In the stern of a sea-going vessel,
At morning, at noon and at night,
I saw there a sturdy old boatswain
Who stood and uplifted his sight
To the mast that was towering above him,
While pendulant hung from his lip
The whistle whose shrill intonations
Determined the course of the ship.
And I wondered at what he was gazing
Till, stepping behind him, I stood
And followed his angle of vision
High up on the pillar of wood;
And there, far above the attraction
Of body of iron or steel,
Was fastened a compass whose needle
Corrected the man at the wheel.
O wonderful lesson of science,
That crystaled in parable there,
And brought in its transparent vision
The meaning and purpose of prayer!
I, too, am adrift on the ocean,
My compass, the spirit of man,
And with hand on the wheel of life’s rudder,
I only can steer as I can.
But, praise to God’s infinite goodness,
Thy compass above I can see--
The needle of truth that Thy spirit
Holds true for the spirit of me.
Unswerved by earth’s baser attraction,
It points to the glories that shine;
I read it at morning and evening,
And reckon my bearings from Thine. (Text.)
(1324)
* * * * *
Thomas F. Porter, in the Boston _Globe_, expresses in these verses
the confidence of faith in God’s guidance:
It matters not what course my ship may go,
That leaves the port ’neath skies so calm and clear;
Tho later threatening winds may wildly blow,
Of harm I have no fear.
The storm may beat in fury ’round my bark,
The ocean’s spray up to the masthead leap,
The way be long, the night be starless dark,
Secure my course I keep.
It matters not how swift may be the tide,
Tho lightning cleave with lurid flame the sky;
But that my ship will every storm outride,
On this I can rely.
Nor does it matter when the goal I gain,
Nor if the ship be stript of every mast,
My heart no lips will murmur nor complain,
When safe the anchor’s cast.
Why, there is such a flood of hope in me,
To doubting hearts this much I will reveal:
The Hand that launched my bark on life’s great sea
Is ever at the wheel.
(1325)
=Guidance, Spiritual=--See SPIRIT, WINDS OF THE.