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Show Theodore Parker. looked to such pcr:'ons for a truth of relig ion which sllOulcl on·rturn all the temples of the old world, and drin• the god~ of' Olympus from tln·ir tilll c-honorecl throne:'i of reven'tH· ·and power? The Home of' the Pop '.-i i~, no doubt, as Poly tlH:i ·tic as the Rome of the Cc.l'~HI"- uut the old god~ arc gone·, and men wor~hip the Fi~h •rman and the 'l'cnt-mak ·r. lL wa the Augustinian JHonk who broke th · Romnn Ilierat· ·hy to atoms. 'l'onp:h in the brain ~, tough in the bones, mig hty al:;o by hi:-; lO\"C or the peopl \and !tis tnt ~ t in God, ltc ditl wltat iL seemed only the o-rcat counciL; oC the learned cou ld accompli.:dt- he rout ·d the l)opcs, antl wr ·ste<l the Germnn worl<l from their rude and bloody g ri pc. At a later day, when the new Continc•nL whi('h God had kept from the foundation of the world- n virg in hi<l nw[ly b ·tween the Atlantic and the l)acific cas- was to be joine<l to Humanity, in the hopes of' founding such a Family of 1\[cn as tltc world had neYcr seen, was there any one who would ],a,-e thought that the Puritan, hated in his Briti;..;h honw, nml dri,·cn out thence with fir' and word, would be the H(•prel'cntativc of Humanity, nnd clnim and win that Hrid(', and wed l1 'r too, with nuptiab now 'O au:;picious? Y el ~o it turns out; and the grcatt•st social nnd political nehi ,,. ·nwnt of tho human race ii'i wrought out by that Puritan, witlt hi :; Bride Wllose only dower wa, her broad lands. H(':tlly, it ~ec m as if GoJ cho.-c the mall thing.· to confound th' grC'at. But when we look again, and ·tudy careful ly the r e lation which these seemingly insignificant agent ' bear to the whole force of Humanity, then it appear' they were the very ng •nt , mo t fit for the work they did. I think it will turn out .o in tho ca c of Captain Brown. '\Vhat the ma -tcrly loqucncc of S~ward could not accompli 'h, even by hi· manly nppeal to the Iltghcr Law, nor the eloquence of' Phillips ~liHL Sumner, acl<.lr· •s. eel to the con.-cience and common sen:-:;c oC the people, scc· m:-s likely to be brought to pa.-: by Julm Brown - 110 statesman, no orator, but an upright and downrig ht man, who Theodore f>arker. took his life in his hancl, nnd saicl, "Slavery shall go down cv •n if' it be puL down with r c<l .'word ! " I th:tnkc<l God for John Brown year ' ngo: he anu I arc no strn nger~, and ~ till more now hi.' ~ ainthood is crowned with mart y rdom. I am glad he camo from that l\layflowcr company- that his g r:wd f:tther was n captain in the Hevolutionary war:- the true nri stocratic blood of Anwrien. runs in .' ll <'h veins. Al l the grand irLtitution. of' Amc t·iea, whi ch give sudt original power to the people, came from that Puritan stock, wlto tru;o:;tcd in Gou, anu k ept tlwir powllcr dry _,rho stood up straight when th 'Y pray cl, antl abo when thc'Y Jouglt t. Yt>:-:;, all the grancl original ideas, which nrc 11ow on their wny to found n ·w institutions, and will make the future better than the pn~t or pre. en t- they come from the ~arn e sou n:e. Virginia may be the moth ' r of' Pre. idcnts, ( ~ he y 't kc'rp.tlre a~hc:) of two g l'(':tt orwf', -only th eir nshr~, not thc·ir :-;o ttl s,) bu t it i:-; New England that i ' moth<•r of' gr cnL id C'a:-;. Cocl is their Fath r- mother also of communities, ri<'h with illtelligcnce nnd democratic power. tlohn Brown came from n good ]inrage; his life prov<'S iL-and lti d ath. It. is not for you or me to s('lect th, inst rumcnts wherewith the providence of mankind has the wol'ld'~ work done by Jurman 1tands; H i - only ior us to do our little duty, [Utd take the goocl arHl ill which come of' it. '\Vhen the monster whi ·h ltindcr the prog!·e- of Hurnnnity i .' to be got riLl of, no matter j{' the battle-axe haYe ru~L on it· hilt, and Rpot , here and th •re, upon it blade-memento'. of ancient work; if its edge have uut the power to bit e', th \ monster shall be cloven clown, and mankind walk triumphantly on, to-~orrow, to fresh work and triumphs new. But I did not mean to write you uch a letter a.- this - iL wrote it.·elf, and I could'nL he lp iL. I cannot ~1 cc p nights, for thinking of these things. I nrn n..-hamell to be ::;iek aml good f(n· nothing iu times like the.-c, but can't help it, and must be judged by what I can do, not can't ancl don't. |
