not sure

The John Brown story this morning, and its song, which I remember from childhood, stir awareness of Moral Certitude as the most dangerous of selfish, evil sins. Someone said that most to be feared is a Christian rising from his knees determined to go forth and carry out the will of God.

So entrenched are we in our certainties that we cannot see ourselves for what we are. We were certain that slavery was right. We were certain that racial segregation was right. We were certain that homosexuality was evil. We were certain that interracial marriage was an abomination - - in my day in my South for a black boy to date, or even flirt with, a white girl would have been cause to gather a lynching party. We are certain that abortion is wrong v. we are certain that for government to tell women that they cannot make their own decisions about their own bodies is wrong. We are certain that ours is True Religion. In a nation of immigrants that include our own forebears, we are certain that immigrants are the enemy. Yesterday I read an incredible, horrifyingly certitudinous, distressingly shameful condemnation of FEMA, a federal agency of people whose mission is to help people in emergency situations, who indeed helped us after Hurricane Michael. We are certain in our hatred of Trumpers/Libtards (choose one). We are certain that Israel is right/wrong, we are certain that Palestinians are right/wrong. I am certain that war in Ukraine could have been avoided by common sense instead of arrogant pride. We are certain that we are right, we are certain, we are certain, we are absolutely certain.

Certainties are difficult to confront: eighty years on I still work to overcome certainties and hatreds formed when I was a child during World War Two, and since then. I am horrified at my own certainties. I am certain that Holocaust Denial should be a capital crime. I am certain that all government is always, all ways, all bad. I am certain that carrying a Confederate battle flag into the US Capitol during a riot should be a capital crime, as should be any display of the flag of the Third Reich in America. I am certain of my certainties that are polar opposite to the certainties of half the American public. I am certain that my certainties are problematic on every possible level. I try to face and deal with my, often conflicting, certainties, certain that life will run out before I overcome even the least of them. Life is a struggle against oneself.

John Brown: Certainty run amok against Certainty. You cannot just rise in righteous certainty and go forth to kill people; but it is certain that such is our human nature.

Genesis 6:5&6

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To post or not to post?

Abolitionist John Brown leads a small group on a raid against a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), in an attempt to start an armed revolt of enslaved people and destroy the institution of slavery.

Born in Connecticut in 1800 and raised in Ohio, Brown came from a staunchly Calvinist and antislavery family. He spent much of his life failing at a variety of businesses—he declared bankruptcy at age 42 and had more than 20 lawsuits filed against him. In 1837, his life changed irrevocably when he attended an abolition meeting in Cleveland, during which he was so moved that he publicly announced his dedication to destroying the institution of slavery. As early as 1848 he was formulating a plan to incite an insurrection.

In the 1850s, Brown traveled to Kansas with five of his sons to fight against the proslavery forces in the contest over that territory. On May 21, 1856, proslavery men raided the abolitionist town of Lawrence, and Brown personally sought revenge. On May 25, Brown and his sons attacked three cabins along Pottawatomie Creek. They killed five men with broad swords and triggered a summer of guerrilla warfare in the troubled territory. One of Brown’s sons was killed in the fighting.

By 1857, Brown returned to the East and began raising money to carry out his vision of a mass uprising of enslaved people. He secured the backing of six prominent abolitionists, known as the “Secret Six,” and assembled an invasion force. His “army” grew to include 22 men, including five Black men and three of Brown’s sons. The group rented a Maryland farm near Harpers Ferry and prepared for the assault.

On the night of October 16, 1859, Brown and his band overran the arsenal. Some of his men rounded up a handful of hostages, including a few enslaved people. Word of the raid spread, and by morning Brown and his men were surrounded. A company of U.S. marines arrived on October 17, led by Colonel Robert E. Lee and Lieutenant J. E. B. Stuart. On the morning of October 19, the soldiers overran Brown and his followers. Ten of his men were killed, including two of his sons.

The wounded Brown was tried by the state of Virginia for treason and murder, and he was found guilty on November 2. The 59-year-old abolitionist went to the gallows on December 2, 1859. Before his execution, he handed his guard a slip of paper that read, “I, John Brown, am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood.” It was a prophetic statement. Although the raid failed, it inflamed sectional tensions and raised the stakes for the 1860 presidential election. Brown’s raid helped make any further accommodation between North and South nearly impossible and thus became an important impetus of the Civil War.

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John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave,

But his soul goes marching on.

Chorus:

Glory, glory, hallelujah, /|

Glory, glory, hallelujah,

His soul goes marching on.

He's gone to be a soldier in the Army of the Lord,

His soul goes marching on.

Chorus:

John Brown's knapsack is strapped upon his back,

His soul goes marching on.

Chorus:

John Brown died that the slaves might be free,

His soul goes marching on.

Chorus:

The stars above in Heaven now are looking kindly down,

His soul goes marching on.

Chorus:

Written: 1861 (The song originated with soldiers of the Massachusetts 12th Regiment and soon spread to become the most popular anthem of Union soldiers during the Civil War. Many versions of the song exist. One particularly well written version came from William W. Patton, and is reproduced below. The Brown tune inspired Julia Ward Howe, after she heard troops sing the song while parading near Washington, to write her lyrics for the same melody, "The Battle Hymm of the Republic." Lyrics to Howe's moving lyrics are also posted below.)

History of the Song

John Brown by William W. Patton

Old John Brown’s body lies moldering in the grave,

While weep the sons of bondage whom he ventured all to save;

But tho he lost his life while struggling for the slave,

His soul is marching on.

John Brown was a hero, undaunted, true and brave,

And Kansas knows his valor when he fought her rights to save;

Now, tho the grass grows green above his grave,

His soul is marching on.

He captured Harper’s Ferry, with his nineteen men so few,

And frightened "Old Virginny" till she trembled thru and thru;

They hung him for a traitor, themselves the traitor crew,

But his soul is marching on.

John Brown was John the Baptist of the Christ we are to see,

Christ who of the bondmen shall the Liberator be,

And soon thruout the Sunny South the slaves shall all be free,

For his soul is marching on.

The conflict that he heralded he looks from heaven to view,

On the army of the Union with its flag red, white and blue.

And heaven shall ring with anthems o’er the deed they mean to do,

For his soul is marching on.

Ye soldiers of Freedom, then strike, while strike ye may,

The death blow of oppression in a better time and way,

For the dawn of old John Brown has brightened into day,

And his soul is marching on.