Being diffused among the Inhabitants of Africa.
1.
As the mild lustre of the rising day,
Thro’ morn’s grey twilight sheds a living ray,
Dispels the gathering clouds of gloomy night,
And thro’ the space of Heav’n diffuses light;
2.
So the bright Sun, the brilliant Morning Star
Of fair Religion, shines on realms afar;
Disperses ev’ry cloud of mental gloom,
Gilds Death’s dark shade, and shines upon the tomb.
3.
Such, happy Britain, such a light is thine,
In full effulgence beams the star divine;
Messiah’s name is known, belov’d, rever’d,
His Life, his Death, his Miracles declar’d.
4.
And still deprived of this eternal light,
Shall Afric’s children mourn in error’s night?
Shall the poor Negro, lost in deepest gloom,
Know of no happier life beyond the tomb?
5.
Yes, see the Day-Star rise on Afric’s shore,
And all is light, where darkness reign’d before;
The Negro views his native home above,
And thinks, with rapture, on redeeming love.
6.
Peace, gentle, smiles where once destruction raged,
On warring plains, where Armies once engaged:
In many a dreary desert, waste and wild
The glorious Sun of Righteousness has smiled.
7.
O’er burning sands where torrid regions glow,
The Christian seeks the Negro’s hut of woe;
Brings life, and peace, and freedom to the Slave,
A land of liberty beyond the grave.
8.
And now is opened on his raptur’d view
A fairer country than his fancy drew;
A happier home beyond the western main,
Where heav’nly pleasure holds eternal reign.
9.
These brighten’d hopes the Negro’s heart to give,
To raise his thoughts, and teach him how to live;
This is the task to Britain’s Sons assign’d,
The glorious work, the conquest of the mind.
10.
And oh! protected by Almighty Power,
And led triumphant to the Afric shore,
May fair Religion shed a shining light,
Bright as the star which gilds the gloom of Night.
(Mary Abel Clinckett)
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