is redefined away from autonomy and toward total belonging. The phrase "utterly possessed by God" is deliberately extreme. It doesn’t ask for piety; it asks for capture. In exchange, it promises liberation - but only the kind that comes from accepting your place inside a sacred chain of command.

The context matters: late-18th-century Anglican moral language, where duty and order were civic virtues as much as religious ones. Middleton’s logic reinforces an older political theology: service to others is framed as service upward, "Godward", making social roles feel not contingent but ordained. It’s also a preemptive strike against skepticism: if the priest is a "slave", criticism of clerical power can be dismissed as missing the point. The priest rules by kneeling, and the kneeling is the argument.