Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-10-17
JOHN BROWN.
The $50 Anniversary Of HE Raid Commea
Grated In the Colored Churches.


At the request Of the John Brown Monument
Association many Of the pastors Of tho colored
churches of the city made John Brown and his
life the subject Of their remarks yesterday
the day being the thirty third anniversary Of
his raid. Tho Asbury NJ. Z. Church, 18th and
streets northwest, was filled yesterday morn
ing in anticipation of the Rev. J. ". E. Bowen 8
remarks. He stated that owing to other en-
gagements he would not be able to make ex-
tended an address rs he had hoped. Later he
would do SO. He announced as his text the
Third Philippians, 18th, 14th and 18th verses.
The importance of singleness Of purpose,
said the speaker, was the thought he desired to
impress upon his hearers. That the lesson
the life and death Of John Brown taught. No
man possessing judicial mind was fit to BIO a
great reformer. The reformers, the great
movers for good in the history Of the world,
were men Of singleness of purpose, men who,
In the advocacy Of their purpose and in the fur
therance OF their cause, lost sight of the conse-
quences to themselves. Such men have but one
idea. 1t saturates their being and controls their
every movement So filled and moved was
John Brown on that October day just thirty
three years ago He could have escaped, but
he did not care to do so. He could not in the
same sense that Christ could not escape the
cross. Each we're born to their work. 1t may
sion Of John Brown the night of October l6,
1859, in that little fort at Harpers Ferry. But
he believed in the case which filled him and
he died upon the scaffold without q CULVER
for it.
SLAVERY WAS WRONG.
The speaker referred to the fact that John
Brown had been called a fanatic, bigot and
crank, and, in fact, everything that would make
his name odious. But whatever he was. he
knew that slavery was wrong and he set out to
do all in his power to break it down. 1t some
times happens that God moves through one
man and SO it that He selected old John
Brown. The tragedy Of October 16, 1859.
began to open the ewes of the country to the
horrors Of slavery, the pot began to boil and
the people soon saw that the nation must do
something. Yet God was leading, God was
managing.
To be moved by a grand sentiment-by prin-
ciple-was the sign OF divinity, the highest
power In the world. Leaders must die, and
whoever dies for principle attains in the hearts
Of the people the soul of that principle. God
has written on the walls of time that man shall
be free, and that principle-the one John
Brown died for-has become part of every
people. Today, from north to south. east to
west. the refrain, John Browns body lies
a-moldering in his grave, but his soul goes
marching on" is sung. Yet the saving Of the
country is but half DONE The great struggle
for freedom, the freedom to be a man. to be q
great man, the freedom to be protected Is but
half done. The work will be completed in
time. and it will be finished through the press
and in our homes and churches. The colored
race should never forget the memory of John
Brown, and they should see that his work is
commemorated in a suitable monument here at
the nations capital.
Among those who listened to the Rev. Mr..
Bowens brief remarks was the venerable
Fredk. Douglass.