Extract from The Convict’s Appeal

Poem by Bernard Barton

'Nor lightly take that life away, Which God thought fit to give!' | Photo: The Poems and Letters by Bernard Barton

Still, surely it deserves a thought,
An awful, solemn pause,
Whether the Creed, by Christians taught,
Can justify their laws?

Which doom not death alone, but – far
As human power is given,
Thus place before the Almighty’s bar,
Man – unprepar’d for Heaven!

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