Is self-denying power, that virtue rare.
The guardian of his country's weal secures
A pure renown, if he avoid the snare
To which ambition oft the wise allures;
He who can brave the storm not alway sun endures.
That lust of sway, of noble souls the vice,
Seized not on Washington-to save he fought;
A hero, whom no flattery could entice
From the straight path of duty; every thought
Was for his country; his firm judgment brought
Into subjection passions all must feel,
Who in the school of warfare have been taught:
But Washington's disinterested zeal
Rose above passion's impulse, for the common weal.
He saw the war-cloud over Europe burst
Unmoved; he heeded not the popular cry
Of war with England, faction's shout accurst:
Why should America, who might defy
The world at home, to foreign conflicts fly!
Strong sympathies she had with what appear'd
The glorious struggle of her late ally
In the same cause for which Columbia rear'd
Her standard; sympathies her watchful guardian fear'd.
He dared the popular feeling to oppose,
Tho' strong the current ran, its strength he braved ;
Despising evil tongues he felt that those
Who then against his righteous counsels raved,
Would own from broils their country he had saved,
When o'er America, while Europe bled,
The mingling flags of peace and freedom waved :
A light from which dark tyranny has fled
Will long o'er nations free its healthy influence shed.
Are not the churches ocean-lights, that placed
On rocks, through tempests fierce of ages lighten?
If faith direct its course, the more is chased
By storms the bark of life, the more they brighten ;
Nor clouds can trouble then, nor meteors frighten,
Though yet night-mists of superstition veil
The East, the horizon there appears to whiten
With gospel-light, and hearts prophetic hail
The day when truths divine shall through the world
One universal chorus will arise
Of praise to the Triune, though pride disdains
An unity of worship, and would blend
Falsehood with truth, hating as mental chains
The service of belief that faith ordains.
The mystery that reasoning doubt repels,
Lost dignity for fallen man regains:
Man, whom to free from death the Word that dwells
In light of light came down on earth, all worlds excels.
But transatlantic liberty with pride
Increases slaves, and multiplies her sects
Till freedom seems oppression: words divide
Those whom the bond of common faith connects.
Man for a shadow fights, and truth neglects.
Him, who devotion's genuine spirit feels
Faith from a vain logomachy protects :
Time will not stay for us his chariot-wheels ;
It is enough to know what clearly Heaven reveals.
As the malaria rages where the air
Seems purest on the hills o'erlooking Rome,
Thus, where each citizen is deem'd the heir
Of liberty plague-spots of slavery come :
Nature has never written in her tome
That colour gives monopoly to "whites"
Of freedom: freely through the forests roam
Beasts fair and tawny, having equal rights.
With others soars the black eagle to equal heights.
It is not colour of the skin, but vice,
That men imbrutes the negro is a man,
A soul has of inestimable price
Ransom'd from death, deny it those who can
Doubt the full virtue of redemption's plan.
Capacities are in the colour'd race,
Though narrow seems of intellect their span,
That when improved, and visited by grace
Supernal, will with zeal religious truths embrace.
How long shall this anomaly endure,
Opposed to Nature's universal scheme?
Can good produce thus evil? From the pure
Fountain shall issue forth a poisonous stream
That enemies of virtue may blaspheme?
Though planters in the southern states are fear'd,
Slavery is the indignant preacher's theme;
Thy voice at length, Humanity, is heard,
E'en where as yet thy cause most hopeless had appear'd.
Those who would nations aggrandize, the wind
But sow, the whirlwind reap; some empires have
A more prolong'd existence, others find,
Ere a few centuries pass by, their grave :
When gone, rolls o'er them equally thy wave,
Eternity! where now the counsels deep
Of statesmen deem'd omnipotent to save?
All these, as if they were an useless heap
Of senile tales, away time ruthless loves to sweep.
Alas! is profitless the working brain
Of the sagacious counsellor? the lot
Of all must be oblivion-why complain?
There is a world where envy settleth not,
That blight of fame; where worth is ne'er forgot!
Where shall be disentangled by the mind
Of evil here the inextricable knot;
Where glittering show of virtue does not blind The good, where those are known who loved indeed
There is the germ of virtue, that has been
Imperfectly developed here, matured.
Many, whose merits are on earth unseen,
Shall have their generous wishes thought-immured
Changed into active good, in heaven secured.
And there shall be, conforming minds among,
Fruition of enduring fame assured,
And love in energy of action strong,
And joys intense exprest by eloquence of song.
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