SLAVERY THAT IS NOT. GOD made all His creatures free, Life itself is Liberty; God ordained no other bands, Than united hearts and hands. Sin the eternal charter broke Sin-itself, earth's heaviest yoke— Man o'er brute, and man o'er man. Pass five thousand Pagan years, To oppression's climax come, What were these? Let Afric's sandsOcean's depths-West Indian strands— In the day of wrath declare : Oh! the mercy that they were, For they are not—cannot be; Life again is Liberty; And the Negro's only bands Love-knit hearts and love-link'd hands. So the plague of Slavery cease! So return primeval peace! While the ransomed tribes record All the goodness of the Lord! JAMES MONTGOMERY. For August 1, 1834. THE NEGRO MOTHER TO HER CHILD. AWAKE my loved sleeper! and pour the warm prayer, The bold sons of FREEDOM, who nobly could spare Poor child of oppression! no more thine awaking No more shall the voice which my heart loves to hear, eye that was downcast with anguish and fear Shalt thou now lift to Heaven with the beaming of gladness. Exult my loved child! let the hymn of devotion Be offered to God, who our groaning has heard ; And next in thy praise be the Queen of the Ocean, Who this measure of justice at length has conferred. Now raised to the rank of a Christian and brother, May the Book of His Word be the bond to unite us 7th Mo. 31st, 1834. L. THE DAY OF FREEDOM. O welcome, welcome Liberty ! To bloom on Freedom's Land: For though thy cause I feebly sing, To join that grateful band, Who now rejoice, and hail the day When Liberty and Mercy smile, Resounds from shore to shore. I join with willing heart and hand, Are stilled the winds and waves ; Heaven never made them Slaves! |