In ages past ere wisdom's height Had sent its piercing ray To cleave the heavy clouds of night And usher in the day. Men's minds were held in thralldom deep, The slaves to one blind school, Till reasons let this sentence weep "God reigns and right shall rule." The war clouds heavy hung and dark, The storm was swelling fast, But over all the tumult—hark! A voice comes down the blast And, lo! the tempest is still, And fiery passions cool; As with a cry the earth is filled— "God reigns and right shall rule." Four million slaves in chains lay bound, Harassed by myriad woes— The lash of whip, the chase of hound, The curses of their foes. But Lincoln came, and with a stroke He broke the clanking chains And unto all the world he spoke Right rules, Jehovah reigns. Today the skeptic wields his pen, The infidel his tongue The keen agnostic lureth men His mazy ways among. But let them talk and let them write— O'er bigot, sage and fool, There sways an arm of fearless might— "God reigns and right shall rule." The court may temper its decrees To favor wealth or might; The water of a thousand seas May try to drown the right; The king his agents may command, And ply each royal tool, But there is still the master hand— "God reigns and right shall rule." Yea, wrong may triumph for a day With bold delusive power, But, oh! how stormy is its sway, And, oh! how brief its hour! The hosts of sin are soon undone, Peace flies on pinions cool; The battle gained, the victory won— "God reigns, and right shall rule." -Paul Laurence Dunbar
