How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #1
"All this he bore for you! For you—and you never think of him; for you—and you turn your backs on him; you don't care what he has gone through for you. Yet he is not weary of toiling for you: he has risen from the dead, he is praying for you at the right hand of God— 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' And he is upon this earth too; he is among us; he is there close to you now; I see his wounded body and his look of love." (2.54)
Here, Dinah exhorts the people of Hayslope to cast off their ignorance and think of God. Although these folks slight Christ's suffering by turning away from him, Dinah states that Christ still offers them redemption from their weaknesses.
Quote #2
"But don't you find some danger among your people—I don't mean to say that it is so with you, far from it—but don't you find sometimes that both men and women fancy themselves channels for God's Spirit, and are quite mistaken, so that they set about a work for which they are unfit and bring holy things into contempt?"
"Doubtless it is so sometimes; for there have been evil-doers among us who have sought to deceive the brethren, and some there are who deceive their own selves. But we are not without discipline and correction to put a check upon these things. There's a very strict order kept among us, and the brethren and sisters watch for each other's souls as they that must give account. They don't go every one his own way and say, 'Am I my brother's keeper?'" (8.14-15)
In this dialogue, Mr. Irwine gently, gently casts doubt on Dinah's religious mission. He raises the possibility—and an unpleasant possibility, mind you—that she is mistaking deceptions for God's will. Yet Dinah assures him that community, discipline, and mutual watchfulness keep her people from straying into evil. Good for them!
Quote #3
The chances are that he will go through life without scandalizing any one; a seaworthy vessel that no one would refuse to insure. Ships, certainly, are liable to casualties, which sometimes make terribly evident some flaw in their construction that would never have been discoverable in smooth water; and many a "good fellow," through a disastrous combination of circumstances, has undergone a like betrayal.
But we have no fair ground for entertaining unfavourable auguries concerning Arthur Donnithorne, who this morning proves himself capable of a prudent resolution founded on conscience. One thing is clear: Nature has taken care that he shall never go far astray with perfect comfort and satisfaction to himself; he will never get beyond that border-land of sin, where he will be perpetually harassed by assaults from the other side of the boundary. He will never be a courtier of Vice, and wear her orders in his button-hole. (12.4-5)
At this early point in the novel, it is not certain whether or not Arthur will stray from virtue. But one thing is clear: he would never be proud of opening himself to vice, sin, or criminality. Who would? Okay, yeah, all those mustache-twisting villains would, but who else?