Reflections: On the variety of complexions with which the human family are diversified

Reflections: On the variety of complexions with which the human family are diversified

Were I as black as ebony -

Dy'd with a torrid sun,

Or with his milder beams but tinged

A Hindoo, brown or dun;

Or was I of the sallow hue

Where temperate beams prevail -

Or did I wear a snowy brow,

By Northern winds bleached pale;

The cause I must assign to Him

Who rules both day and night -

The color, too, of human skin,

And makes it black or white.

And shall I then attempt to scan

The wisdom of His laws -

Or grasp within my finite span

Their great primeval cause!

Shall I be loth to designate

Myself as God has done,

And thus reproach the Infinite -

The Just and Holy One?

No! rather let me acquiesce

In His most holy will -

Confiding in His righteousness

And never erring skill.

Since he himself expressly says,

By him none are rejected -

But all who work his righteous ways,

Of him shall be accepted.

Well knowing, too the time shall be,

When gospel light shall shed

Its influence from sea to sea -

O, may that day be sped!

When each shall know the law divine,

And recognise his brother;

The song of every varied clime

Acknowledging his brother.

Then shall the captive's chain be cleft,

His fetters useless fall,

For there shall be no tyrant left,

His brother to enthrall.

But all unit to swell the sound -

The sound of Jubilee;

The lordling and his slave re-sound

The anthem, we are free?

M.W.M.

1:40, p. 4

1837.10.07