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John, and Peter, and Robert, and Paul,

God in his wisdom created them all.

John was a statesman, and Peter a slave,

Robert a preacher, and Paul—was a knave.

Evil or good as the case might be,

White, or colored, or bond, or free—

John, and Peter, and Robert, and Paul,

God in his wisdom created them all.

Out of earth’s elements, mingled with flame,

Out of life’s compounds of glory and shame,

Fashioned and shaped by no will of their own,

And helplessly into life’s history thrown;

Born by the law that compels men to be,

Born to conditions they could not foresee,

John, and Peter, and Robert, and Paul,

God in his wisdom created them all.

John was the head and the heart of his State,

Was trusted and honored, was noble and great.

Peter was made ’neath life’s burdens to groan,

And never once dreamed that his soul was his own.

Robert great glory and honor received,

For zealously preaching what no one believed;

While Paul, of the pleasures of sin took his fill,

And gave up his life to the service of ill.

It chanced that these men, in their passing away

From earth and its conflicts, all died the same day.

John was mourned through the length and the breadth of the land—

Peter fell ’neath the lash in a merciless hand—

Robert died with the praise of the Lord on his tongue—

While Paul was convicted of murder, and hung.

John, and Peter, and Robert, and Paul,

The purpose of life was fulfilled in them all.

Men said of the Statesman—“How noble and brave!”

But of Peter, alas!—“he was only a Slave.”

Of Robert—“’Tis well with his soul—it is well;”

While Paul they consigned to the torments of hell.

Born by one law through all Nature the same,

What made them differ? and who was to blame? John, and Peter, and Robert, and Paul, God in his wisdom created them all.

Out in that region of infinite light,

Where the soul of the black man is pure as the white—

Out where the spirit, through sorrow made wise,

No longer resorts to deception and lies—

Out where the flesh can no longer control

The freedom and faith of the God-given soul—

Who shall determine what change may befall

John, and Peter, and Robert, and Paul?

John may in wisdom and goodness increase—

Peter rejoice in an infinite peace—

Robert may learn that the truths of the Lord

Are more in the spirit, and less in the word—

And Paul may be blest with a holier birth

Than the passions of man had allowed him on earth.

John, and Peter, and Robert, and Paul,

God in his wisdom will care for them all.