her. Of course they [the latter] were exceedingly important as
a part of the history of the "Jefferson-Lemen Anti-Slavery Pact,"
under which your father, Rev. James Lemen, Sr., as Jefferson's
anti-slavery agent in Illinois, founded his anti-slavery churches,
among which was the present Bethel church, which set in motion the
forces which finally made Illinois a free state, all of which was
splendid; but Lovejoy's tragic death for freedom in every sense marked
his sad ending as the most important single event that ever happened
in the new world.

Both your father and Lovejoy were pioneer leaders in the cause of
freedom, and it has always been difficult for me to see why your
father, who was a resolute, uncompromising, and aggressive leader, who
boldly proclaimed his purpose to make both the territory and the state
free, never aroused nor encountered any of that mob violence which
both in St. {p.51} Louis and Alton confronted or pursued Lovejoy, and
which finally doomed him to a felon's death and a martyr's crown.
Perhaps the two cases are a little parallel with those of John and
Peter. John was bold and fearless at the scene of the Crucifixion,
standing near the cross receiving the Savior's request to care for his
mother, but was not annoyed; while Peter, whose disposition to shrink
from public view, seemed to catch the attention of members of the mob
on every hand, until finally to throw public attention off, he denied
his master with an oath; though later the grand old apostle redeemed
himself grandly, and like Lovejoy, died a martyr to his faith. Of
course, there was no similarity between Peter's treachery at the
Temple and Lovejoy's splendid courage when the pitiless mob were
closing around him. But in the cases of the two apostles at the scene
mentioned, John was more prominent or loyal in his presence and
attention to the Great Master than Peter was, but the latter seemed to
catch the attention of the mob; and as Lovejoy, one of the most
inoffensive of men, for merely printing a small paper, devoted to the
freedom of the body and mind of man, was pursued to his death; while
his older comrade in the cause of freedom, Rev. James Lemen, Sr., who
boldly and aggressively proclaimed his purpose to make both the
territory and the state free, was never molested a moment by the
minions of violence. The madness and pitiless determination with which
the mob steadily pursued Lovejoy to his doom, marks it as one of the
most unr