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The Spiritual Sailor 150
Tune: Shaker tune, abt 1810-1830; Arranged by William Walker, 1835
Alto: Mrs. Anna L. (Cooper) Blackshear, 1902
Lyrics: Richard McNemar, 1813
Meter: 7s,6s Double (7,6,7,6,7,6,7,6)
The people called Christians
Have
many things to tell
About the land of Canaan,
Where saints and angels dwell;
But here a dismal ocean,
Enclosing them around
With its tides still divides
Them from Canaan’s happy ground.
Many have been impatient
To work their passage thro’,
And with united wisdom
Have tried what they could do;
But vessels built by human skill
Have never sailed far
’Till we found them aground
On some dreadful, sandy bar.
To those who are spectators,
What anguish must ensue,
To hear their old companions
Bid them a last adieu!
The pleasures of your paradise
No more our hearts invite;
We will sail—you may rail,
We shall soon be out of sight.
The passengers united
In order, peace, and love,
The wind is in our favor,
How swiftly do we move!
Tho’ tempests may assail us
And raging billows roar,
We will sweep thro’ the deep
’Till we reach fair Canaan’s shore.