Thou didst, Thou didst of one blood make the nations of Thy earth; One price Thou gavest for our souls; we have one common birth; Alike one large, lost family-one ruined, rebel race;
There is one cross set up for all-for all one wide embrace!
Hail, manifested Saviour King! Brother of every man!
Of the poor negro in his chains, the roving mountain clan;
Redeemer of the forest child, and of the fettered slave;
Lover of every human soul, in city, waste, or wave!
This glorious thought, that kindles now so many a beaming eye, And moves the hands of skill and strength-a thought that will not die,
It must, it must have issued forth from that same fountain first, Whence streams of love on Calvary for every spirit burst.
And oh, if all those streams would drink, meek kneeling, side by side,
How would the forms of evil sink, lost in Thy love's deep tide!
If all men loved Thy sceptre mild, then every hand would meet,
And every heart to Thy soft name in one broad anthem beat.
Then let Thy smile, without whose light love's blossoms cannot live,
Prosper the labour of our hands, and honour all we give;
And let our little gems and flowers, yea, all our strength and soul,
Give impulse to Thy chariot wheels, to make them faster roll.
THE BROTHERHOOD OF NATIONS.
THE wars had ceased: the weary nations furled
Their tattered flags, and sheathed their blunted swords;
And, sick of blood, the decimated world
Counted its scars, its glories, and rewards:
A little whisper, raised in doubt and fear,
Made an appeal to all the suffering lands—
Form an alliance holy and sincere,
And join, join hands.
Old men, left childless and disconsolate;
Widows forlorn, and maidens sorrow crowned;
The children loitering at the cottage gate;
The young men mournful, gazing on the ground,
Joined in the cry, lamenting, yet of cheer-
Repeating ever: Oh, ye ruined lands!
Form an alliance holy and sincere,
And join, join hands.
The ploughman, singing in the early morn,
Stopped in his task, and shuddered to behold-
Through the long furrows for the future corn-
Half-buried skulls projecting from the mould:
Bones of his brethren scattered far and near;
And sadly gazing, sighed, Unhappy lands!
Form an alliance holy and sincere,
And join, join hands!
The whisper spread-it gathered as it went—
From crowd to crowd the aspiration flew ;
Distracted Europe stanched the wounds that rent
Her bleeding bosom, pierced at Waterloo :
Her wisest sons, with voices loud and clear,
Took up the words that bore them o'er the lands :
Form an alliance holy and sincere,
And join, join hands!
Why should we drag, said they, the furious car
Of blind Ambition? Why, with sweat and toil,
Follow the panting demi-gods of War,
And with their blood make runnels through the soil?
Long have ye suffered-long in mad career
Borne fire and sword, and sorrow through the lands : Form an alliance holy and sincere,
Sheathed be the sword for ever-let the drum
Be schoolboy's pastime-let your battles cease,
And be the cannon's voice for ever dumb,
Except to celebrate the joys of peace.
Are ye not brothers? God, whom ye revere,
Is he not Father of all climes and lands?
Form an alliance holy and sincere,
And join, join hands!
The words grew oracles; from mouth to mouth,
Rapid as light the truthful accents ran;
From the cold Norland to the sunny South-
From East to West, they warmed the heart of man;
The prosperous people with a sound of cheer
Passed the glad watchword through the smiling lands;
Form an alliance holy and sincere,
They spread, they flew, they fructified apace;
The spear and sword hung rusting on the walls,
Preserved as relics of a bygone race,
When men went mad, and gloried in their brawls :
Peace, the fair mother of each bounteous year,
Dropped corn and wine on the prolific lands.
Form an alliance holy and sincere,
England forgot her deeds of battle done;
France blushed at "glory" gained in fields of gore;
German, Italian, Spaniard, Pole, and Hun
Taught kings a lesson and were foes no more;
Knowledge achieved the circuit of our sphere,
And love became the gospel of the lands-
When that alliance holy and sincere
Had joined all hands!
THE gloomy night is breaking,
E'en now the sunbeams rest,
With a faint, yet cheering radiance,
On the hill-tops of the west.
The mists are slowly rising
From the valley and the plain;
And a spirit is awaking,
That shall never sleep again.
And ye may hear that listen,
The spirit's stirring song,
That surges like the ocean,
With its solemn bass along.
"Ho! can ye stay the rivers,
Or bind the wings of light;
Or bring back to the morning
The old departed night?
|