The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1854-07-05

erspoon and Muhlenberg we're ministers
of the Gospel.
Grave emphasis is laid on the necessi
ty of education for The safe working and
permaDence of our free institutions
This is the unfailing theme Of cxhorta
tion, Of argument, and defamation Of
every class. To whom do we look for
directing influence in education2 Since
the beginning of the Christian era, in
the preservation OF learning during the
dark ages in the revival of learning
when the cloud was lifted from off the
world in all that time, and in every
place, the clergy have exercised strong
influence but nowhere else have thoy
had such an influence as they have in the
United States. They began their efforts
in the very earliest stage of our colonial
existence. They and their hocks began
a system Of common schools that all
children might be able to read the word
of God. 1t was by their counsels that
the foundations of Cambridge and Yale
vera reared, and nine of every ten col.
Ilegcs in the land owe their origin to the
same source. Through all our early his
tory the young men had their propara
ton tor college with the ministers. The
first charter Of an academy was in 1880
and the system did not become general
till near the close of the century. The
old system of education had some de.
cided advantages. 1t might not give
more learning than its substitute, but
young men are likely to start on their
career in life with better habits and
principles, aud higher aims, and stronger
resolution for effort. 1t was under that
system of education that the great
minds of our nation entered OH their
course. In a very recent conversation
with a keen observer of society, Sena
tor PHELPS, he mentioned this as one of
the causes of the difference between the
past and present race of public men,
The clergy are taking the lead in cdu-
cation now. They have kept pace with
the population as it has moved westward
to western New York Ohio, and all the
States and Territories in tho Mississippi
valley. They may be found from the
extreme limits of Texas on the south to
the Canadian frontier on the north
They have crossed the Isthmus and
doubled the Cape, following the daring
adventurer to the placer on the Pacific.
and everywhere establishing schools and
rearing churches They are especially
intent on the education of the people.
Contributors from the North and East
for these purposes may be counted by
millions Men from the West seem to
take pleasure in tossing their taunts at
the clergy Of the North and East, and
yet many of the colleges in their own
districts could not live single year
without the efforts Of those reviled min
isters A generation since, young min
lister left his Atlantic home for resi-.
dcnco in the West Tracing his way on
the marked path Of the pioneer, he
reached small settlement of log huts
on the banks of the lake. He cast his
lot with the adventurers shared in their
peris, rejoiced in their JOY, and grew
with tho growth of his adopted home.
That little clusterof huts has become city
that young minister is an aged mau.
| He and his Christian allies of other
creeds have planted churches, schools,
academies and colleges There is now a
healthful, intellectual, moral, and reli,
gious influence felt in all that community.
AS that aged minister moves along the
beach and the wharf to the place where
frcemen enjoy their franchise, his
care.worn conntenance and his grey locks
waving in the wind would mark him as
a man worthy of peculiar respect. He
has hardly entered the place for the
gathering freemen, when he is met by a
little whiskered scavcnger of the Gus
tom house, a Government official, who
houts that aged man; tells him that is
no place for him that ministers have no
right to mcddle with politics
The works of those men are not con-
fined to our own country almost every
denomination is sending its messengers
to foreign heather lands Those men
90 with very humble means, aud labor
for life in translating and teaching the
scriptures You send to the same places
all the various grades of ministers of the
Government. They go with ample
means, clad in the robes of office. and
bearing the badge of power, and yet
these ministers of the Gospel are doing
more to make favorable impression of
foreign nations than our ministers of
ate,and any intelligent man who want
ed accurate knowledge of foreign Ian
euagcs, or religion, or geography, or &C.
ology, or manners and customs, or any
art or science, or even of government,
would sooner consult the " heraldsn of
missionary societies, than the archives
in the Department of State. | wish now
to present the opinion of Mr.. Webster
concerning this class ef men, as express
ed in his argument on the Girard will
in the Supreme Court, ls44;
"Sir, l take it upon myself to say,
that in no country in the world. upon ei-
ther continent, can there be found body of
ministers of the Gospel who perform so
much service to man, in such full spir-
it of selfdenal, under SO little encourage.
ment from Government of any kind and
under circumstances always much
straitened and often distressed, as the
ministers of the Gospel in the United
States Of all denominations
They form no part of any establish
ed order of religion they constitute no
hierarchy they enjoy no peculiar priv
ileges-in some of the States they are
even shut out from all participation in
the political rights and privileges enjoy
ed by their fellow citizens they enjoy
no tithes-no public provisions of any
kind Aud except here aud there, in
large cities, whore wealthy individual