William Baxter Storm and Calm (1851)

FROM

THE

MILLENNIAL HARBINGER:

FOURTH SERIES.

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VOL. I.] BETHANY, VA. NOVEMBER, 1851. [NO. XI.
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S T O R M   A N D   C A L M.
BY WILLIAM BAXTER.

Sailing o'er life's pathless ocean,
    Not a star could I descry,
To direct my sea-tossed vessel--
    In the dark and stormy sky.

Fearful rose the angry billows,
    Broke each mast and rent each sail;
At the mercy of the tempest,
    On I swept before the gale.

Frowning rocks rose o'er the waters,
    Dangers round me seemed to close,
But amid despair and darkness,
    Lo! the morning star arose.

Guided by its gentle beamings,
    Wafted on by breezes bland,
Soon I trust to moor my vessel,
    Safely at the wished-for land.

Men are all but storm-tossed sailors,
    God's blest Book the holy star,
That with bright and pure revealings
    Lights their pathway from afar.

It will lead where storms of passion
    And despair shall ever cease,
To that calm and blessed haven
    Where God's smile diffuses peace.

[The Millennial Harbinger (November 1851): 660.]

ABOUT THE ELECTRONIC EDITION

      William Baxter's "Storm and Calm" was reprinted in The Millennial Harbinger, Fourth Series, Vol. 1, No. 11, November 1851. The electronic version of the poem has been produced from the College Press reprint (1976) of The Millennial Harbinger, ed. Alexander Campbell (Bethany, VA: A. Campbell, 1851), p. 660. The poem was first published in The Ladies' Repository, Vol. 11, No. 1, January 1851, p. 25.

      Addenda and corrigenda are earnestly solicited.

Ernie Stefanik
Derry, PA

Created 20 June 1998.
Updated 28 June 2003.

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