166 The Day of Judgment. And when the dark and silent grave And the stern master and his slave Couldst thou bewraie thy Birthright soe Sithence to this thou wilt not bend. Couldst thou spurn Vertue meanly clad, Sithence thou canst not will it soe, If Head with Hearte could so accord, In bond of perfyte Amitie, That Falsehood raigned in Thoughte, Deed, Word This Worldes for the Thee. But scorning guile, Truth-plighted one! Thy race is run. Couldst thou laughe loude, when grieved hearts weep, And Fiendlyke probe theire Agonye, Rich harvest here thou soon wouldst reape This Worldes for Thee; But with the Weeper thou must weepe. And sad watch keep. The Day of Judgment. Each bursting sigh, each bitter tear, Each bosom's tortured beat, Shall then in black array appear Before the judgment seat. Couldst thou smyle swete when Wrong hath wrung And by the rootes pluck out the tongue That dare be lowde In Righteous cause, whate'er may be- This canst thou not! Then fluttering thing Sweep towards heaven with tireless wing- Feare not the crashing of Lyfe's Tree- 167 Lord Deliver. XCIII. E. L. FOLLEN. LORD deliver! thou canst save, That captive's prayer—may it fill While he pleads to God on high. He whose ear is every where, Who doth silent sorrow see, From the tyranny within, Save thy children, Lord, we pray; Chains of iron, chains of sin Let them all be cast away. Freedom. Love to man, and love to God, These must all our weapons be; These can break the oppressor's rod, These will set the captive free. 169 Freedom. XCIV. EDWARD LYTTON BULWER. Oh, Freedom! with prophet's voice, Through the cell where the captive pines- And tell to the nations round On the hills which the heroes trod,- That the day of the scourge and the fetter is o'er, And earth feels the tread of the Freeman once more ! Speaking the Truth in Love. XOV.* EQUIP me for the war, And teach my hands to fight; Control my every thought; From the Letter of Angelina Grimke. How earnestly have I desired, not that we may escape suffering, but that we may be willing to endure unto the end. If we call upon the slaveholder to suffer the loss of what he calls property, then let us show him we make this demand from a deep sense of duty, by being ourselves willing to suffer the loss of character, property-yea, and life itself, in what we believe to be the cause of bleeding humanity. My mind has especially turned towards those, who are standing in the forefront of the battle; and the prayer has gone up for their preservation-not the preservation of their lives, but the preservation of their minds in humility and patience, faith, hope, and charity-that charity which is the bond of perfectness. At one time, I thought this system would be overthrown in blood, with the confused noise of the warrior; but a hope gleams across my mind, that our blood will be spilt, instead of the slaveholders; our lives will be taken, and theirs spared. Who that stands between the porch and the altar, weeping over the sins of the people, will not be willing to suffer, if such immense good will be accomplished.' |