Orleans independent standard. [volume] (Irasburgh, Vt.) 1856-1871, 1859-11-11
From the New York Sun.
THE HARPER'S FERRY TRAGEDY.
Sc R MON
BY
REV. HENRY WARD BEECHER.
S E R M o N
PREACHED AT
Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, Sun.
day Evening, Oct. 80 1859.

day Evening, Oct. 3O 1883.
" Fer viii stretch out my hand upon the in
habitants Of the land, saith the Lord For from
the least of them even unto the greatest of them,
every one is given to covetousness; and from the
prophet even unto the priest, every one dealeth
falsely. They have healed also the hurt of the
daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace,
peace; when there is no peace We're they
ashamed when they had committed abomination?
nay, they were not at all ashamed, neither could
they blush; therefore they shall fall among them
that fall; at the time that visit them they shall
be cast down saith the Lord. Thus saith the Lord,
Stand We in the ways, and see, and ask for the
old paths, where is the good way, and walk there
IN, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But
they said, We will not walk therein. Also | set
watchmen over you, saying, Hearken to the
sound of the trumpet. But they said, We will
not hearken. Therefore hear, ye nations, and
know 0 congregation, what is among them
Hear, o earth behold, will bring evil upon this
people, even the fruit OF their thou ghts, because
they have not hearkened unto my words, nor to
lny law, but rejected it."-Jer vi. 1919.
This is terrible message. 1t was
Gods word of old by the mouth of his
prophet Jeremiah. The occasion of it
was sudden eruption upon Judah of vic
torious enemies. God sent the prophet
to reveal the cause of this disaster. The
prophet declared that God was furnishing
them because they were selfish and un-
just and eovetous, and because the whole
church was whelmed with its ministry, in
the same sins. These miscbiefs had
been glazed over, and excused, and pal
lated, and hidden, and not healed. There
had been a spirit that demanded union
and quiet, rather than purity and safety
God therefore threatens further affiic.
tions, because of the hardness of their
hearts; and then-for such always is the
divine lenity-as it were, giving them
another opportunity and alternative, he
commands them to seek after God; tc
look for A BETTER WAY; to stand and
search for the old way, the right way, anc
to walk in it
need not stop to point out the remark
able pertinence which these things have
in many respects, to our nation in tht
past, and to our times in the present.
avail myself, this evening, after a long ST
lence upon this subject, in your midst, 0
the state of the public mind, to utter some
words of instruction on the present stat
of our land.
The surprise of the whole nation, at
recent event, is itself the best evidence o
the isolation of that event. A burnin!
fragment struck the earth near Harper
Ferry. Ifthe fragment Of an exploding
aerolite had fallen down out of the all
while the meteor swept on, it would nc
have been more sudden, or less apparent
ly connected either with cause or a
effect!
| Seventeen men, white men, without
/ military base, without supplies, withoU
: artillery, without organization more tina
? a squad of militia, attacked State, an
e undertook to release and lead away a
e enslaved race! They do not appear {
: have been called by the sufferers, nor
o have been welcomed by them. The
D volunteered a grace, and sought to el
f force its acceptance. Seventeen viii
men surrounded two thousand, and he
r. them in duress. They barricaded ther
selves, and waited until the troops of tv
# States, the employees of great railwa
e and portion of the forces of FEEDER
v Government could, travelling brisk
is night and day, reach them. Then,
d one dash, they were snuffed out
in do net wonder that Virginians fee
at great deal of modification Everybor
IN is sympathetically ashamed for them
in is quite natural that every effort shot
It be made to enlarge the proportions of Il
es escapade, that they may hide their wea
s. ness and incompetency behind smar
I'd uptown horrori No one doubts {
at bravery of Virginians. 1t needs no pra
ne ing. But even brave men have PAM
DIS Courage is sometimes caught at unawar
re Certainly, it strikes us, at a distance,
ed a remarkable thing, that prisoners thl
o. to one more than their captors, and t
ch thousand citizens should have remain
days and nights under the fear and c.
troll of seventeen white men. North,
Us courage has been at discount in
IN. South hitherto. 1t ought hereafter
for rise in value-at least in Virginia.
an The diligence which is now shown,
the part of many public presses, to inf1a
the public mind, and infect it with feal
G quite foolish. The incubation viii
na- take. The North may not be courageC
but it certainly is not silly. There is
3D. element of the ludicrous in this tran:
=" HaS ton which I think will efectualIy stop
rial panic.
Seventeen men terrified two thoas