five a.m. on winter mornings
He was a man well able , and certainly willing , to do the work of a parish clergyman ; and when he became one , he was efficacious in his profession . But it may perhaps be said of him , without speaking slanderously , that his original calling , as a young man , was rather to the outward and visible signs of religion than to its inward and spiritual graces . He delighted in lecterns and credence-tables , in services at dark hours of winter mornings when no one would attend , in high waistcoats and narrow white neckties , in chanted services and intoned prayers , and in all the paraphernalia of Anglican formalities which have given such offence to those of our brethren who live in daily fear of the scarlet lady . Many of his friends declared that Mr Oriel would sooner or later deliver himself over body and soul to that lady ; but there was no need to fear for him : for though sufficiently enthusiastic to get out of bed at five a.m. on winter mornings -- he did so , at least , all through his first winter at Greshamsbury -- he was not made of that stuff which is necessary for a staunch , burning , self-denying convert . It was not in him to change his very sleek black coat for a Capuchin 's filthy cassock , nor his pleasant parsonage for some dirty hole in Rome . And it was better so both for him and others . There are but few , very few , to whom it is given to be a Huss , a Wickliffe , or a Luther ; and a man gains but little by being a false Huss , or a false Luther , -- and his neighbours gain less .