14
THE SERMON OF SPRING.
Doctrine of Right, and the Old World tradition of Freedom—Doctrine of Justice, thank God, no New England inventionKnown to the Ancients, known to the Gods and their poets,Known to great Tully, whose pillars of perfect marbleStand in the temple of Truth, his remembrance for Ages.There shall thy record be, Knight of the wronged and the helpless;There shall thy weapon be kept, with the motto: "I hurled it."How hast thou hardened the loving heart and quick feelings,To stand up and speak the great spirit-dividing sentence,To stand, a mark for the thief and assassin to aim at.More than our envy, more than thy hope was thy guerdon—Setting the seal of thy blood to the word of thy courage.If but the pure of heart in a pure cause should suffer,Sumner, the task thou hast chosen was thine for its fitness.Never was Paschal victim more stainlessly offered,Never on milder brow gleamed the crown of the martyr.
