The southern enterprise. [volume] (Greenville, S.C.) 1854-1870, 1858-02-25

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And thus gossip may be traced TO desire for
pleasure and for power, and 10 a desire 10
gam the esteem and attention of Others. II 4
may be traced also to anger, hatred. envy
and ill-will. ~
Among gossips by nature and by practice,
we nnd the following species:
The gospel gossip--the tatiler who, leay-
ing the common ground Of Christian fellow
ship, breaks in upon the sacred ENCLOSURES of
domestic and private life, not only by speak,
ibg Things he ought not but by doing this
as right, As though, forsooth, because a
man sits with you at the Lords Table, he is
bound in solemn duty to find out who was
your father, what are your temporal sources.
what is the nature of your occupation, and
other matters which aie your business, and
not in any sense his. 1t is enough for pur.
poses of Christian fellowship TO know that
your fellcwcommunicants have a Father in
heaven, and that one is their Maker. even
Christ. We may, moreover, remark that
there is much in the religious history and
sp,,tfuaf life Of our fellow. Christians with
which we have nothing TO do. But the
church gossip is one who is ever tattlino
about this mans conversation, and that
man backsliding this mans eminent pie,v
aud that mans inconsistency and one who
canvasses freely and needlessy the claim of
new converts to sit at the Lords Table. and
TO be joined with the churches of the Sa.
viour. -
TIE house gossip must also be named
whose tattle is ever about births. marriages
ana deaibs-about wives and husbands. mn.
rents and children, masters and servants
aooat ms woinans extravagance and econo.
my, and that housewives niggardliness.--
Such we may rank with the worst class Of
burglars and housebreakers for they invade
the sanctily of the home, and drag forth in.
10 common notice things which ought to be
kept sacred in every family.
The political gossip must not be passed
by--lhe tattler about public men and naticn.
al affairs, who, to serve party will DESTROY
the SAVIOUR of the most precious unguent by
casting into it dead flies, and who will divert
attention from apublic nuisance, or from the
breach Of a public trust, by blowing eleraut
bubbles, and raising brilliant will-o'the, wisps.
We must make one more remark on this
part OF our subject-the source of gossip can
never be either good or godly. 1t must
ever arse from weakness, or from wicked
ness nom littieness, or fom levity (; from
The pressure Of evil feeling, or from the alb
sence of wholesoms thought and of rood
ieeiing. IL is not taught by the Holy
Ghost; II cannot be learned of Jesus Christ:
u Is not the will of our Father in Heaven. nor
do the principles Of true godliness enforce il.
The tongue of the gossip is not touched
with live Goals from heavens altars il Is set
on fire by unholy ardors, and 10 is even set
on IRE Of he'll And If il be trnceable 10
constitution and TO natural temperament il
cannot thereby be excused, seeing that a
littie self-control would avoid the evil, with.
out effecting any mischievous revolution in
the natural characteristics Of the man.
=, We must now look at the c6ect of gossip.
The effect of gossip can never be godly.-
Our good and wise Father overrules il for
some benefit. but it produces no direct ad
vantage. That which is in itself evil. and
which springs from an evil source, cannot
but produce evil. "A corrupt tree cannot
bring forth good fruit" Look at the effec,
OF gossip upon society and upon the talker.
First, on tie talker himself Gossip de
stroys selfrespect; for it produces an amount
OF shame and self contempt. This may not
ov ,I.m,. " az the time Of speakioe, be-. i. inya.
riably follows idle words, Ii is instructive
to observe how tho most earnest and active
gossips shrink from being called by their
proper name, and how angry they become
when they are honored with their true titles.
Then, again, gossip is as rule connected
with falsehood. A gossip who is not liar,
Is great rarity. And when the gossip is
not a liar he is always a fearful exaggera-
tor. Gossip, moreover, invariably leads to
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