[NYer]

The Rev. George W. Rutler is the pastor of the Church of our Saviour in New York City. His latest book, A Crisis of Saints: The Call to Heroic Faith in an Unheroic World, 2nd edition, is available from the Crossroad Publishing Company.

If you are ever in NYC, definitely stop by this magnificent church. It is an absolute gem!

[iowamark]

Brown assumed to himself the powers of God, the right to dispense life and death. How many others have done the same!

[OneWingedShark]

I’m not sure I agree, perhaps more with the way things are presented here than anything else.

[Sherman Logan]

The "inventor of American terrorism" was John Brown, whose body "lies a-mouldering in the grave." A more prudent abolitionist, Julia Ward Howe, transposed the lyrics of the old song

Quite oddly, this is not completely accurate.

The John Brown originally referenced in the lyrics was not necessarily the John Brown of Harper's Ferry. Several of the authorship stories reference other John Browns.

In any case, the lyrics are (were) not old at all, but were definitely of the Civil War era.

The tune was probably at least several decades old by the WBTS.