New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1865-04-28
THE MAN WHO GOES OFT.

The business Of u clergyman, We believe, Is
10 impart moral and religious instruction. He|
Is called pastor, or shepherd, and the congrega-
ton are called sheep, or flock. II the auditor
of semon is 10 he told merely what he already
knows, or what pleases his ear and Initiates his
-elfcomplacency so that he either goes to sleep
Tor dilates with snug rapture in his pew, the
inevitable conclusion !. that he might a. well
be listening to the last new vocalist, or to q
lecturer upon hydrostatcs. Recently, in several
Of our exchange papers, We read that sundry
sheep Of a sensitive turn of mind offended by
kindly illusions in the pulpit to the late PreS-
dent. have taken their hats and left the fold.
II does not help matters that other sheep.
equally irascible, have threatened to tar and
feather the sensitive seceders, or have
actually done it, There is smack of
Slayeholding Christianity in this style of pro-
cedlme which We do not at all approve. We
think man who goes out of church because he
cannot swallow the sermon affords u SPECTACLE
of such entertainment to bis fellow creatures
that he better deserves a small remuneration in
postal currency than the ieathery balmage He
who can at all cheer the public mind in these
somber hours should be considered social ben
eiactor; and to our minds there is something
eXquisitey grotesque in that imprisoned pro-
cesson Of one down the aisle and out at the
door. II person who faints during divine SER
vice thereby becomes quite public character,
how much more is he who makes a locomotive
exit and affords food for q weeks conversation
in the village deserving of some mild testi-
monial? Lynch him Who thinks Of lynch
ing the low comedian Mt the theaterl
A few DAYS ago a weak and wicked stage
player achieved an Infamous immortality BY
|ninrdering the President The Man who Goes
Ont OF Church would be shocked probably to be
told that he Is influenced by the same theatrical
mania in lower stage OF Development which
impellnl the arm of Wilkes Booth. lie is ex-
Fceedingly angry-he wants to make demon
stration--and he succeeds in demonstrating his
own folly. lie never stops to think what a
dreadful waste Of money, to say nothing OF
temper, he is guilty of He hires man to
preach to him. and then refuses to listen 10 him.
Ii he were sick in body, would he treat his doc
tor in that way He might make screwed
face at the ipecac or the jalap, but he would
take it, especially because he would know that
he must pay for it. Yet he contracts with a
clergyman to doctor his soul, and forthwith re-
pudiates the preferred physic which is an essen
tisl part of the bargain. We should call this
conduct childish, if We did not have q great
respect and love for children.
We should not have thought this subject
worthy Of particular animadyersion if it had
not included the great question Of Free Speech.
We have thought il one Of the gravest misfor-
tunes Of the war that the Government or the
people should have thought 1t necessary To-
restrain the freest discussion of public affairs,
aud We congratulate tho country upon
tho fact that q mere minimum OF such