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Show 8 Prct~1ce. being his pohcy,- no wonder, that, avowing him~ •If a Waiter on Providence- he , hould ay that Sl::tvl'ry mu ~t last "for ages." But John Brown was not of t:llleh a sci fi h spirit, as- himself and his ihmily b ing fr ~o- to preach non-intcrveution for God's sorely persecuted people. Ilis was that heroic Chri tianity which bolievt~d in lwlping God to help God's cause. Ilo would not h:tv ' been guilty of the inconsistency of teaching eq11al right.s to tl1e negro r:tcc, as ~1r. Beecher docs, and then, ill de. crihing an inva ·ion," snuffing out" of his account the 1ivc colored tncn who heroically sh:trcd in it. lie would not have 1ncntioncd the wll.ite men only. lie wouhl have r<'gaJ'(led such an omis ion as quite equal to our church and onr omnibus heathenisms. But I leave J\1r. lleceh r ancl Captain Brown to the verdict of impartial history, whieh will discriminate, justly, the rc pectivo merits of compromi:->ing words and uncompromising actions. This volume has cost me no little labor. Apart frmn the corrc~pond nee which it has required, the immcn o number ofjonrnals that I h:tv read in order to eornpilc it, would har<lly be credited. To road so much, and to find so little, is rather cliRcotungin;r. But tho sign of a grand progress, that one sees in the American pre ·s, amply repay the labor or reviewing it. I have greatly altered my original plan in pr p:u·i ng this volume. I had intended to write a hi.·tory of the c•Hect of tho Touchstone of IIm·p •r'H ]i., •rry, on the men nnd parti ~, and Iustitution. of the Fr e tatcs; but find, 011 revicwinrr b my voluminous material , that the time for it has not yet fully como. I intended, also, to quote from the Bible tho::!e texts and passages in which oppro ion is denonneetl, ::mel war Preface. 9 approved ; and, in tho second chapter, to republish the A1ncrican Declaration of Indopcncloncc -and to rest John Brown's dcfeucc on th m alone. For, .John Brown n1ost c:truestly bcli v d the Bibl to bo the Word of Almighty God- as infallible as it is . acrcd. Now, in no book, not professedly military, arc there more clear and unequivocal approvals of war, "as a rnoral agency," than in the Sacred Volume of Chri tcndom. Clcr<Yymon, who professedly believe tho Bible, but take the liberty of RC! king out a "better way" of serving God's poor than it rcc01nmond., will denounce, as it is natural to expect, John Brown's brave fulfilment of the Scripture; but, as they worship a different God from John Brown, he should not be h lcl responsible to their tribunal, or accountable to their procrastinating Deity. Tho Bible tolls us that "the Lord is a Man of War," not a rose-water God; not a Being less attentive to the poor that cry, than solicitous for the safety of a Union of States or an A1ncrican Board of 1t1i sions ! I do not quote those paRsagcs, bcc:tuso they would unduly enlarge my volume; and they can ea ily be found in every library and every home. For the Ramo reason I refer only to the An1orican Declaration of Inclopcndcnce. Road thCJn-tho Bible and the Declaration- attentively, and earnestly; ancl then, thus gnardc<l againRt sophi. try, I do not fear that the proslavory papers in this Book will implant a single fal ohood in any mind. And now, sincerely repeating tho toast of sturdy Sam. .Tohnson, "Success to the next Neg'ro Ii~su/r'rection !" I comtnit my collection to the careful study of the young men with hearts and heads in the N orthorn United State::;. |