Page images
PDF
EPUB

SEAMEN WANTED!

When gentle zephyrs softly blow,

Peace would reside within your breast, And 'mid the ocean's fervid glow,

Your soul in hope would sweetly rest.

Yours would be joys beyond the grave,
Yours would be realms of bliss above,
Where seas nor raging tempests rave,
To break the calm of holy love.

341

REV. J. TODD.

SEAMEN WANTED!

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." -(MATT. xi. 28.)

THINK, fearless roamers on the deep,
In bloom of youth or manhood's prime,
How swiftly tide and tempest sweep
Your vessel to the verge of time!

Guilt looms along your sinful wake;
Ahead, the Whirpool of Despair:
Then seek the Bay of Peace to make,
And joyful drop your anchor there.

Luff! luff! and shape your course anew,
While yet to windward ye may work;

Keep Christ, your leading star, in view,
And shun the shoals that leeward lurk.

No longer sail with folly's tides;

Sin's compass and his chart forsake; Steer as the Holy Spirit guides, Attend your helm, and keep awake.

Desert the captain and his crew,

That lead you captive with the stream; Come, strike their flag of deadly hue, And leave them on the larboard beam.

The CAPTAIN OF SALVATION calls-
His red-cross flag proclaims His love;
The foe before His brightness falls,

And clears the passage for above.

Behold the bounty He will give—

A pardoned soul, a peaceful breast, The glorious hope with Him to live, Safe landed on the SHORE OF REST!

J. LONGMUIR

"LAND A-HEAD!"

SWEET music in the wave-worn ear!

It is the seaman's cry,

[blocks in formation]

When the first speck of home-land near
Breaks on the eager eye;

Then, loud as lip the news can spread,
The topmast man shouts "Land a-head!"

Oh! as those gladsome tidings speed
Down through the decks below,
All hearts begin to melt indeed,
And eyes to overflow;

And blithe ones to the topmast thread
The way, to see the "Land a-head."

Once-and 'tis still a happy day-
I heard those accents fall,

Where earth had but a shadowy sway,
And seas no sway at all;

The heavens seemed past, and light, instead,
Broke out and beamed from "Land a-head."

I sat me by a dying man

A good old man was he

Whose years had through life's little span
Been less on land than sea;

Where he had fought, and watched, and bled,
And shared bright hopes from "Land a-head.

Those scenes were now for ever past:
His heart was on the shore,

343

Where holy brethren meet at last,

And storms are heard no more;

And, rising from that lowly bed,
Would bound to see a "Land a-head."

I gently pressed his feeble hand,
So soon to turn to clay,

And wondered if his heart was manned
To meet that dreadful day;

When as if in my looks was read

The thought he cried out, "Land a-head!"

It was the olden, happy phrase;

But at that hour it came,

Not wrapt in light of elder days,

But in immortal flame

Poured out, and in abundance shed,
On man from heavenly "Land a-head."

He now could see beyond the skies-
Beyond the grave could see,

Where mansions of salvation rise
For such poor worms as he;

And nobly trod the path that led
Up straightway to that "Land a-head."

And thither he went up at length,

And walks the regions o'er,

ELEGY ON SHIPWRECKED COMPANIONS.

345

Which armed those lingering hours with strength,

And cheered for years before:

If sweet to see, how sweet to tread

Celestial land!-the "Land a-head!"

REV. GEORGE BRYAN, M.A.

ELEGY ON SHIPWRECKED COMPANIONS.

YE lost companions of distress, adieu!

Your toils, and pains, and dangers are no more; The tempest now shall howl unheard by you, While ocean smites in vain the trembling shore

On

you the blast, surcharged with rain and snow, In winter's dismal nights no more shall beat; Unfelt by you the vertic sun may glow,

And scorch the panting earth with baneful heat.

[ocr errors]

No more the joyful maid, with sprightly strain, Shall wake the dance to give you welcome home;

Nor hopeless love impart undying pain,

When far from scenes of social joy you roam;

No more on yon wide watery waste you stray,
While hunger and disease your life consume,

« PreviousContinue »