Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1859-11-10
The Harper's Ferry Tragedy.
SERMON BY REV. HENRY WARD BEEcHER.

For will stretch out my hand upon the inhabitants
of the land saith the Lord. For from the least OF them
the greatest Of them every one is given to
covttousness and from the prophet even unto the prie
every dealelh falsely. They have healed also the
hurt ofthe daughter Of my people slightly saying Feace
peace when there is peace We're they ashamed when
they had committed abominaon nay, they were not at
all a named, neither could they blush therefore they
shall fall among them thai fall at the time that VISIT
them they shall be down, tn the Lord Thus sam
the ord stand We in the ways and sce AID ask for the
old paths where is the good-way, nd walk therein, ana
ye shall find for your souls. But they sad, we wiz
walk therein. Also set walchmen over you saying,
Hearken to the sound ofhe trumpet But they sai, we
will hearken Therefore hear nations, and Know
congregation, what is among them Hear, Oearth; De.
hold will bring evil upon this peop, even the irut Of
their thoughts because they have hearkened unto my
words, my law, bat rejected .'-Jer vi lz-l9'
This is Il terrible message. 1t was Gods
word of old by the mouth Of his prophet Jere-
miah The occasion of it was a sudden eruption
upon Judah of victorious enemies. God sent
the prophet to reveal the Gu sc Of this disaster
The prophet declared that God was Furnishing
them because they Were selfish and unjust ard
covetous, and because the whole church was
whelmed with its ministry, in the same sins.
These mischefs had been glozed over, and
excused, and palliated, and hidden, and not
healed. There had been spirit that demanded
union and quiet, rather than purity and safety
God therefore threatens further affections, be-
cause of the hardness of their hearts and then
for such always is the Divine lenty-as it
were giving them another opportunity and
alternative, he commands them to seek after
God to look for BETTER WAY ; to stand and
search for the old way, the right way, and to
walk in it
need not stop to point out the remarkable
pertinence which these things have, in many re-
spects, to our nation in the past, land to our times
in the present. | avail myself, this evening,
after a long silence upon this subject, in your
midst, of the state of the public mind, to utter
some words of instruction on the present state
of our land.
The surprise of the whole nation, at a recent
event, is itself the best evidence of the isolation
of that event. A burning fragment struck the
earth near Harper's Ferry. If the fragment Of
an exploding aerolite had fallen down out of the
air, while the meteor swept on, it would not
have been more sudden, or less apparently con-
nected either with a cause or an effect!
Seventeen men, white men, without military
base, without supplies, without artillery, with
out organization more than squad OF militia
attacked a State, and undertook to release and
lead away an enslaved race They do not ap-
pear to have been called by the sufferers, nor to
have been welcomed by them. They volunteer
ed grace, and sought to enforce its acceptance
Seventeen white men surrounded two thousand
and held them in duress. They harricadeC
themselves, and waited until the troops of two
States, the employees of great railway, and q
portion of the forces of the Federal Government
could, travelling briskly night and day, reach
them. Then, at one dash, they were snufeC
out
do not wonder that Virginans feel grea
deal of modification ! Everybody is sympathet
ically ashamed for them 1t is quite natura
that every effort should be made to enlarge tn,
proportions of this escapade, that they may hide
their weakness and incompetency behind {
smartly uptown horror! No one doubts thu
bravery Of Virgnians. 1t needs no praising
But even brave men lave panics. Courage il
sometimes caught at unawares. Certainly, i
strikes us, at distance, as remarkable thing
that prisoners three to one more than theil
captors, and two thousand citizens should hav'
remained days and nights under the fear ant
control of seventeen white men. Northern
courage has been at discount in the Soutl
hitherto. 1t ought hereafter to rise in value
at least in Virginia.
The diligence which is now shown, on tn,
part of many public presses, to inAame TIN
public mind, and infect it with fear, is quit
foolish. The incubation will not take. Tn
North may not be courageous, but it certainl,
is not silly. There is an element of the ludi
crous in this transaction which | think will
effectually stop all panic:
Seventeen men terrified two thousand brav
Virginians into two days submission-that can
not be got over The commOn sense OF com
mon people cannot fail to see through all at
tempts to hide natural shame by bunglin,
make believe that the danger was really greater
than it was The danger was nothing, ant
the fear very great, and courage none at all
And nothing can now change the facts al
the newspapers on earth will not make thi
case appear any better. Do what you please
muster crowd of supposed confederates, cal
the roll of consprators, and include the mobiles
men of these States, and exhibit this imagnar,
army before the people, and in the end it will
appear that seventeen white men overawed
town of two thousand brave Virginians ant
held them captves until the sun had gone
laughing, twice around the globe!
And the attempt to hide the fear of these sur
rounded men by awaking larger fear, vii
never do. 1t is too literal II ful6llment, no
exactly of prophesy but of fable-not of Isaiah
but Esop.
A fox having been caught in a trap, escape
with the loss of his tail. He Immediately wen
to his brother foxes to persuade them that the
would all look better if they, too, would cut O.
their caudal appendages. They declined. An
our two thousand friends, who lost thei
courage in the presence of seventeen men, ar
now making an appeal to this nation to lose it
courage, too, that the cowardice of the few ma
be hidden in the cowardlce Of the whole com
munity us impossible. We choose to wea
our courage for some time longer.
As | shall not recur to this epic in Virgni
history again to night, must say a word i
respect to the head and heart of it. For it II
stood in the courage of one man.
An old man, kind at heart, industrious, peace
full went forth, with large family of children
to seek new home in Kansas. That infar
colony held thousands Of souls as noble Z;
liberty ever inspired or religion enriched.
great scowlug slave State, its nearest neighbo
sought to tread down this liberty LOVING colony
and to dragon slavery into Ii by force of arm
The armed citizens Of another State crossed til
State lines, DESTROYED the freedom Of the balo
box, prevented fair expression Of public sent
ment, c0rruptly usurped law making powe
and ordained by fraud, laws as infamous as tt
sun ever saw, assaulted its infant settlement
with armed hordes, rayagcd the fields, dcstroye
harvests and herds, and carried death to
multitude of cabins. The United States Cover
ment had no marines for this occasion
Federal troops were posted by cars, night al
day, for the poor, the weak, the grossly wrongt
men in Kansas. There was an army there tn,
unfurled the banner of the Union, but it was G
the side of the wrong doors, not on the sidc
the injured,
1t was in this field that Brown received h
impulse. A tender father, whose life was in h
sons life, he saw his first born sezed like
folon, chained, driven across the country craze
by suffering and heat, beaten by the officer
charge, like dog, and long lying at death
door Another noble boy, without warnn
without oFanse, unarmed, in open day. in Il
midst of the city, was shot dead No JUST
sought out the murderers. No United Stat