The Mistress of the Manse by J. G. (Josiah Gilbert) Holland
page 88 of 119 (73%)
page 88 of 119 (73%)
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Quarrelled o'er Freedom's waiting grave.
X. Amid the turmoil and disgrace, The voice was clear from first to last, Of one who, in the desert place Of barren counsels, held him fast His shepherd's crook, and made it mace To bear before the Great Event Whose harbinger he chose to be, And called on all men to repent, And build a way from sea to sea, For Freedom's full enfranchisement. For Philip, to his conscience leal, Conceived that God had chosen him With Treason's sophistries to deal, And grapple with the Anakim Whose menace shook the common weal. His pulpit smoked beneath his blows; His voice was heard in hall and street; A thousand friends became his foes, And pews were empty or replete, With passion's ebbs and overflows. |
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