Leadership Quote by Arthur Middleton

That opening clause, "Times have changed", is doing the diplomatic heavy lifting: it concedes modern pressures without conceding modern cynicism. Arthur Middleton, a politician speaking in the late 18th century, knows that invoking a 17th-century parson-poet like George Herbert could sound quaint, even evasive, amid revolution-era arguments about authority, liberty, and the public role of the church. So he preempts the obvious objection: yes, the world is different. Then he pivots to the real aim - not nostalgia, but continuity.

The phrase "principle and spirit" is a strategic pairing. "Principle" signals moral seriousness, the kind of steady, legible virtue that plays well in civic life. "Spirit" widens the appeal beyond doctrine into temperament: humility, attentiveness, service. Middleton isn't trying to re-litigate theology; he's offering a model of clerical leadership that complements political stability. In a period when clerics could be viewed as agents of hierarchy or faction, Herbert becomes a safe exemplar: pastoral, inwardly disciplined, socially useful.

"Ministered" matters too. It frames priesthood as labor, not status - a subtle rebuke to clerical ambition and a nod to republican sensibilities. The line ultimately functions as a bridge between eras: it reassures the devout that tradition survives change, and it reassures the skeptical that the best religion looks like care, not control. The result is a politician's kind of praise: admiration that doubles as governance.