I will add, that every
people and every man, who hold others in bondage, should be admonished
that when God puts his captives, his bondmen, into their hands, He is
most jealous of the manner in which the trust is discharged. I do think,
I say it here with all possible emphasis, it is the most delicate, the
most solemn, the most awful responsibility, to stand in the relation of
master to a bondman.
* * * * *
"No further discussion was had at that time, the hour being late, and so
the meeting was closed with prayer and singing. Masters and servants
joined to chant a hymn, of which the following, written many years after
by Gregory of Nazianzum, might almost seem to be the expansion:--
"'Christ, my Lord, I come to bless Thee,
Now when day is veiled in night,
Thou who knowest no beginning,
Light of the eternal light.
"'Thou hast set the radiant heavens,
With thy many lamps of brightness,
Filling all the vaults above;
Day and night in turn subjecting
To a brotherhood of service,
And a mutual law of love.
"'Own me, then, at last, thy servant,
When thou com'st in majesty;
Be to me a pitying Father,
Let me find thy grace and mercy;
And to Thee all praise and glory
Through the endless ages be.
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