HYMN FOR MY BROTHER'S ORDINATION. CHRIST to the young man said: "Yet one thing more; If thou wouldst perfect be, Sell all thou hast and give it to the And come and follow me !" poor, Within this temple Christ again, unseen, And his invisible hands to-day have been And evermore beside him on his way That he may lean upon his arm and say, Beside him at the marriage-feast shall be, Of pain and midnight prayer. O holy trust! O endless sense of rest! Like the beloved John To lay his head upon the Saviour's breast, And thus to journey on! THE following poems, with one exception, were written at sea, in the latter part of October. I had not then heard of Dr. Channing's death. Since that event, the poem addressed to him is no longer appropriate. I have decided, however, to let it remain as it was written, a feeble testimony of my admiration for a great and good man. POEMS ON SLAVERY. TO WILLIAM E. CHANNING. THE pages of thy book I read, My heart, responding, ever said, Well done! thy words are great and bold; At times they seem to me, Like Luther's, in the days of old, Half-battles for the free. Go on, until this land revokes The old and chartered lie, The feudal curse, whose whips and yokes Insult humanity. A voice is ever at thy side, Speaking in tones of might, Like the prophetic voice, that cried To John in Patmos, "Write!" |