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At the conclusion of Henry Highland Garnet’s February 12, 1865 memorial address to Congress (the first time an African-American ever addressed Congress), he recites a poem titled “Exodus” (although the title is not given). The origins of this poem are worth noting.
Emancipate, Enfranchise, Educate, and give the blessings of the gospel to every American citizen.
These are the words of Garnet. And then a poem that follows begins thus:
Hear ye not how, from all high points of Time, —
From peak to peak adown the mighty chain
That links the ages — echoing sublime
A Voice Almighty — leaps one grand refrain,
Wakening the generations with a shout,
And trumpet-call of thunder — Come ye out!
Who wrote those memorable lines? The source for the poem in the published address is cited as the Atlantic Monthly, 1862. In that journal, the verses appear without attribution. But later, authorship of the poem is made clear in the 1872 volume of poems by Adeline Dutton Train Whitney (1824-1906) called Pansies “… For Thoughts” (the title being inspired by a line from Shakespeare’s Hamlet:) This book is a collection of her poetic contributions to the Atlantic Monthly. She was an accomplished and prolific author and poet, but just getting started in her publishing career in the 1860s. She also wrote more than 20 books for young girls, which aimed to inculcate traditional values in her readers. A biographical sketch of her by Harriet Beecher Stowe (who like, Mrs. Whitney, was both a contributor and a subject of this volume) appears in Our Famous Women: An Authorized Record of the Lives and Deeds of Distinguished American Women of Our Times (1884). She was raised under the teaching of Congregationalists and Unitarians, but ultimately affiliated with the Episcopal church. Stowe writes of her: “Mrs. Whitney is intensely spiritual. All her sympathies and judgments are baptized with the spirit of Christianity, and we cannot imagine any one reading her works without being made purer and better.”
Source: Our Famous Women: An Authorized Record of the Lives and Deeds of Distinguished American Women of Our Times (1884).
Here is the poem as published by the Atlantic Monthly, as recited by Garnet (who omitted the next-to-last stanza) and, finally, published under the author’s name, A.D.T. Whitney.
Exodus
Hear ye not how, from all high points of Time, —
From peak to peak adown the mighty chain
That links the ages — echoing sublime
A Voice Almighty — leaps one grand refrain,
Wakening the generations with a shout,
And trumpet-call of thunder — Come ye out!
Out from old forms, and dead idolatries!
From fading myths and superstitious dreams;
From Pharisaic rituals and lies,
All the bondage of your shows and seems;
Out, on the pilgrim path, of heroes trod,
Over earth’s wastes to reach forth after God!
The Lord hath bowed his heavens and come down!
Now, in this latter century of time,
Once more his tent is pitched on Sinai’s crown;
Once more in clouds must Faith to meet Him climb;
Once more his thunder crashes on our doubt
And fear and sin, “My people! come ye out!
“From false ambitions and vain luxuries;
From puny aims and indolent self-ends;
From cant of faith, and shams of liberties,
And mist of ill, that truth’s pure day-beam bends;
Out, from all darkness of the Egypt land,
Into my sun-blaze on the desert sand!
“Leave ye your flesh-pots! Turn from filthy greed
Of gain that doth the hungry spirit mock;
And heaven shall drop sweet manna for your need,
And rain clear rivers from the unhewn rock.
Thus saith the Lord!” And Moses, meek, unshod,
Within the cloud stands hearkening to his God!
Show us our Aaron, with his rod in flower!
Our Miriam, with her timbrel-soul in tune!
And call some Joshua, in the Spirit’s power,
To poise our sun of strength at point of noon!
God of our fathers! over sand and sea,
Still keep our struggling footsteps close to thee!
