Is Israel a servant? is he a home-born slave? why is he spoiled?—Jeremiah, ii. 14.
There is no flesh in man’s obdurate heart,
It does not feel for man; the natural bond
Of brotherhood is severed, as the flax
That falls asunder at the touch of fire.
He finds his fellow guilty of a skin
Not coloured like his own; and having power
T’ enforce the wrong, for such a worthy cause,
Dooms and devotes him as a lawful prey.
*****