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Show George B. Cheever. that support it. God writes out l1i waming on clear white pap r, takes the heart nnd mind of a Clui;tian, a man of prt\ycr, for its publication. John llrown is one of th o ~ e rare in"tanee. of men tlcl'eribcd by l\Iilton, who act out a convic. tion of duty, fi·om which, from the contemplation 0 (' which common men, the wor~]Iippcr · of succc , of expediency, and of iniquity en hrined in law, start back, as in horror of a great erinw. "\Vho that hears John Brown's word , that reads lti · grand, solemn, thrilling letters from his pri on, that sees his simple, uwj ~stic, Chri tinn. deportment in the view or death, and notes lus calm tru t m God, can doubt that God is with him, and that the ecret of his confidence is hi abiding under the badow of the Almighty, and dwelling in the ecrct place of the l\lost lligh. In the light of the. e clear, sun· like, acrccl developments of character, and not in the lurid, malignant, treacherous glare of lave enactments ana lnveholdinO' cruelty, iniquity and unju t judgment, will John Brown'~ whol.e cond~Jct be scrutinized. It is a mighty and meaning providence m God, and when IIis judgments arc in the land, the people will learn righteou ne . John Brown is the cry tallization into action of maxims which all would act upon, if the enslaved and injured, in whose behalf he has ventured. unto death, were whites, were a population stolen fi·om one of your own States embracinO' children of your own, wives, Lrothers, sons, daugh~ers, father:, mothers, of your own color and blood. You would not call John Brown's movement trea on, you would not call it murder, you '.voulclnot call it a wicked act, if white per ons, your own relatives, had been chained and claimed as property, tor· ture~, ~a k.ed, and condemned ·a a race of chattel::;; you would c~ll.It JU tlce, heroi m, piety. And if the kidnappers of such VICti~ns had pretended an agreement in your Con titution of serv~ce due, dil::itorting that into a defence and justification of such roubcry, you would say that tltey were the traitors worthy of death. Nor would your judgment or your sentence be changed by George B. Cheever. 159 a set of Virginia statute , 1 ·gn1izing thi:::~ wi<'kcdness, making your ·hildr ·n the property of their ma~t 'rs, and making it trea:-1011 or f •tony in :til)' man to attempt to deliv •r them, or run them ofi: You would not only colltribute money anu antiS to any party who would und 'rtake to do th i;-;, but you would your~elve take arm~, and it wo11ld Le much more the dttty of your State to . anction and protect you in such an df(>rt, than it wa. when your nncestora took arms at Lexington and Bunk 'r Hill. "Thou . halt love thy nciO'hbor as thyself'," and. "whatsoever ye would that men :honld do to you, do ye eYen so to th 'm." II ow grand and mnj(•:;t ic was the d~daration of John Brown the ngcd, "I am yc·t too young to be :.1ble to umlcr:tantl that God i~ any respecter of pcr~on:-:." If you or I po::\~c.-~ed the power, by tos:-:ing a horn of powder, a toreh of' Grcc'k fire, a pciTu;.; ion cap, an explo:ivc l>iscuit, into the heart of the ~outlt, to set the whole . lave population "into a s ud(~en revolt for the ass<'rtion of' tlH·ir own fn'(•dom, and the oblit 'ration of those horrible lnw:s tltat make property of man, roncubincs of \\eivcs, adult('rcrs of ltn:-;band , ba ' lard· of children, chattel' and brutes of immortal beings; into a revolt that would break up an<l dc~troy this whole huge sy~tem of compli<'atcd and .accumulating villany and murder, \\'Ould it not, beyond qtte:'tion, be your duty, my duty? A minister of Christ is , aid to have dcdar ·d that if he rould cmanci pate all the slave with one prayer he woulu not dare to ofT'er it. Wonderful piet.y! Amazing sanctity of oul ! Hnt some one will , ay, Your producing sueh a movement would be attended with blood ·hed, and you may not do evil that goou may come. Thi is a very natural and inevitable thought in every conscicntiou miud. But let u:;; see. If a den of pirates existed in yonr country, or of robbers and murderer , who e cu. tom and law of their own brotherhood was to convey away men, women, and children, aml make them slave , a1Hl to perpetuate a. breeding f~tctory for :-;laves, of them and their posterity, aml if you or I had the power, by whatever violence, to break up that dtn, you would, in the |
