Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

One converted late in life.

But oh! what thanks ought I to raise !
How long did I serve sin!
Why do I not its wages, death,
To suffer now begin?

Chorus.

To Christ that died be all the praise,
Worthy is he of endless lays.

An Opposer of the Gospel.

But I a bold blasphemer stood,
A persecutor too;

Yet grace subdued my heart. and I
Am brought to dwell with you.

Chorus.

Almighty Jesus! thee we bless,
All conquering is thy pardoning grace

A Backslider.

But I who basely left my Lord,
Am rescued by his care;

How then can I through endless time
His wondrous love declare?

Chorus.

Saviour to thee we offer praise,

But poor are all our highest lays.

An Idolater.

But ah! dear brother, none with me
Can equal mercy tell,

I worshipped devils, yet am brought
With God and Christ to dwell.

Chorus.

Light of the Gentiles! thee we praise,
All comprehensive is thy grace.

Redeemed Spirits to Angels.

To God that kept yon by his power,
We lift our voice in praise.

Response of Angels to redeemed Spirits.
To the Lamb who washed you in his blood
In tharks our voice we raise.

Grand Chorus of Saints and Angels.
To God Triune be endless praise;
Vast and unbounded is his grace.

Rev. C. H. Pearce, Calcutta.

[graphic][merged small]

"You have met with rough weather on the water in your time, no doubt," said I to a somewhat aged looking sailor, who was standing at the pier-head, watching a sailing-vessel that seemed to make very little way against the wind and the tide.

"True, sir," said he, "there are few hands who go out in a whaler without coming in for a blow now and then, whether they go to the north or the south, and I have been to both; but sailors expect it, and there's rough weather on land as well as at sea."

دو

"There is," said I; "but to a landsman, when a storm is abroad, the sea appears very terrible."

"No doubt, sir," said he, "and sometimes to a seaman. Those who are fond of a seafaring life like the breeze well enough, and the toss of the waves, and the roll of the ship; but it's quite another thing when the black sky is only lit up with the lightning, when the sea is breaking over the ship, so that her gunwale is as often under water as above; when her timbers cry out as if she was in pain, and her mast is carried away by the board. There are other dangers too, that now and then put a sailor to his wit's end. I met with one of these in my last trip that brought every man of us on our knees. If any one in the world has reason to look up for help a sailor has."

FEBRUARY, 1847.

C

"How was it? I should much like to hear the account," said I. "You shall have it in few words, sir," said he; and then he gave me the following relation :

"Almost everybody has heard of the loss of the Essex whaler, captain Pollard, that was struck and stove in by a fish in the south seas; and the loss of our ship was a little like it odd enough, too, it took place in pretty near the same latitude. I have had my share of field-fishing, packfishing, crowded ice-fishing and bay ice-fishing in the north, with more icebergs around than I liked to see; but it was in the south seas that our ship went down.

"We had doubled Cape Horn with no little trouble. For some time it was a fair fight between us and the winds, and none of us knew which would have the better of it; but stout hearts, cool heads, and ready hands, with God's blessing, work wonders at sea and on shore. We pushed for the coast of Chili, then for Peru, and afterwards sailed westerly, when we fell in with whales enough and to spare.

66 I say enough and to spare, for one of them did us more damage than a nor'wester would have done. We had three boats out, and every hand busy, when, all at once, we had something else to do beside whale-catching.

"The cachalot, or sperm whale of the south, is a different creature to the bonefish, or Greenland whale of the north, for often it attacks a boat, or even a ship, as savagely as if it were alive. I had heard of this long before, but I never saw it till then. The sea was running rather high, and the ship had heeled much to larboard, when, all at once, a sperm fish came darting through the waves and struck the vessel amidships-in a moment she was on her beam-ends.

"You may be sure that we lost little time in rowing for the ship; but the sperm fish was there before us. Making another rush it stove in her -bows, and she began to fill. The captain gave the word to board and cut away her masts, that she might right a little before she settled down in the water, which we doubted not she would do. We went to work with our axes; over went the masts, and the Mary Ann once more sat right upon the water.

"Now, lads,' said the captain, 'bear a hand, and get what you can into the boats, for the Mary Ann is bound on her last voyage, and the fewer hands she has a-board the better: in an hour she will go down.'

"We stowed away what biscuits and water we could get at, with a binnacle, a few hatchets, and such other useful things

as we could get hold of; and, sure enough, as the captain said she would, the ship went down in an hour.

"I hope, sir, you may never know what it is to be five hundred leagues from known land, in an open boat, with night and a storm coming on; but if ever you should, you will not much wonder at my saying, if any man has reason to look up for help a sailor has.

"I will not try to tell you of the storm that came upon us, for it would be in vain; but if ever poor fellows had cause to thank God for being snatched from a watery grave we had. The winds and the rain, the thunder and lightning, the darkness and the heaving ocean, were awful. It was a miracle that the boats lived in such a storm; and when the next day at noon the tempest had abated, and we saw a whaler bearing down upon us to take us up, why we should not have been half so happy if we had seen an angel.

"We all went down on our knees in the boats, and, though little was said, thanked God with our hearts. I do not think there was one among us who did not really thank God at the time; but sailors, sir, soon forget God's mercies, more's the pity."

As the old sailor walked away from the pier I looked after him, with a strange interest in his welfare, and thought within myself, "Oh that seamen, and landsmen too, were more mindful of God's mercies! Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!"

THE MISTAKEN SOLDIER.

G.

He had been in so many

PAUL was a spiritual captain. conflicts with the powers of darkness, that he knew a good deal about such matters. And I wonder that the hints given by so experienced a commander, are not more heeded by those who profess to belong to the same army, and to fight in the

same cause.

one;

"Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God; " that is one of his suggestions. It seems to be a very sensible but I have seen soldiers who seemed to think that a single piece of the armour would answer all their purpose. For various reasons they could not get on the whole, and seemed to march off, confident that if they had but a single part of the armour, they should do well enough.

I saw one of these soldiers lately, who had no doubt that

his "feet were shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace:" but was it so? He was ready for anything he thought, which belonged to Christian obligation. He was prepared to run, because his feet were shod; and he seemed to think that running was pretty much all the Christian soldier had to do. I do not know whether he had ever read Paul's whole account of the armour. But he seemed to have made up his mind, that if his feet only were shod, he was a well-trained soldier. That he could run, there was no dispute. And that he could show how well shod he was, by now and then running into the very thickest ranks of the enemy, was a matter of fact in his history. But then, for want of the other parts of the armour, he was very likely to run also the other way; and I have seen him in a most nimble retreat from the scene of conflict. There is something like standing firmly, belonging to a Christian soldier's duty: but because this professor had not taken the other parts of the armour, he could do nothing but run! He was good at that; and the ways he ran sometimes made me glad, but oftener sorry.

66

Another disciple thought he had" for an helmet the hope of salvation," and that single piece of the armour was enough. It was all hope with him. And just at that point when hope was called for, and nothing else, he was very much of a soldier. If there had not been anything in the army to do but hope, there would not have been a soldier that could have excelled him in efficiency. But he had not the shoe of the preparation" Paul mentions, on his feet. And as for "the shield of faith," this he had neglected, as he found to his sorrow when the fiery darts of the wicked began to fly about him and pierce him. And as for the "breastplate of righteousness," he was so taken up with hope that he had nothing of that kind worth naming when I saw him. Indeed he did not even use the "sword of the Spirit." He had been so captivated with his beautiful helmet, that he had not taken pains, as experienced soldiers have done, to write Divine truth as with a pen of iron on his heart,

Another disciple reckoned that he had "the shield of faith," but seemed not to care at all for the other parts of the armour. A capital article that same shield, and grand service it can do in battle. But a soldier has something to do besides keep from getting hurt by the missiles of the enemy. The kingdom of darkness is not to be spoiled by soldiers who have no armour, and can use none but such as will keep them from getting injured by the foe. All the soldiers with shields

« ElőzőTovább »