Durst strive to change to suit thy selfish plan!
Know thou that his fixed purpose will be done,
Though thou arrayest all thy puny strength
In war against it! All who feel the sun
Shall own his goodness, and be free at length.
God cares for mortals, though he reigns on high;
Freedom is His own cause, and it shall never die!
My country! if my heart one wish doth hold,
For thee and for thy good, it is that thou
No more permit thy children to be sold!
Forbid that they as slaves to man shall bow!
For them our fathers nobly fought and bled;
For them they poured their life-blood forth as rain;
Shall it in foreign lands of us be said,
We bind our brothers with a galling chain?
While the Old World is struggling to be free,
America! shall this foul charge be laid to thee?
We all may err; may oft be led astray;
Let him who'd free the slave be careful he
Is not a slave himself to some fond way
He would adopt to set his brother free!
All seek one end; for all one good would gain;
Then, on as brothers, hand in hand proceed!
Paths that seem intricate will all be plain,