Hymn - Not Always Shall the Lordling's Heel

                         I.
Not always shall the lordling's heel 
     Be planted on the poor man's neck ;
Not always shall the bondman kneel
     Submissive to the tyrant's beck.

                         II.
The soul shall yet assert its right, 
     Though long despoil’d by brutal lust ;
And struggling upward in its might, 
     Dash the oppressor to the dust.

                         III.
Who plants his foot on human hearts, 
     Treads on the volcan's crumbling brink;
The fires beneath flash up—he starts !
     Too late-the struggling wretch must sink;

                         IV.
O God! we may not rashly set 
     A limit to thy saving grace;
We pray thee spare th' oppressor yet, 
     That haply he may seek thy face:

                         V.
And turning from his hideous sin, 
     His brother's plunder'd rights restore ;
Lest veng'ance shall its work begin, 
     When mercy's voice can plead no more.