Whately, began to conceive the necessity of considerable
alterations in the Church Establishment.
All who knew him during these years were profoundly impressed by
the earnestness of his religious convictions and feelings, which,
as one observer said, 'were ever bursting forth'. It was
impossible to disregard his 'deep consciousness of the invisible
world' and 'the peculiar feeling of love and adoration which he
entertained towards our Lord Jesus Christ'. 'His manner of awful
reverence when speaking of God or of the Scriptures' was
particularly striking. 'No one could know him even a little,'
said another friend, 'and not be struck by his absolute wrestling
with evil, so that like St. Paul, he seemed to be battling with
the wicked one, and yet with a feeling of God's help on his
side.'
Such was the man who, at the age of thirty-three, became
headmaster of Rugby. His outward appearance was the index of his
inward character; everything about him denoted energy,
earnestness, and the best intentions. His legs, perhaps, were
shorter than they should have been; but the sturdy athletic
frame, especially when it was swathed (as it usually was) in the
flowing robes of a Doctor of Divinity, was full of an imposing
vigour; and his head, set decisively upon the collar, stock, and
bands of ecclesiastical tradition, clearly belonged to a person
of eminence.
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