Page images
PDF
EPUB

The Sailor.

ADDRESS OF THE SAILOR'S PASTOR.

THE shepherd of that wandering flock
That has the ocean for its wold,
That has the vessel for its fold,
Leaping ever from rock to rock,
Spake with accents mild and clear,
Words of warning, words of cheer.
He knew the chart

Of the sailor's heart,

All its pleasures and its griefs,
All its shallows and rocky reefs,
All those secret currents that flow
With such resistless undertow,

And lift and drift, with terrible force,

The will from its moorings and its course: Therefore, he spake, and thus said he :

"Like unto ships far off at sea,

Outward or homeward bound, are we,

Before, behind, and all around,
Floats and swings the horizon's bound,
Seems at its outer rim to rise,

And climb the crystal wall of the skies,
And then, again, to turn and sink,

As if we could slide from its outer brink.
Ah! it is not the sea,

It is not the sea that sinks and shelves,
But ourselves

That rock and rise,

With endless and uneasy motion.
Now touching the very skies,

Now sinking into the depths of ocean.
Ah! if our souls but poise and swing
Like the compass in its brazen ring,
Ever level and ever true,

To the toil and the task that we have to do,
We shall sail securely, and safely reach
The Fortunate Isles, on whose smiling beach
The sights we see and the sounds we hear
Will be those of joy, and not of fear!”

LONGFELLOW.

CHRISTIAN WATCHFULNESS.

"What I say unto you, I say unto all, Watch."-(MARK xiii. 37.)

WATCH and every sin decline

That would watchfulness impair;

CHRISTIAN WATCHFULNESS.

Surfeiting, excess of wine,

Wealth's deceit, and worldly care.

Watch-and every means employ—

Search what holy men record, Pray in sickness, sing in joy,

Meet with those that fear the Lord.

Watch the foe is at your door,

Full of wiles and great in power—

Hark! it is the lion's roar,

[blocks in formation]

Watch a precious charge you keep-
Souls designed for heaven's rewards;
And the eye that cannot sleep

Marks how every watchman guards.

Watch the Master, like a thief,

May appear when least you think— Long the time may be or brief,

Let not then the eyelid sink.

Watch-how blest when He

appears

Will the ready servant be! Ends his watch with all its fears

Triumph crowns fidelity!

J. LONGMUIR

221

MARINER'S HYMN.

LAUNCH thy bark, mariner!
Christian, God speed thee!
Let loose the rudder-bands:
Good angels lead thee!
Set thy sails warily;
Tempests will come :
Steer thy course steadily;
Christian, steer home!

Look to the weather-bow,
Breakers are round thee;
Let fall the plummet now :
Shallows may ground thee,
Reef in the foresail, there!
Hold the helm fast!
So let the vessel wear-
There swept the blast.

"What of the night, watchman? What of the night?"

"Cloudy-all quiet

No land yet-all's right."

Be wakeful, be vigilant :
Danger may be

At an hour when all seemeth

Securest to thee.

« PreviousContinue »