Page:The Spirit of the Nation.djvu/170

74 And will ye bear, my brother men,

To see your altars trampled down;

Shall Christ's great heart bleed out again

Beneath the scoffer's spear and frown?

Shall priests proclaim that God is not,

And from the Devil's gospel teach

Those worldly doctrines, unforgot,

Which burning tyrants loved to preach?

Shall traitors to the human right

To God and truth have boundless sway,

And ye not rush into the fight

And wrench the away,

And tear the scrolls of freedom, bought

With blood of martyrs and the brave,

From men who with derisive sport

Defy you on the martyr's grave?

Ah, no!—uprushing—million-strong,

The trodden people come at last,

Their fiery souls pent up so long

Burst out in flames all thick and fast;

And thunder-words and lightning-deeds

Strike terror to the Wrong, who flee,

Till lo! at last the wronger bleeds,

And dying, leaves the nation free.

I.

O, tell me not love's light, and joyous tale;

Sing not to me love's soft delicious lay;

But let thy tale be sad—thy strains the wail

Of men enslaved—let not thy song be gay