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Show Gilbert ' Haven. forg t what thi" sy~t •m i. and docs; how it. thru~ts it~ rnis. cr atcd front athwart tho path of all nntional and r eligious progrcs~, breaks church 'S to piece~, rul e~ and ruin great Chri ·tian charities ; ami above, b 'yond all thiR, ~ ets it ' satanic foot on man, created in the image of God, ern ·he out } 1 is freedom, his culture, his piety, his every God-given right and privilege. Connect with this defiant, triumphant onnHu ·ehing institution of perdition- this little act of a score of men-nnd sec if, and how, such a small stone can indeed ·ink into the foreh ead of the mighty Goliath and · mite him to the du t. And may God help us to speak and hear in all incerity and godly fear. You all know the publi hcd history of the transaction. About twenty men, l<'d by one before i~unou ~, now immortal, seized a few slavehohlcrs, and a U nit ·d States arsenal, deliv· crcd a few score of slaY C. , were taken, mo t of' the number in ·tantly killed, a few captured, their leader tried, eondt>mned, ami sentenced to be hung. That i· all. Ilow can thi::;, you may say, be the beginning of the end of Amr riean , lavery? A glance at th e excitement it ha created may guid<! you to a p •rception of thi ~ great fact. Not le s than three orations upon it were published in the pnpcrs of la t week; every journal ha: ahoum1cd with cdito· rials upon it; every political speech has been lJUr<lencd with attempts to fa ten it upon their opponents and ward it off from tliem elves. Within a month, ten thou ~and thanksgiving sermons will elwell upon its I e~ ons. EYen now every car and tongue, from Galvc. ton to Ea. I port, is burning alive to every item pertnining to it. Never has any ·inglc eYent in our annals so inthralled the " ·hole nation. The court of justice instantly takes up the wontlrous talc. 'Vith an n tounding peed it connecls itself with the moan of the wounded and bcrcavctl, drag ~ ib bleeding prisoners to its bar, refu ses all demands for needed and brief tlelny, hcctl · no claim of judicial impartiality, but drive::> its deadly business Gilbert 1-la ven. 127 at this fearful rate, and only breathes freely when it has pronounced over the doomed grny head the sentence of death. Nay, it J ocs not breathe freely yet. lie i- in prison, and the centurion and his band keep watch day and night over him, le~ t his fri ends come and teal him away, and the la. t error be worse than the fir t. \Vhether released or hung, their influence l1as but just begun. If dead, they will speak as no dead have spoken in this land, since \Varrcn fell a sleep iu his bloody shroud. If alive and in prison, to uo walls will such a multitude of earnest eyes be aimed a to those that shut thqm in. If at liberty, their steps will be followed by my riads of sympathizing fri ends or curious foes. \Vhat docs all thi mean? \Vhat docs it portend? Is it simply the e xcitement of politic , which periodi cally ebbs and fl o w ~ ? Politicians may seck to u e and abu c it; but the feeling that produced it, and that it has produced, is yastly gr ':-ttcr than any they can create or control. Theirs is but the tiny vcs cl, - Great Ea tern though it be, - this is of the mighty upheaval of the ocean underneath. The vc. "Cl may reach its desired haven, or go down among the billows it has :o u ~ht to ride ; the waves sweep on, under the la.ws of their Creator, to the goal he has set for them. I s it the ordinary excitement of a. community at a murdcrou riot in its midst? Other riots arc constantly occurring. One hn transpired since thi s eve nt, by which several men were killed and wounded, and a great city surrendered to a lawless mob; and yet a brief telegram satisfies the general hunger for the bloody feast. \Vhy this difference ? B ecause the one is exceptional, transient, easily and pa1pably curable ; the other connects itself with the great iniquity that covers half, and darkens all the land. It i::; the fir:;t blow that gigantic power ever felt. ] t i: a Llow from which they cannot r ecover. II ow i this the rase? IIow can this brief, and apparently unsuccc ·ful act, l>e con·idercd as the beginning of that long-prayed for,- |
