THE CHEMISTRY OF CHARACTER

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 passing away
 From earth and its conflicts, all died the same day.
John was mourned through the length and breadth of the land;
 Peter fell 'neath the lash of 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--
 God in His wisdom created 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 the 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 shall befall
 John and Peter and Robert and Paul?

John may in goodness and wisdom increase,
 Peter rejoice in 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 blessed with a holier birth
 Than the passions of men had allowed him on earth.
John and Peter and Robert and Paul--
 God in His wisdom created them all.

—Elizabeth Dorney