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Show 94 Theodore Tilton. for words. We are standing by tliC old man's open graYe, waiting for his body to be buried. 'VIwn fri e n d.~ gather together to speak of a good man who ha d •pa rted, e very one has some wortl to utter which is peculiar to hi¥Iself ; some word which best expre ,c what is each man's most gratefu-l aud endearing memory of him who ha gone. l\Iy mvn tl·ibutc to J ohn Brown, which I offer on this day of his death, is gratitude for the influence which his heroism, his fortitude, and his faith have exerted upon my reli rriou. life. I have been made a better Chri ~ tian by that ma n' ' life and death. Ili.s own great faith has strengthened mine. IIi.- own great courage has quickened mine. Ilis Cl11·i, tian example of unwavering heroism and patience - in pri. on, under h i.~ wounds, in pro~ pect of the gallows-all this has inspired me to a higher religiou life. It has kindled within my heart a greater love to God and to my fellow-men. This is a tribute to his memory which I cannot to-day withho1J. I do not judge l1im merely by his la. t great act. ,John Brown was a Christian long before the g 1·cat eye of the " orld was set on him ; fo r, from hi j xtcenth year to his fifty-ninth, he ha"' been a true and honored member of the Church of Christ. The world has not wakhed all that long <'arcer, but it has seen enough in a few days in hi s p ri on to make it wonder and admire. You remember how he received the GoYem or of Virrrinia. M H e stood in hi ~ presence as Paul tood before Agrippa. not wishing to exchange place-, but only holding out his band and saying, " I would that thou wert altogether a.~ I am, save th c.-:e bond:S!" (Applause.) You r emember how he r ecciV(•d. hi:; sentence. \Vhen the Earl of Argyle who, with hi: own hands pnt upon the head of Charles II. the crown of England, was afterwards condemned to death by the same king, the stern old. Pre bytcrian, on hearing his fate, arose in courl", and said, "The king honor.' me with a speedy gra tituc1e ; for while I helped him only to a crown which must shortly perish, he Theodore Tilton. 95 hastenS" me to a crown that is incorruptible, a nd that fm1eth not away." So that other tern old Presuytcrian, who dies thi ' day in Virginia, a rose in court and uttered a. speech of equal heroism and moral grandeur- a . pecch that will go down to the end of time with all the g rand words of all the world's heroes. ( Applau e and hisses.) I cannot look upon his steadfa.s tness wi thout first marYcllin rr O) and then thanking God. J ohn Brown was a Puri tan - the sixth in descent from the band of P ilgrims who topped on Plymouth R ock. I think of him and go back to old 13i -hop !looper of Engli -h history - the fir t P uritan, the father of t he Pilgrim Fathers - who, when he was condemned to death for conscience' sake, wrote in his cell at N ewgate, " I have spoken the truth with my lips ; I have written it with my pen ; I am ready to confirm it, by God'::; g race, wi th my blood ! " John Brown's letters, written in his cell at Charlestown, bear in every line the same heroic te timony to God's truth ! (Applau ~e, mingled with loud hi -ses.) It is this high and grand fa ith in God that has sustained him in the long hours of his imprisonment, from it beginning until to-day that now end it. I have no fear how he mounted that scaffold. I have heard no news, but I believe in my soul that when the telegraph shall flash the story, it wi11 tell of no falterinrr no ol tremulous step, no recanta tion- nothing b ut fai th, co n ~ tan cy, cheerfulness, heroism! When the great l\Iarf!uis of l\I ontro e, who suffered in Scotland for the cause of Church and IGng, was led to execution, it was a day of dark ... kies and threatening storms, but as he approached the scaffold the sun for a moment broke through the clouds and shone full upon h is head- as if the Divine glory had come to crown the saint befor e the martyr! And he mounted the Jaduer, as if it had been the ladder which Jacob saw, and walkcJ. stra ightway up into H eaven. So to-day, amid the grea ter clond::- and . h:ulows that ha ve fallen upon our sad hearts, I believe that a l ight brighter than the sun has shone upon the old man who has |
