Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1861-12-17

uV6rdnco OF JOuu buAb tuht ne was easily
identified, and was made the FIRST target for
the shafts of official persecution. Though
be had gone with q multitude to Yelling
ton, yet be had q ~pre-eminence over them
And though he was e~ncompsssed with .
score Of fellow cuIprits at Cleveland, be was
there singled out 70 stand his trial alone
Thus he was placed in " the head and front
ofthat offending" as If he were 3 sinner
above all others. This separation from his
companions was 3 severe trial to his feeble
health, and wore upon him in spite Of his
energy of spirits. And when still further
detached from his brethren, by the sentence
that committed him in advance 10 the jail,
and especially when shut up in the Custom
House, under apprehension Of being spirited
off to some distant dungeon, all his equan-
unity and resoluteness could not fOrtify him
against the shock this gave his delicate frame.
| His countenance bore the traces Of serious
and fatal injury. That was his death blow.
His ~unconquersble spirit bore up under the
stroke, but his poor body was shattered
Then began the death which has just been
contaminated in q stream of blood. Am l
not right in calling our brother q msrtyrP-
So, I doubt not, the Lord esteems him; and 80
the Hosts of Heaven call him, in their greet
inRs. BE wears the martyrs croWnl
The life Of the gentle Simeon had q pur-
pose in it which eliminated at Wellington
and Cleveland. DR.. Bushnell has said that
"Every mans life is 8 plan Of God" We
believe this. Every mans life has a divine
project in II; but every man is net a pTojec-
die. All have missions, but all are not
missiles. Some persons are taken, as it were,
and hurled By the iOrce of the Almighty arm
against the strong walls of fortified wrong.
/ John Baptist was hurled against the en-
throned incest Of Hero. John the Evauge-
LIST was never so used. There Is this broad
difference among the Lords servants. Now
this hurting ofmen, as battering rams, makes
crushing work with their bones. This
threshing Of mountains with q man is likely
to kill the man, but it skaters the
mountains, for God is the smiter. Our
brother, in his meekness and in-the might
of his concentrated willingness, was hurled
against the slave power of Wellington; and
was used to thresh the Federal ~corruptions
mountainous at Cleveland. But it sorely
crippled himl he was good for little alter
wards. His work was done thenI That was
his business here; the business his Father set
him to do. ALI his early trials, all his quiet
force, all his amiableness, his singleness of
eye, his uRqEsstioning fidelity to duty, his
earlessness of danger; this was his training
for the one daring deed
Il seemed, however, an unfit task for one Of
his fine texture. II seemed to require a
rougher nature, to demand a brow of brass,
q neck Of steel, an arm of iron, a breast of
flint. But he was Gods choice. / wonder
ed much at the apparent incompatibility
when I heard that Simeon Bushnell bore
MN SET Tf0r WSr h1A Is
bear the brunt of the prosecution, and to re-
ceiTe into his bosom the full charge of the
judicial battery, wondered much. Thought
there we're sturdier men, Of holder sntece-
dents, litter for such 'tressons, strataeems
and spoils," as those at Wellington, and for
a single handed conflict with the powers at
Cleveland. But he was Gods instrument,
among all the men in Oberlin and in Well
ingtoni And this was Simeon BushnelPs
peculiar province, this perilous part was as
signed to him, to be caught of God and
hurled at the bastile Of Slavery, with demol-
ishing force, demolishing both ways. He
wal then Gods martyr, as well as mans.
There Is no service, perhaps, that mau Is
called to render which is so little understood.
even among the Lords servants, as this special
sort of being made q missile, a ball, a burst
ing shell thrown from Gods mortar into the
devils Publications. We shall perhaps know
more Of this hereafter as the present war Is
suggesting some new ideas in this direction.
We have been too conservative of life and
limb. We have judged it species of madness
for a good ma to dash his head against q
wall of adsment.
"Al the world wondered" that John
Brown should throw away his life at Har-
pers Ferry. But the world then sat in
Judgment against God, who hurled his own
thunder bolt against that stronghold, and in.
augurated the war. The first shot was not
bred at Fort Sumter. Heaven took the in
itiative at the Arsenal. Or was there not a
staggering blow struck before that even-at
Wellington Simeon Bushnell was hurled
before John Brown. Humanly viewed, there 1
was just as much c~rsziness at Wellington as
at the Ferry; for the same froWning, Federal, |
Pro-slaEery Power Wassmitten at both places.
and smote back; and suffering and death fol-
lowed both assaults,
When viii vain msn cease to Judge the
Lords servants, and to deny his methods ?
Men sre still like PerUrse children blazing IN
the market places. In one breath they utter
their establishment at the apathy of free
people over the outrages of oppresson; in the
next they cry out MAD MAN 2 when some ear
nest sou, burning with Heavens hatred of
slavery dies like a bolt from Heavens battle
mens against the monsters front.
But "wisdom is justified Of hsf Children
Next IS being found fighting against God is
this act Of withstanding those whom he
in the hottest Of the fight. II we are
not found worthy or ft for this special ser.
nee let rs be content to be employed in
spheres and leave t3e Master to
moose and let fly his own projectiles.
Simon Bnshel has gone to Join the band
u martyrs; and "his souls marching on"
lis soul that smiled through dungeon bars.
md throughout prosecution, persecution,
md prostrahon, to the last rose above tribu-
alton, and never sunk, never faltered. now
'oes freely over the land crying: HTo the
escuel To the rescueP
His death has given Us the proper stand
'oint rom which to view his acts and his
in the Rescue Case. What an
moalmment q good mans deeds gain after
Is deeease. There were scenes Of violence.
features ofrudeneSs and passion connect
d with that nocturnal affair at Wellington ; ;
here were rePulsive circumstances about the
at Cleveland; and things revolving 4
bout the prOtracted imprisonment but now {
be transaction as q whole has been trans.
gure1 and wears an aspect of glory. Il has
lken, BY translation, its pre-. destined place
nong the brightest deeds of the past. As @
imeon, the aged Jew, lived to clasp the child
esus in bis arms, and all HE long life cen :
red in that momentary act and testimony,
the Simeon of our day lived unto this end, y
he might throw his arms about John, 4
lie seized negro, and bear him to g place of
liety. Then his eyes had seen salvation, 9.
le salvation OF one prophetic of all the en- n
aved, and he was ready to depart in peace. b
Q has departed emphstically IL peace, and >
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