We thank thee, Sumner! Thou hast spoken the word
God gave to thy safe keeping: thou hast set
Life, death, before the nation; thou hast hurled
Thy single pebble, plucked from truth's pure stream,
Into the forehead of a giant wrong,
And it doth reel and tremble. Men may doubt,
But the keen sword of right shall finish well
Thy brave beginning.
Courage, then, true soul!
Not vainly hast thou spoken; angels heard,
And shook from their glad harps a gush of joy
That the one word was uttered in men's ears;
The " Open Sesame " by which alone
True freedom and true peace might enter in,
Making earth like to heaven.
Then bide thy time.
What thou hast spoken as 't were in the ear
Shall be proclaimed on housetops. God locks up
In His safe garners every seed of truth,
Until the time shall come to cast it forth,
Saying, " Be fruitful, multiply, and fill
The broad earth, till it shouts its harvest-home. "
His purposes are sure; who works with Him
Need fear no failure. By my hopes of heaven,
I'd rather speak one word for truth and right,
That God shall have and treasure up for use
In working out His purposes of good,
Than clutch the title-deed that should insure
A kingdom to my keeping! so, in faith,
I speak my simple word, and, fearing not,
Commit it to His hands whom I do serve.

And thus it is, O friend, that I have dared
To send thee greeting and this word of cheer:
God bless thee, Sumner, and all souls like thine,
Working serene and patient in His cause!
God give thee of the fruit of thine own hands,
And let thine own works praise thee in the gates
Of the new city, whose foundation-stones
Thy hands are laying, though men see it not!