The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1871-05-03
HalfHours with My Hymn Book.
BYALEXANDER H. SANDS.
Henry Kirke Whites Star of Bethlehem.

ana pr0mpCeu Tue puresI anu lolIlesl PdlIt-
otto endeavor. 1t may even fulfil a yethigher
task. When the poet utters in we'll nigh in
spired language the emotions of the Chris
tian; when his verse lifts the mind up to the
contemplation of the excellencyof the Deity
and opens to our view, in rapt surprise, the
glores of the Jehovah, then does he fulfill
his noblest office.
The "Star of Bethlehem is almost such
poem. Its theme is of far higher signifi-
canoe than the glory of ones native country
or the attractions of terrestrial home; and
the skill with which the poet has touched his
Tyre has evoked a strain to which angelic
hosts might .elig.t TO istel.. IN how many
human hearts have these simple lines awak-
ened the holy devotion of former years, and
in how many more have they enkindled the
first glow of fervent emotion.
There is noble simplicity in the poem,
yet the thought it stirs is allied to the grand
and magnificent. Its opening lines introduce
us to a splendid panorama of the loveliest
objects in nature-chief among these is one
which arrests the poets gaze and fixes his
devotion.
When marshall'd on the nightly plain.
The glittering host bestud the sky,
One star alone of all the train
Can fix the sinners wandering eye
The next verse discloses to view this splen.
did host as a company of chorus.singers
pouring forth their strains Of praise.
Hark hark to God the chorus breaks,
From every host, from every gem,
But one alone the Saviour speaks
1t is the Star of Bethlehem.
There is here the mingling of history and
metaphor. Doubtless the poet had in men,
ory the account given by the evangelists of
the strange star which conducted the Magi
from their home in the east to the feet of the
youthful Jesus in Bethlehem; but the per-
sonal application which follows evinces some
thing more than reference to the scriptural
narrative. The interest in the one star
which fixes his gaze is created in great part,
if not altogether, by the peril of the life
mariner. He is seeking an. object certain
and constant guide to his way through
the wide and tumultuous, and trackless
ocean. He lifts up his eyes to the heavens,
and is arrested by the star not more surpass-
ing the rest in its brilliant beauty than in the
steadiness of its ray and its fixed locality.
The next verses carry the thought farther
by showing the need of such guide. There
are two topics engaging the poets attention. 4
the tempest tossed mariner and the star
which directs his course:
Once on the raging seas | rode
The storm was loud, the night was dark,
The ocean yawned and ruGely blowed,
The wind that tossed my laundering bark.
Deep horror then my vitals froze,
Death struck, | ceased the tide to stem,
| When suddenly star arose
1t was the star of Bethlehem.
The metaphor is transparently clear
Life is the ocean, the sinner is the mariner,
the singing seas are the tempests of passion
which assail him, the loud storm, the dark
night, the yawning ocean, are the perils to
which he has just realized his exposure;
moment more and he founders his bark, and
its precious, priceless cargo, the soul, sinks
to rise no more. The peril is too great to
endure unappalled. There is sudden hor-
ror, freezing of the blood at the vitals.-
Just then hope beams upon the mariner
The darkness of the night cannot quench
the ray of the radiant STAR 1t pierces
through the blackness of the storm. 1t
sends its silvery sheen across the bowling
tempest and over the raging waves. Itrests
on the path of the despairing one. He
gathers new courage, he looks up to his
Comforter, and now he passes the dangerous
shoals and angry breakers, and now the
surging waves have lashed themselves into
quiet, and now the haven is in sight, and
now the port is entered and the mariner is
safe. But for the light of the guiding star,
he had perished in mid-ocean. But for its
cheering, cOnsoling, directing rays, he had
never reached the haven of security.
1t was my guide, my light my all,
1t bade my dark foreboding cease;
And through the storm and danger thral,
1t led me to the port OF peace.
Now safely moored, my perils Ger,
I'll sing first in nights diadem,
Forever and forever more,
The Star-the Star of Bethlehem.
Richmond Christian advocate.