The national era. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1847-1860, 1859-11-24
WASHINGTON, D. C.
SERMON BY HENRY WARD BEEcHER.
Preached at Plymouth Church, Brooklyn Sun.
day eUeRing, Oct. 30, 1859.


every one dealeih falsely. They have healed also The
hur of the daughter ofmy people slightly saying Peace
when they had committed denomination nav they were
not al All ashamed neither could they blush therefore
hey sbah iail among them that fall The time that
yls them they shall be down. saith the Lord Thus
Sam ihe Lord stand ye in the ways see and ask
Ior me po ptihs, where is the good way, AID walk
therein AID ye shall find for your sous But they
sslas We viii OF walk therein: Also,I set wslchmen
Bur they sad, We will not hearken Therefore hear ye
nailons and know, congTe CATION what's among them
even The ui, of their thoughts because they have
hesrke ed uno my words nor 10 my law, bat rejected
h"-JeT, vi, I2-10
This is a terrible message. 1t was Gods
word of old, by the mouth of his prophet Jere-
miah. The occasion of it was sudden erup-
ton upon Judah of victorious enemies. God
sent the prophet to reveal the cause Of this dis
aster. The prophet declared that God was
Furnishing them because they were selfish, and
unjust, and covetous, and because the whole
church was whelmed with It's ministry, in the
same sins. These mischiefs had been CLOSED
over, and excused, and pallated. and hidden,
and not healed. There had been a spirit that
demanded union and quiet, rather than purity
and safety. God therefore threatens further
Affections, because of the hardness of their
hearts and then-for such always is the Di-
vine lenity-as it were, giving them another
opportunity and alternative, he commands them
TO seek after God to look for A BETTER WAY
10 stand and search for the old way, the right
way, and to walk in it
i need not stop to point out the remarkable
pertinence which these things have, in many
respects, to our nation in the past, and to our
times in the present. l avail myself, this even
ing, after 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 a mill
tary base, without supplies, without artillery
without organization more than a squad of mi
htia, attacked a State, and undertook to release
and lead away an enslaved race They do not
appear TO have been called by the sufferers, nor
TO have been welcomed by them. They volun-
teered grace, and sought to enforce its ac-
eeptance. Seventeen white men surrounded
two thousand, and held them in duress. They
barricaded themselves, and waited until the
troops Of two States, the employees of a great
railway, and portion Of the forces Of the Fed
eral Government, could, travelling briskly
night and day, reach them. Then, at one dash,
they were snuffed out
/ do not wonder that Virginians feel great
deal Of modification! Everybody is sympa-
thetically ashamed for them! 1t is quite nat
ural that every effort should be made to enlarge
the proportions Of this escapade, that they may
hide their weakness and incompetency behind
n smartly uptown horror No one doubts the
bravery Of Virginians. it needs no praising.
But even brave men have panics. Courage Is
sometimes caught at unawares. Certainly it
strikes us, at a distance, as a remarkable thing
that prisoners, three to one more than their
captors, and two thousand citizens, should have
remained days and nights under the fear and
control of seventeen white men, Northern
courage has been at discount in the South
hitherto. 1t ought hereafter to rise in value,
at least in Virginia
The diligence which is now shown, on the
part Of many public presses, to inhame the
public mind, aud infect it with fear, is quite
foolish. The incubation will not take. The
North may not be courageous, but it certainly
is not silly. There is an element of the ludi.
in this transaction, which, think, will ef-
fectually stop all panic.
Seventeen men terrified two thousand brave
Yirginians into two days submission-that can
not be got over! The common sense of com
mon people viii not fail to see through all at
Temps to hide natural shame by bungling
make believe that the danger was really greater
than it wasi The danger was nothing-and
the fear very great, and courage none at all.
And nothing can now change the facts All
the newspapers on earth will not make this
case appear any better. Do what you please
muster a crowd of supposed confederates, call
the roll of conspirators, and include the noblest
men of these States, and exhibit this imaginary
army before the people, aud, in the end, it will
appear that seventeen white men overawed
town of two thousand brave Yirginians and
held them captives until the sun had gone
laughing twice around the giobe
And the attemptto hide the fear Of these sur
rounded men by awaking a larger fear, will
never do. 1t is too literal fulflment, not ex-
actiy of prophecy, but Of fable; not of Isaiah,
bat EsOp.
A fox having been caught in a trap, escaped
with the loss of his tail. He Immediately went
to his brother foxes to persuade thea that they
would all look better if they, too, would cut off
their caudal appendages. They declined. And
our two thousand friends, who lost their cour-
age in the presence of seventeen men, are now
making an appeal TO this nation to lose its
courage too; that the coWardice of the few NAV
be hidden in the cowardice Of the whole com
munity 1t is impossible. We choose to wear
our courage for some time longerl
As I shall not recur to this epic in Virginia
history again tonight, must say a word in re-
spect to the head and heart of it. For it all
stood in the courage of one man.
An old man, kind at heart, industrious. peace
ful, went forth, with large family of children,
to seek 3 new, home in Kansas. That infant
colony held thousands of souls as noble rs Lib
erty ever inspired or Religion enriched. 4 great
ScOwling slave State, its nearest neighbor,
sought to tread down this iiberty-loving colony,
and to dragon Slavery into ii By force of arms.
The armed citizens of another State crossed
the State lines, destroyed the freedom of the
ballot box, prevented a fair expression of pub
lie sentiment, corupty usurped law-making
power, and ordained by fraud laws as infamous
as the sun ever saw, assaulted its infant settle
ments with armed hordes, ravaged the fields,
destroyed harvests and herds, and carried death
TO q multitude of cabins. The United States
Government had no marines for this occasion
No Federal troops were posted By cars night
and day for the poor, the weak, the grossly
wronged men in Kansas. There was an army
there that unfurled the banner of the Union,
but Il was on the side of the wrong-doers, not
on the side of the injured.
1t was IN this field that Brown received his
impulse. a tender father whose life was in
his sons life, he saw his frst.born seized like q
felon, chained, driven across the country. Graz
ed by suffering and beat, beaten by the office,
in charge, like dog and long lying at deaths
door. Another noble boy, without warning
without offence, unarned, IN open day, in the
midst OF the city, was shot dead No Justice
sought out the murderer. No United State,
attorney was dispatched in hot haste. No ma
rines or soldiers aided the wronged and weak
Tho shot that Struck the child'S hoo. - :