The Liberator

LITERARY.

[From the Western Luminary.]

ADDRESS
Of the Negro Slave to the Christians of the United States.

Ye followers of God, ye disciples of Him
Who on Calvary bled for the sins of mankind:
Ye white men, on whom inspiration's bright beam
Hath shined—hear ye the cry of the poor and the oppressed and blind!

Will ye longer withhold from the poor slave His word,
Which was given alike for the bond and the free?
Oh will ye redemption's blest light not afford
To us as to them of the far distant sea!

Are our claims aught the less that we live in your homes,
Your companions in play, or your children's from birth,
When through the green woods like the bee as it roams,
We gathered the honey of childhood and mirth?

Are our claims aught the less, that by our hard toil
Your comforts—your bread, day by day, are supplied;
That we labor for you—that our hands turn your soil?

And will ye not tell us of Jesus that died?

Are our claims aught the less, among christians we dwell
In this land of the gospel and light?

Shall we sink from hence down to the anguish of hell,
Ye Ministers of God, in your sight?

O pity, ye servants of Heaven, the poor slave
And teach us of Jesus who died
The bond and the free, and poor all to save!

Will ye not his last dying injunctions abide
We ask not for freedom—we claim not that boon
Though our birth-right by nature—so Nature declares;
We wait with submission,—be it later or soon, —
While God's righteous judgments the oppressor forbears.

But we do claim—yea, in God's name we demand
That you teach us His precepts—His laws how to use;
We claim, O ye Christians, we claim at your hands.
The gospel of Jesus—and dare you refuse?

You may, as you've done in the days that are past, —
But remember—there's to come, aye, a reckoning day:
'Twill come—though late—'twill surely come at the last,
When your own candlestick may be taken away
C.