The Truth Shall Set Them Free
By M. E. Cornell
I will close by dedicating to you the following lines which I have remodeled from an unknown author to make applicable. There are battles fierce and many,
By our valor to be fought,
And we want for soldiers any
Who will fight as brave men ought;
Not with sword of glittering steel
Laying waste the fruitful lands,
But with humble, christian zeal,
And the Bible in our hands. Honest ones are shut in darkness
In the prison-walls of death;
Dreadful is their state of blindness
Pestilential is their breath:—
Let us march to give them freedom,
The pure light of day to see—
Not with any carnal weapons;
'Tis the TRUTH shall set them free! While the Western Ophir calls
Thousands in its dross to share,
Let us search the human heart
For the diamond hidden there,
What if scorn at first shall meet us?
Love and hope shall urge us on,
None shall ever fail who battle
With the weapons of St. John. Let us quickly then prepare
For the strife the needed shield;
Are we few?—then more's the need
We should quickly take the field;
Full of faith and full of hope,
Forth we'll go a conquering band,
With the truth upon our lips
And the Bible in our hand!
M. E. CORNELL.
Wakeman Station, Huron Co., O., Dec, 8th, 1858.