Scripture Verse

Introduction

Anecdote

A Prisoner Singing Himself in­to Liberty

This was the case with Dea­con Epa Nor­ris dur­ing the war be­tween Great Bri­tain and the Unit­ed States, in 1812. He lived in the North­ern Neck, Va. Be­ing cap­tured and ta­ken to a Brit­ish ves­sel, they in vain sought to ob­tain from him the po­si­tion and num­bers of the Am­eri­can Ar­my.

Dr. Belcher says: The com­man­dant of the ship gave a din­ner to the of­fi­cers of the fleet, and did Mr. Nor­ris the hon­or to se­lect him from the Am­eri­can pris­on­ers of war to be a guest. The dea­con, in his home­spun at­tire, took his seat at the ta­ble with the aris­toc­ra­cy of the Brit­ish na­vy.

The com­pa­ny sat long at the feast: they drank toasts, told stor­ies, laughed and sang songs. At length Mr. Nor­ris was called on for a song. He de­sired to ex­cuse him­self, but in vain: he must sing. He pos­sessed a fine, strong, mu­sic­al voice.

In an ap­pro­pri­ate and beau­ti­ful air, he com­menced sing­ing:—

Sweet is the work, my God, my king,
To praise Thy name, give thanks, and sing.

Thoughts of home and of lost re­li­gious pri­vi­leg­es, and of his cap­ti­vi­ty, im­part­ed an unu­su­al pa­thos and pow­er to his sing­ing. One stan­za of the ex­cel­lent psalm must have seemed pe­cul­iar­ly per­ti­nent to the oc­ca­sion:—

Fools never raise their thoughts so high:
Like brutes they live, like brutes they die;
Like grass they flour­ish, till thy breath
Blast them in ev­er­last­ing death.

When the sing­ing ceased, a so­lemn si­lence en­sued. At length the com­mand­ant broke it by say­ing: Mr. Nor­ris, you are a good man, and shall re­turn im­me­di­ate­ly to your fa­mi­ly.

The com­mo­dore kept his word; for in a few days Mr. Nor­ris was sent ashore in a barge, with a hand­some pre­sent of salt—then more val­ua­ble in the coun­try than gold.

Long, p. 155