Dew-drops may deck the turf that hides the bones, Learn then, ye living! by the mouths be taught ON A SIMILAR OCCASION. FOR THE YEAR But let us all concur in this one sentiment, HE lives, who lives to God alone, For other source than God is none To live to God is to requite But life, within a narrow ring Can life in them deserve a name, Who only live to prove For what poor joys they can disclaim Who much diseas'd, yet nothing feel, Have wounds, which only God can heal, Who deem his house a useless place, Faith, want of common sense; Who trample order, and the day If scorn of God's commands, impress'd Such want it, and that want incurr'd Sad period to a pleasant course! Yet so will God repay Sabbaths profan'd without remorse, And mercy cast away. THE NEGRO'S COMPLAINT. FORC'D from home, and all its pleasures, Men from England bought and sold me, Still in thought as free as ever, What are England's rights, I ask, Fleecy locks and black complexion Skins may differ, but affection Dwells in white and black the same. Why did all-creating Nature Make the plant for which we toil? Sighs must fan it, tears must water, Sweat of ours must dress the soil. Think, ye masters, iron-hearted, Think how many backs have smarted Is there, as ye sometimes tell us, Ask him, if your knotted scourges, Hark! he answers-Wild tornadoes, Strewing yonder sea with wrecks; Wasting towns, plantations, meadows, Are the voice with which he speaks. He, foreseeing what vexations By our blood in Afric wasted, Ere our necks receiv'd the chain; By our suff'rings since ye brought us Deem our nation brutes no longer Till some reason ye shall find Slaves of gold, whose sordid dealings PITY FOR POOR AFRICANS. Video meliora proboque Deteriora fequor.— I OWN I am shock'd at the purchase of slaves, And fear those who buy them and sell them are knaves; What I hear of their hardships, their tortures, and groans, Is almost enough to draw pity from stones. I pity them greatly, but I must be mum, Besides, if we do, the French, Dutch, and Danes, |