The Washington bee., 1898-12-17
REV. GRIMKE'S SERMON.

ED THE HEARTS OF THE PEOPLE
SELF-APPoINTED WHITE MASTERS.
THROUGH THE DARKEST CLIO I'd
THERE is A SILVER LINING-FRED-
ERICK DOUGLASS MEMORY APPLAUD
ED.
PSALM 27-I4
Wait ont he Lord, be of good courage
and he shall strengthen thine heart" :"
1t was not until John Brown struck
| the blow at Harper's Ferry that
| the nation was aroused to a true
sense of the nature of the cancer that
was gnawlng at its vitalS. 1t was the
| blow at Harper's Ferry that stirred
| the nation from its sleep as nothing
else had done. Brown vas hung, ii is
| true, but the glorious cause Tor which
| he struck went marching on. Won
| Hoist, In the seventh volume of his
| history of the United States, In speak
ing of the Harper's Ferry episode,
says, "By means of that SCaffold, the
first erected in the United States, for
| traitor, and indeed for a political
criminal, the words, "He that is not
| for me IS against me, and he that is
! not against me, is for me-" grew to
the fulnesS of truth. Precisely be-
| cause 1t was conceded, almost with
out contradiction, that the legal ex-
| iStence of slavery had made Browns
| execution a necessity, people could
not help having universally, certain
| feeling of responsibility for it, since
| not the South alone, bur the entire
| people, bore before God and man the
| responsibility for the legal existence
of sIavary. Hence, if not loudly. at
| least irrspreSSibly, the voice of con-
science, in numberleSS breasts, de-
| manded an answer to the question.
| whether that sCaffold was a tree of
! malediCtiOn and ignominy for the man
| who had to breathe his life out upon
| it, or rather for the people who were
| compelled by their institutions to
erect 1t. Browns conduct from the
| moment of his arrest until his latest
breath, lrreSiStibly forced new null
| tltudes, every day, to ask themselves
| this question, with the honesty and
| earnestneSS which its dreadful impor-
| tanCe demanded, and the number of
| those from whom 1t WreSted the right
| answer, and who had the courage pub
Il
| greater proportions. COntlnulng, he
| says, The attack he and his twenty
| men made on slavery with powder
and lead, was sublime piece of fol-
ly." Considered i'll its physical as
| poets, it was sublime piece of folly,
| but was it in vain? That it was not, is
evident from Van Holst's own words,
| for he goes on TO say, The fear with
| which his lawless violence had iu-
| spired the South was grOundleSS, but
| the slaveocraCy had no arms, offensive
or defensive, against John Brown
overpowered, mortally wounded and
| hang I'd. Even in his boldest dreams
| he had never ventured to hope that he
| would be able to deal slavery a blow
of such destructive force as he had
| now dealt it. by his suffering and his
DEATH" And SO, before this question
is settled, it may be necessary to star
tie the nation again by some terrible
tragedy, from its sleep of indifference
to the increasing disregard ofthe rights
of the negro by the same power that
held him down before, and again
which John Brown leveled his blow
Do not misunderstood me. am not
counSeling violence: | am not saying
that it is a wise thing for the negro to
resort to violence, but am not saving
| that sometimes violence is the means
| which God uses to arouse the sleeping
conscience, and pierce the rhinoceros
| hide of Indifference. l trust that 1t
| may not be necessary, but if il must
! come, then / for one say let it come.
And the sooner ii comes The better
The negro will not be responsible rs
it What Lowell says of the oppressed
millions of France will be equally true
of him,
"They did as were taught; not theirs
the blame,
If fmen who scattered hrebrands reaped
the flame"
There is in this same wonderful
poem a lesson, which it would be we'll
| for these white Southern bulIics and
negro haters, whose highest ambition
is to put their heels on the neck Of
the negro, to note and carefully con-
slider. 1t is contained in the first
Stanza:-
As, fake by fake, the beetling ava
lanches
Build up their iminent crags Of
Till some chance thrill the loosened
ruin launches
And the blind havoc leaps un-
warned below,
So grew and gathered through the
silent years
The madness of a people. wrong
by wrong.
There seemed no strength in the dumb
toilers tears,
No strength in suffering; but the
Past was strong:
, The brute despair of trampled CEN
turies
Leaped up with one hoarse yell
and snapped its bands;
CROPPED for its rights with ,horney,
CallOuS hands 3.
And stared around for God with
bloodshot eyes.
What wonder if those palms were Ill
too hard
For nice distinctions, If that
madened throng-
They whose thick atmosphere no
bard
Had shivered with the lightning
of his song,
Brutes with the memories and desires
of men,
Whose chronicles were writ with