New-York daily tribune., 1859-05-20

Would rot Dfthk OIedu Win num- tAcic "iV 'a"U'
where bis wife snd children would sbscond from
his doucile; and there are lands in which his life
would not be worth days purchase. But Amer
lean society, having under the blrssed influence oil
our glorious Constitution discarded the stake, the
rack ard the foggine -post-e1cept in the Slave
States in which they are wholesomely maintained
| has taken TO the exquisite expedent OF SNuB'
BIsG. A msn who has pursued the even tenor oi
| bis WAY for msny years. finds suddenly that HIS
| heterodoxy has made him the uncomfortable CEN
ter of sn sggrieyed and indignant circle. Before
| be knows WHY he is sent TO Coventry. But the
trouble does not stop here. The presumption is
that the victim thus summsrily dealt with is OF a
somewhat tipdery and saltpetrcus nature. de
explodes in his turn; his neighbors reeyplode the
explosion ranscends town lines, aud sgtates coun-
ties: conventions are held; the people become par
tisans; and the extent of the ccmmOtion, until II
has subsidized, DO man can estimate. Now, merely
| as an act of prudence within, of course. the
limits permitted by conscience, we should advise
| brethren to let these knotty cases alone. I'm
less man is outrageously backslider, perhaps II
| would be as we'll to LET him slide AT any rate,
| in these dsys Of restive thought, OF unlimited
| speculation, of chsfug at precedent and OF ten
dency TO protest, in which every attempt to limit
faith by formulas is sure to fail. and TO tai ignoby
there seems TO be an excellent reason for reccg
n z'rs liberation among the Christian virtues 10
act rashly will be TO act ruinously.
With these predatory remarks. we may venture
| 70 state the fact that stephen Brewer-Stephen
| is an excellent name for a NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. an
| elder of the Presbyterian Church OF Cortland,
| in this State is no longer an elder and Is no
longer a member of that august body. He has
| been turned out of his edershp, and be has been
stripped Of his membership, and, enthusiastically
| sueskinr is nobody The reader who never heard
of Stephen Brewer before, will naturally suppose
| that he has enuncated divers dalnnable hereses-
that he has denied The creed at least that he has
been guilty of some fragrant and fashionable i'm
morality that he has either cheated his neighbor
or fooled his neighbors wife. They Will naturally
figure to themselves Mr.. stephen Brewer as a
monster of inquity-as an in6de drunhard. a
robber. or a swinder What will be their aston
l.hnent to learn that Mr. Brewers Ofense CON-
sisted in going to the other meeting house" on
the Sabbath TO hesr dsc0urses By those unanonted
preachers, George ". Curtis, Raph Waldo Emer-
| son. VIM Lloyd Garrison. and Wendell Phillips
thus" say the specifications of this Session.
Martial countensnciug teachings that are lainly
- of secular aud unchristian character" The
very head and front If the offending OF Elder
Stephen Brewer hath this eSteDt-no more Ihe
s, ssicn was very savage with him. They would
not permit, as horse.th and burglars are per-
mtted if they can to do-thcy would not permit
him to show good moral character They would
Lot allow him to introduce evidence that " he had
been steady and devout attendant upon all the
{" ordinances and institutions of the Church
They would not suffer him TO show that his fellow
members bad attended the same heretical meetings
They had met TO excOmmunicate HIM; and they did
excon mupicate him. so that, as nothing worse can
now befsil him, he may go to the other meeting
~ house" whenever he pleases to do so.
We condOle with our excellent friend, Mr.. George
". Curtis upon the fact, now established by a
competent ecclesiastical tribunal, that his lecture
on Fair Play for Woman" is plainly of an un-
" christian character" We certainly wish that
the sacred sages of Cortlandye had explicitly in
formed US in Vi hat the "unchristian' character of
Mr. Curtis's lecture consisted. Was it in asking
for woman-"last at the cross, and earliest at the
graye"-somethingl like " fair play" in this weary
and working world If Mr.. Curtis had asked for
unfair play-if he had defended systematic
frauds and petriied cheats, and stale conventional
tiles, and sophistries so transparent that the in-
tellect sickeDs at their cOntemplation-if be had
mauudered and muddled and quirked and qualified
until his auditors were in doubt whether the dis
cussion was Of Original Sin, Predestnation or
Grace-if he had played with familiar phrases and
aired threadbare terminol0gieslf ne had slandered
the worlds workers and sugared the worlds drones
why, We suppose that Elder Charles Kings
." bury" and Elder Simeon Lucas'-the accusers
of Mr. Brewer-woud have considered his dis
course emne ntly Christian. Wicked George Cur
It's! did You know what you were doing last De.
cember in Cortandyel Did you know, while
your pleasant voice apd graceful words pleaded
for our suffering and stricken sisters, that you were
playing Guy Faux-that you were undermining the
Presbyterian Church Could you not stick to
Mrs. Po,pharl Must you turn iconocast' Was
it not enough to push pin through the Rev. Cream
Cheese, but You must lacerate Elder Simeon Lu-
cas- Must you, ike modern Prospero, after
fascinating so many Others seek the perdition Of
Elder Brewer, And has not Mr. Wendell Phillips
already ruined victims enough in New England
Why should he seek the quiet rustic retreats Of
CortlaudSille and turn topsyturyy its Presbyterian
Church. What harm had Elder Brewer done Mr.
Rhlph Waldo Emerson, that the philosopher must
leave the seclusou Of his woods and meadows, and