The Prayer Vessel

Of God's divinest blessings,O child, thou art the steward.Send forth thy prayer-girt vessel,By faith's strong hand secured;Chartered by Christ's own promise,Thy frail bark ne'er shall fail,And if becalmed it tarry,Thy breath may swell the sail.

Bear thou thy brother's burden;The tear by pity stirredBegets the sigh for succor,The cheering wayside word.Fast are the seasons passing;Each garnered grain may beSeen in the Land of Glory,In some celestial tree.

If the red gold thou hast not,Nor precious things of earth,Thou hast unfailing richesWhere gold is nothing worth;Thou'lt have some garden spices,Though thy land seem bleak and bare,For 'mid the many mansionsThere blooms a garden fair.

Send forth thy heart-store bravely,No prayer hath e'er been lost;Thy tears and sighs are numbered;Thy Father knows the cost."With loving heart devisingBurdens for every breeze,Trust thou the wealth to meet themIn God's rich granaries.

Send it! In worldly blindnessIf men should mock thy trade,God's blessings rest upon thee,Lade on! be not afraid;Mean unto them thy measure,The prayer of patient years,Or thy heart's secret service,That Jesus' smile endears.

Thy track may seem all shadow,And hope be lost to sight;Fear not—trust on: the darknessTo Christ, the Lord, is light.He guards thy love-sent vessel,And rich He counts thy store;Thy cargo bears no sorrowBack from the unseen shore.

Thy wealth upon the watersCast thou, and tremble not;In angel habitationsNo prayer will be forgot:So speed—speed for thy vesselUpon the trackless main!The breeze that wafts thy treasuresWill blessings brine; again.

When from the safe "hereafter"Thou ponderest o'er the past,Thou'lt own Who ruled the watersOn which thy bread was cast;For never yet confounded,Since flowed time's changeful flood,Was the merchantman who trustedHis goodly store to God.