Prayer for the Slave

Almighty God! thou Giver
Of all our sunny plains,
That stretch from sea to river,
Hear'st thou thy children's chains?
Seest thou the snappered lashes,
That daily sting, afresh?
Seest thou the cow-skin's gashes,
Cut through the quivering flesh?


Seest thou the sores, that rankle,
Licked by no pitying dog,
Where, round the bondman's ancle,
They've rivetted a clog?
Hear'st thou the curse he mutters?
Seest thou his flashing eye?
Hear'st thou the prayer he utters,
That thou would'st let him die?


God of the poor and friendless,
Shall this unequalled wrong,
This agony, be endless?
How long, O Lord, how long
Shall man set, on his brother,
The iron heel of sin,
The Holy Ghost to smother--
To crush the God within!


Call out, O God, thy legions--
The hosts of love and light!
Ev'n in the blasted regions
That Slavery wraps in night,
Some of thine own anointed
Shall catch the welcome call,
And, at the hour appointed,
Do battle for the thrall.


Let press, let pulpit thunder,
In all slaveholders' ears,
Till they disgorge the plunder,
They've garnered up, for years;
Till Mississippi's Valley,
Till Carolina's coast,
Round Freedom's standard rally,
A vast, a ransomed host!