Page:John Brown (1899).pdf/64

 fully aroused. He told these negroes, in a manuscript document still extant, that they were fully justified in reisisting any law which tried to send them back into slavery. His pronunciamento is a strange mixture of the principles of the Carbonari and Ravachol and the language of the Hebrew Scriptures. The reference to Mount Oilead and the suggestion for the name of the society are from his own great Bible story of Oideon:—

"Should one of your number be arrested, you must collect together as quickly as possible so as to outnumber your adversaries who are taking an active part against you. Let no able-bodied man appear on the ground unequipped or with his weapons exposed to view. . . . Your plans must be known only to yourself, and with the understanding that all traitors must die whereeverwherever [sic] caught and proven to be guilty. 'Whosoever is fearful or afraid, let