Explore "Bible Defence of Slavery" by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
Take sackcloth of the darkest dye, / And shroud the pulpits round!
Servants of Him that cannot lie, / Sit mourning on the ground.
Let holy horror blanch each cheek, / Pale every brow with fears:
And rocks and stones, if ye could speak, / Ye well might melt to tears!
Let sorrow breathe in every tone, / In every strain ye raise; / Insult not God's majestic throne / With th' mockery of praise.
A "reverend" man, whose light should be / The guide of age and youth, / Brings to the shrine of Slavery / The sacrifice of truth!
For the direst wrong by man imposed, / Since Sodom's fearful cry, / The word of life has been unclosed, / To give your God the lie.
Oh! when ye pray for heathen lands, / And plead for their dark shores, / Remember Slavery's cruel hands / Make heathens at your doors!