The southern press., 1851-04-23
For he Sos
Relics Of Scraps and Bausings.--.


liberty and improving our morals by placing
Thousand feverish restraints on our amusements,
induigences, and occupations, we, the people of
The United States, are beginning to be rather
burdened with our freedom. In the eyes Of our
modern Solons, the pulpit is no longer the proper
school for moral and religious instruction /; and,
instead of sermon, we have an act of the legis-
lature to teach us the way we should 60, not by
example, but penalty and punishment. Little, if
anything, iseft to our clergy in the exercise Of
their astoria duties; and being thus superseded
by Legislative wisdom and piety in the perform
ance of their proper functions, they have the more
time to interfere with those of others, and attend
to the affairs of the entire human race in all parts
of the world, except at home. The shepherd is
now seldom found among his flock. He is tray
cling in railroad cars and steam boats from Dan
to Beersheba, at the expense Of other people, at
tending anniversary meetings of all sorts Of socie-
ties for the reformation of all sorts of evils such
as can in fact only be cured or alleviated by a
Jealous and patient application Of the precepts Of
religion and morality, enforced by example. The
mischievous habit of meddling with the concerns
of those for whose conduct we are in no ways re-
sponsibe, has drawn too many Of the clergy from
their proper and peculiar duties, the performance
OF which ia far more important to the morals and
happiness of mankind, than Comprising sea and
| land to make one convert" to faith which he
cannot comprehend, and the precepts Of which do
not in the least accord with his social state or his
intellectual capacity. 1t would, think, be well
for both pastor and flock, if the former were to
lnalr E,tlo k1.xa Al
folds instead of roaming about the vast wilderness
of the world to catch stray sheep, which, when
caught, incapable of being trained to walk in
the path for which both nature and habit have
rendered them totally untitled.
The truth is, we have too many shepherds with
out focks among us. The church., as well as all
the other liberal professions, are overstocxed. The
lawyers are SO numerous, that one half Of them
cannot get an honest living, and obliged to re-
sort to the most disrepptable means to escape
starvation. Physicians are reduced to the neces-
sity Of STOPPING TO practices unworthy Of the dig
nfed and important science they profess; secretly
undermining the reputation Of rival practitioners;
appealing to the follies and weaknesses of their
fellow creatures in various ways, or inventing
quack medicines to impose on human credulity.
A large portion Of our clergy are without parish
es, and without a home. They wander from place
to place, and are strangers everywhere. They
form no domestic ties, or social intimacies, which
are among the most powerful restraints on human
vices and folies, and escape that great inquest Of
society to which all men with settled home are
amenable, and which all men are the better for
being subjected to in all situations and circum-
stances. Too much Of good thing is good for
nothing, all the world over; and too much legisla-
ton, as well as too many parsons, lawyers, and
doctors, are almost as bad as none at all. They
would be much more useful as honest mechanics,
or Industrious day-laborers. There are upwards
OF % 900 lawyers in the United States. How
many hundred miles Of railroad could they make
in Year,
EARNING AND SAVING.
Many Of the English writers complain Of the
want of industry and economy, among the labor
ing classes of England. People seldom labor
with zeal or energy, without the hope Of improv-
ing their condition, and those who have nothing
to save, never think Of saving.
THE PLAID.
A Highlander to prove the superior antiquity of
the plaid, affirmed it was derived from Joseph's
coat of many colors.
WESTWARD, no!
It was an old opinion that the farther men went
towards the West, the more firm, courageous and
adventurous they h.coms. This il perfectly nat
ural. Their progress has ever been from East to
West, and the pioneers Of nations are always the
most hardy and intrepid Of their race.
RELIGIOUS FEUps.
These are always the most deep Seated and vio-
lent-for conscience is perfect tiger when pro-
voked-and Of all others most dangerous to the
public tranquility. Theysre generally at the bot
tom Of great revolutions, and the peace of England
was probably never, since the time of the Stuarts,
in greater danger than at the present moment, on
account Of what is called the "Papal aggression"
that is, the appointment Of cardinals and other
church dignitaries, residing in and taking their IT,
ties from places already under the jurisdiction Of
Protestant bishops. The British government has
sent bishop to Shanghai and the five cities Of
China, whose ports were opened to foreigners by
the late treaty, and see no reason why the Pope
should not send bishops to England, or the Chi
nese Emperor learned Bona, with an English
title TO initiate them into the doctrines Of Confu-
cius. No great harm or good would probably re-
suit from either; and il his holiness were to APP
point Archbishop Hughes aud dozen others,
American cardinals, it would probably occasion
little dissatisfaction here. But religious feuds too
often originate in triHes. The Sonni,es and Mo-
tonalis, two small mountain tribes Of Syria, have
been in deadly hostility from an early period of
the Mabometan era, and perpetrated succession
Of massacres on each other, because one begins
its sbIution at the elbow the other at the ends of
the fingers.