Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1870-07-24
pEIF ANDPIETY.

PELF AND PIETY.
The good old deacon, who made it
convenient during brief exhortation to
inform his hearers that he had just re-
ceived q shipment of a celebrated brand
of -four, was shrewdly suspected of hav-
ing an eye to business as well as religion.
England appears to have his match. Ed
ward Hicks, No. q Friar street, Worces-
ter, has an advertisement in the IVorces-
ter advertiser in which he invites ''his
Christian friends" 10 inspect his "large
assortments of boots and shoes. D He ex-
presses desire for ''the Divine Blessing
upon his diligence in business, and
promises, if he can sell boots and
shoes enough, $40 devote portion
of his time TO gratuitous mis-
sion work. Repairs neatly executed.
Bespoke orders punctually attended, etc.,
etc." The New York Tribune makes
this advertisement the text or pretext for
saying: CHOW, we should like to ask
the reader, as we have asked ourselves,
what there is in an advertisement like
this which should make the irreVerent
sheer and the reverent-judicicus grieve,
as they assuredly villa 1t is perfectly
|, ;,ossible that this shoe-seller may be sin
core and i,set he desires to sell a great
many shoes il order hat be may De abe
to distribute a great many tracts u "oi-
cester Why should we doubt the YER
liable devotion of good Mr.. Hicks!
Why suspect him of using his piety
as puff Yet nothing can be more GER
tain than that nine-tenths of those who
may read this advertisement will declare
Mr.. Hicks to be but worldly wise hypo-
critic of cordwainer. Probably good
deal of the disagreeable feeling to which
such an announcement may give rise may
be safely attributed to its palpable viola
ton of the laws of good taste. Men with
no loudly -professed religion of their own
may yet be offended by anything which
diminishes their respect for the re-
ligion of others; for, however in
different they may be upon the
point of personal piety, they are no'
Indifferent to the dignity of human ma
ture. They fail to see the connection be-
tween the selling of shoes and the saliva
ton of souls-between faith and filthy
lucIe. For the temple, pure and unde-
| fled, they may have a sort of reverence,
albeit they never pass its portals; and
they may not exactly approve its CONVEX
sion into a house of merchandise. But
the incongruity, perhaps the deception,
goes further still. Mr.. Hicks invites
christians to come and buy his boots
and shoes. Now, this would be per
fectly right if Christians wore uni
formly a particular kind of boot,
whether calf, cowhide, box-toe or round
toe. But this not being the case, there is
no reason why Christians, as such, should
be invited to buy, unless all the profits OF
their buying are to be devoted 'to gratu-
itous mission work. But it must be re,
membered that Mr.. Hicks, excellent man
though he be, must eat, aud so must Mrs.
Hicks and the little Hickses. Moreover,
this devotee OF a tradesman sOlicits the
patronage of the wicked, or Gas he
phrases iO ''the public generally" His
goodness therefore enables him, through
the prosperity of his shop, not only tc
distribute tracts and occasionally preach,
but also to pay his notes, keep his stock
good, support his family, and perhaps
lay by good bit of money for a day OF
rain. The world may be wicked world,
but of this kind Of piety, the piety which
! literally pays, the world always has beer
and viii be suspicious. Nor have mer
who thus, either through interest or care
Iessness, mix the sacred and the secular,
any right to complain of outside criticism.
If they will bring the sacred vessels into
the market-place they must not be sur
prised if the general populace shall pro
coed to test the soundness of the metal
We do not believe that any rational human
being ever looked upon any form of rea
religion without feeling of respect, ant
to this feeling an exhibition of self
seeking, hypocrisy, and cant, are grieV
ously offensive. If this were an ordi
nary matter, carpers might properly bl
told to mind their own business; but, as i
concerns the spiritual culture of the whole
race, Pious Puffery is their business, an(
cannot be otherwise. OF this there il
oyermucb, even in our own beautiful
land. Gentlemen of the clerical profes
sion are continually betrayed into giving
a semi official sanction lin the literal
meaning of the word) to books, medi
cines, piano-foTtes, sewing machines,
meIodeons, and all manner of merchandise
matters of which the reverend be
fore their names by no means makes then
infallible judges. : If they will but calmly
consider the matter they will see that The
respect of the unrighteous is precisely
what they cannot afford to dispense with. ,
Portions of North Carolina have beer
placed under martial law by Gov. Holden,