4 And ye who are like cattle sold, Ignobly trodden like the earth, And barter'd constantly for gold
Your souls debas'd from their high birth5 Bear meekly still your cruel woes, Light follows darkness-comfort, pain; So time shall give you sweet repose, And sever ev'ry hateful chain.
LIFT up our country's banner high,
And fling abroad its gorgeous sheen,
Unrol its stripes upon the sky,
And let its lovely stars be seen!
Blood-blood is on its spangled fold!
Yet from the battle comes it not;
But all the waters oceans hold
Cannot wash out the guilty spot.
2 Up, freemen! up; determine, do
What Justice claims, what freemen may; What frowning heaven demands of you, While yet its mutt'ring thunders stay :That ye, forever from this soil
Bid SLAVERY's with'ring blight depart, And to the wretch restore the spoil, Though ye cannot the broken heart. 3 Lift up your brother from the dust, And speak his long crush'd spirit FREE! That millions by your av'rice curst, May sharers in your blessings be: Then to the universe wide spread Your glorious stars without a stain: Bend from your skies, illustrious dead! The land ye won is free again.
HARK-hark the voice of anguish,
Borne over Freedom's plains;
A groan from those who languish
In slavery and in chains!
"Tis wafted o'er the mountains,
From Camden's sacred field,
From Eutaw's hallow'd fountains,
Where patriot blood was spill'd!
2 Hark-hark the clank of fetters,
From shady grove and dell,
A shriek, where Freedom's martyrs
In glorious combat fell!
What! stripes and chains and fetters,
In Freedom's boasted land,
Where Liberty's proud altars,
And tow'ring temples stand?
3 Is this the Home of freedom,
Of truth and holy light?
Where millions grope in thraldom,
Depriv'd of ev'ry right!—
A refuge from oppression
For Europe's sons to share;
While for a dark complexion
Her own the chain must wear?
4 Say is that voice of wailing—
That undissembled cry-
That tale the slave is telling-
Not worth a single sigh?
And shall their many sorrows
Be heard by us in vain?
No-no-we'll end their horrors,
We'll break off ev'ry chain.
HYMN 619. C. M.
The little slave's complaint.
WHO loves the little slave, or cares
If well or ill I be?
Is there a living soul that shares
A thought or wish for me?
2 I've had no parents since my birth,
Brothers and sisters-none!
Oh! what is all this world to me
When I am only one?
3 I wake, and see the sun arise,
And all around me gay;
But nothing I behold is mine,
No-not the light of day!
4 No-not the very breath I draw,
These limbs are not my own;
A master calls me his by law,
My griefs are mine alone.
5 "Tis not for wealth or ease I sigh,
But few are rich and great;
Many may be as poor as I,
But none so desolate.
6 But let them do the worst they can,
I may be happy still;
For I was born to be a man,
And, with God's leave, I will.
HYMN 620. C. M.
UNSHELTER'D from the burning rays,
The panting bondman lies,
Toil and the scourge cut short his days,
He sinks-he faints--he dies!
2 No Wife's no Mother's hand is there,
To close his failing eyes;
Unsooth'd by Friendship's tender care,
The wretched bondman dies!
3 He dies-not by the single hand,
That gave the mortal blow-
His blood is on the guilty band,
Who reckless bade it flow.
4 Ye Masters! rise, and purge the stain, A freeman's rights bestow;
Else God will burst the bondman's chain,
And fill yourselves with woe.
HYMN 621. L. M.
The Golden Rule.
BLESSED Redeemer! how divine,
How righteous is this rule of thine,
"To do to all men just the same,
As we expect or wish from them."
2 This golden lesson, short and plain,
Gives not the mind or mem'ry pain;
And ev'ry conscience must approve
This universal law of love.
3 How blest would every nation be,
Thus rul'd by love and equity!
All would be friends without a foe,
And form a paradise below.
4 Jesus! forgive us, that we keep
Thy sacred law of love asleep ;
No more let envy, wrath, and pride,
But thy blest maxims be our guide.
The Plagues of Egypt.-Psalm 105.
WHEN Pharaoh dar'd to vex the saints,
And thus provok'd their God,
Moses was sent at their complaints,
Arm'd with his dreadful rod.
2 He call'd for darkness-darkness came,
Like an o'erwhelming flood;
He made each lake, and ev'ry stream,
A lake, a stream of blood.
3 He gave the sign-and noisome flies
Through the whole country spread,
And frogs in croaking armies rise
About the monarch's bed.csson A.
4 Through fields, and towns, and palaces,
The ten-fold vengeance flew:
Locusts in swarms devour'd their trees,
And hail their cattle slew.
5 Then, by an angel's midnight stroke,
The flow'r of Egypt died;
The strength of ev'ry house was broke,
Their glory and their pride.
6 Ye modern Pharaoh's! God commandsLet all my people go!
Break off their chains, unbind their hands, Or ye shall be laid low."
HYMN 623. 7s & 6s.
O GOD! when o'er the ocean
Our gallant fathers came,
They lit, in pure devotion,
Bright Freedom's holy flame!
And shall this land of glory,
Blood-watered by the brave,
Be only known in story,
The Region of the Slave.
2 Ye Mothers, Wives, and Daughters,
Of noble Freemen, rise!
View bleeding Afric's slaughters,
And hear her children's cries!
"Tis Woman's voice bewailing
The cruel bond she wears!
A Sister's limbs are failing
Beneath the stripes she bears.
3 While o'er each heathen nation
The light of Mercy smiles,
And tidings of salvation
Float o'er the Ocean Isles;
Shall we each blessing sharing
Which Heaven to man bestows,
See human hearts despairing,
And not regard their woes?
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