THE BIBLE SHIP.

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THE BIBLE SHIP.

I beseech you, if you have influence among the opulent Christians in America, to consider the practicability of a Bible ship, to navigate the shores of eastern Asia. If Science, and Discovery, and Luxury, and Commerce, have their ships sailing the ocean, and visiting every shore, why should it be thought strange that the Christian should also have his ship to convey to man the written mandate of his Maker-the message of mercy from the Saviour of the world?

The late Dr. Morrison, of China.

FLING out our banners to the breeze!
Be every sail unfurled !

Our ship must cleave the farthest seas,
And search the heathen world.

Pipe up all hands!—the boatswain's cry
Rang never cheer like this;

We're off-we proudly rise on high,

And stoop to the abyss.

Speed on!-We steer for lovely isles,

Where lies of guilt the ban;

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THE BIBLE SHIP.

And sunny continents, where smiles
Each gladsome thing, but man.

And Africa, the clime of night,
And shores by Chinese trod,
Shall joy for us; we bring true light-
The priceless word of God.

Speed on the King's discovery ship!
She seeks not vassal ground;
Nor scans the varying needle's dip-
The lost, the lost is found!

Speed on! speed on!—a thousand sail
Are flapping on the mast,

For dark lands soon to breast the gale,

God's Bible there to cast.

Speed on! speed on !—the broad blue deeps
Shall hastening heralds bear

To every pagan coast, where weeps
A soul in sin's despair.

Oh God, to see their canvass speck
Like birds, the distant seas!
Oh God, to see each noble deck

Thronged by the feet of these!

THE BELL OF THE REVOLUTION.

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THE BELL OF THE REVOLUTION.

On the old State House Bell, in Philadelphia, which was cast in that city, several years before the American Revolution, is the following prophetic inscription: "Proclaim LIBERTY throughout all the land, unto all the inhabitants thereof.”— Leviticus XXV. 10. The ringing of this bell gave the first intelligence of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

'Twas fitting, that, throughout the land, The anointed bell proclaim

The triumphs of a glorious band,

And their invaders' shame :
"Twas fitting, that its merry peal
Should fling out silver tones,
That did, before, the word reveal

So terrible to thrones.

Talk not of chance! the word that went
To Israel's tribes of yore,

Free as the winds of heaven, was sent
To this far western shore:

K

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THE BELL OF THE REVOLUTION.

Our fathers spake it in distress

A small and feeble flock-
They hymned it in the wilderness,

And wrote it on the rock.

Talk not of chance! for well he knew,-
The founder-that his art

Graved only here the impress true,
Already on the heart:

And well he deemed that LIBERTY

Should one day wake the sword,-
Around the hearths of all the Free
It was a cherished word,

Known, not in vain imaginings,
To wake up idle strife;
But treasured as a holy thing,

Dearer to heart than life.

Marvel not then, the voice thus pent

Within the conscious breast,

At times, through some unguarded vent Should rush forth unrepressed.

Interpreted, it truly told

Of high Oppression's knell;

Of banners beckoning, garments rolled In blood—that warning Bell!

TO A NUN.

Yea, also, that from martyr graves
Columbia's living seed

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Should spring-the scourge of sceptred slaves, The bulwark of her need.

Talk not of chance! Not only here,
Forth goes the unerring sound;-

It stirs another hemisphere,

A world shall be unbound!

And children, rescued from the yoke,
Shall to their children tell

Of the immortal deed that woke
The Revolution's Bell.

TO A NUN.

The ceremonies attendant upon taking the Black Veil were recently performed at the Convent in Georgetown, when the vows that are to separate her from the world, were taken by a lady, who took the White Veil a year since.

THOU Seek'st a world of grief, to shun

In yon seclusion, where

The day is ended, as begun,

With holy hymn and prayer: