| OCR Text |
Show 222 George B. Cheever. false emotion; a transparency of character, a profound thou()'htfuln ess, a peace of mind, a tru t in God, quite imp0~8ibl~ to be a~~ume<l in f'nch a po~ition, at such an lwur, - quite impo siblC', incleed, e\·er under uch circum.' tanccs to Lc palmed off, and credit gained for them, by a self-delude<l man, or a wicked man and an impostor. Af'ter the battle is over,- after tl1is mighty crime, as some call it, for which he is sentenced to death,- in the soiled and taUcred garments bathed in blood, chained, reviled, hated, he appears greater than ever, more manifc. tly the Chri:;;tian hero in po ses ion of the pirit of love and of power and of a ound mind. And thu daily he i seen preparing for death, and daily God is with him. If there can be any cYiucnce of this, tl1ey arc granted. There were those, even in the presence of the Saviour, beholding his marvcllou works, that declarrd that he ca. tout devil. by Beelzebub, the prj nee of the devils; and our bles ell I.Jorcl said that if they had called the ma ter of the lwu c Beelzebub, much more would they them of his hou. elwhl. . Now, mcthinks none but such bla phcmer:s could deny the evidence, of John nrown's Chri.-tian character since his overthrow. l\fnnife tly God was with him- with him to the CI:d- with him, maintaining his confidence in the ju~tice of lus cau c and the righteousness of hi ~ effort, even unto denth -the righteousne.· of the very act for which he was to die. God was with him so f\U laining, as to enable him to feel and to say that he willingly gave him elf to the entencc of the law, counting it a privilege to be permitted to die in behalf of the outcast race for which he had endeavored to live and for whose deliverance he had ventured with death in vie;v. An outcast race ! And John Brown felt and knew that what he did for them he wa ~ doing for hi Saviour. Under sentence of death for an action in their behalf~ he could ay that he considered ltim.'elf "worth inconceivably more to be huncr in this C:lll e" tJ t b d' 1 {' · o ~ · 1an o e 1 'PO "e< o m any other way; and "could wait the hour of his public munler with great George B. Cheever. 223 compo'ure of mi.nd and cheerfulness, feeling the strong assurance that in no other pos ible manner could he be u ed to so much ad vantage t.o the ca.u e of God and of humanity." 'Vhen lu1s there been in the world any thing like thi ? It has properly been marked, in regard to the brighte t names in the historic records of self-sacrificing patriotism, ir1 the pages of the struggles for liberty, that their ventures were for tllCir own country, kindrell, homes, every thing; and if yc love them that love you what thank have yc? If ye salute your brethren only, or defend your own ca te, do not even the publicans so? But this s 'If- acrificc of John Brown wa. for a de. pi ·ed and hated race, condemned to perpetual lavery. It i a sublime and solitary in tancc in all modern history. A man in his sense. , in an age of prudential wi ·dom worshipped as r eligion-in an age of . elf-intcre t and expediency- when the world is full of priests and Lcvitcs~ ecclesiastical, political, social, - pa. -ing by on the other s1de, oH'crs himself in the cn:ice of a dcspi ·ed, rejected, downt rodden caste, pur ucs his purpo c for twenty year::~, watch s for opportunities to strike some mighty Llow of deliveran e, and at length, thinking that God had given him the hour, goes forth to uffer unto death for f'lave -for negroe. · And then his submi ·sion to God's will, when the blow seem 'd to have failed and nothing remained before him but to die ; his cheerful resignation, in the confidence that God docth all things well; his experience of the peace of God that pa ·seth all under ~ tanding, and his gratitude to God for such " infinite grace;"- in aU things he has been approved as a child of' God in thi- matter, and we only need to record and ponder his own exprcs ions, to f'el a su recl that God was with him. " I wi~h I could only know," said he, " that all my poor family were a:-5 composed aml a happy a. I. I think nothincr but the Christian r eligion could cv8r make any 0 one so composed. 'My will in ~ soul would slny ln sucll o. fro.mo us this." |
