Page:Complete Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier (1895).djvu/158

126   And as one great prayer to God ascend, And hands of mutual charity raise Walls of salvation and gates of praise.”

So passed the Quakers through Boston town,
 * Whose painful ministers sighed to see

The walls of their sheep-fold falling down,
 * And wolves of heresy prowling free.

But the years went on, and brought no wrong; With milder counsels the State grew strong, As outward Letter and inward Light Kept the balance of truth aright.

The Puritan spirit perishing not,
 * To Concord’s yeomen the signal sent,

And spake in the voice of the cannon-shot
 * That severed the chains of a continent.

With its gentler mission of peace and goodwill The thought of the Quaker is living still, And the freedom of soul he prophesied Is gospel and law where the martyrs died.