The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1860-01-11
McGREGOR, IOWA, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY IL, 1860.
MISCELLANEOUS.

MlSCELLANE EOUS.
The Rev. DR.. Dewey on John Brown.
A late Sabbath, in the Summer-street
Church, Boston, the pastor, Rev. DR.. Dew
ey, delivered discourse on the text, HE
shall not strive nor cry; bruised reed
shall he not break, and smoking fax shall
he not quench," and in the course of his
sermon remarked upon John Brown and
h,s sympathisers, as follows:
"A grave question has been presented to
us during the past week, which must be
brought to the same test and tribunal of
Christian law-the highest law we know.
A band of men went down from the North,
by force and arms to carry off a body of
slaves from the State of Virginia. They
were apprehended and tried, and their leader
has been executed. A public expression of
our sympathy for him Is demanded by some
of our fellow-citizens, and some even of our
clergy at the North. say public express
sion; and such an expression Of sympathy
means sympathy with his enterprise What
ever private reserves any may make in
their own minds, it cannot, in the circum-
stances, mean anything else. Certainly it
can mean nothing else to the people of the
South.
There is many man, every year, who
suffers the death penalty; there are fami-
lies whom every public execution involves
in great distress. It is not for John Brown
as rictim Of tie la,o, that our pity is in
voked and our help for his family; but for
him as man who attempted to produce a
slave insurrection in Virginia. For the At
tempt to carry off hundreds Of slaves and
the collecting Of arms to put into their
hands, can bear no other construction. It
was mot the secrect carrying off . few
slaves that was proposed, but it was .
bloody fght-and armed slaves to take part
in it.
Now give me moments candid hearing,
if I speak to any that differ from me in re-
gard to what this case demands of US.
agree with you in much; and let the system
Of slavery be ever so wrong-ever so much
at variance with all natural justice. Iagree
with you that it is wrong. I agree with
you that it is most fearful and threaten
ing calamity to this country. trust and
believe with you, that in some way there
is to be deliverance from it. But is tAi.
the way-by stirring up and arming the
slaves against their mastersf Do you con.
slider what slave insurrection ito car
ry fire and slaughter, rapine and murder
horrors worse, if possible, than those Of the
Sepoy rebellion, all over the Southern coun-
try, If you do consider it, and If you de-
liberately say that you desire to zee . slave
insurection, then you may consistently
gather meetings in the North to express
sympathy with John Brown. If you do
not, then surely every public, patriotic,
brotherly, humane Christian consideration
forbids it to be done.
But may not one sympathize with John
Brown-honor him in that he periled his
life for his convictions-call him hero and
a saint-express sorrow for his fate, and
feel and say that the gallows should neve,
have been the doom of such man, cithou,
approving of his actions? I answer not
in the present circumstances, by public
meetings. Imust confess, indeed, that de-
not very well understand this separation o.
the actor from the act but what private
thoughts Of the matter man may have,
do not now consider. This is what say
that to call public meetings to express sym
pathy for him under the present circum
stances, is to hold up a placard to the South
and to all the world, that says, 1--WE approx.
Of his undertaking" And every public
meeting so held, takes the responsibility o
producing another John Brown.
Are we prepared for this? This very
enterprise with the wide agitation it ha.
aroused-I now say still likely-but it il
liable, to bring down other assailants o
the same character upon the South. d.
we wish to see John Browns going down Il
the South for such purposes But know
not what could afford greater encourage
ment to them, than these public meetings
No, we must distinguish here, and mus
say, that, however much he may dislike tn
system Of slavery, we should look with in
expressible horror upon . slave insurrec
ton, and upon any man that would opel
the door to such ineffable miseries. Thi
must be the prevailing sentiment of tn,
North, and it should be uttered in unmis
taxable tones, by the press, in the pulpit
and, If neu-ssary, IN public meetings con
vened for the purpose" f7-"a"
sMystea i0us Power"
CHRISTIANITY, like child, goes wander
ing over the world. Fearless in its limo
cence, it is not abashed before princes, no
confounded before synods. Before it tn
blood-stained warrior sheathes his sword
and plucks the laurel from his brow, IN.
the midnight murderer turns from his pur
pose, and like the heart-smitten disiple, ,goe