 | The poetical works of James Montgomery |  |
No. IV. SLAVERY THAT IS NOT.
God made all his creatures free;
Life itself is liberty;
God ordain'd no other bands
Than united hearts and hands.
Life itself is liberty;
God ordain'd no other bands
Than united hearts and hands.
Sin the' eternal charter broke,
—Sin, itself earth's heaviest yoke;
Tyranny with sin began,
Man o'er brute, and man o'er man.
—Sin, itself earth's heaviest yoke;
Tyranny with sin began,
Man o'er brute, and man o'er man.
Pass five thousand pagan years
Of creation's groans and tears;
To oppression's climax come,
In the crimes of Christendom.
Of creation's groans and tears;
To oppression's climax come,
In the crimes of Christendom.
What were these?—Let Afric's sands,
Ocean's depths, West Indian strands,
In the day of wrath declare:
—Oh! the mercy that they were;—
Ocean'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.
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 ransom'd tribes record
All the goodness of the Lord.
So return primeval peace!
While the ransom'd tribes record
All the goodness of the Lord.
| The poetical works of James Montgomery | |