There Is a Sea

Words: Verses 1–2 possibly by Richard Glover, vicar of St. Luke’s, West Holloway, London, 1889, alt. Verse 3 by Lula K. Zahn, in Great Songs of the Church, edited by Elmer L. Jorgenson (Louisville, Kentucky: Word and Work, 1921), number 327. The words compare two lakes in the Mideast: the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea.

Music: I See Thee Standing, anonymous (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good photo of Zahn (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),

There is a sea which day by day
Receives the rippling rills;
And streams that spring from wells of God,
Or fall from cedared hills.
But what it thus receives, it gives
With glad, unsparing hand;
A stream more wide, with deeper tide,
Flows on to lower land.

There is a sea which day by day
Receives a fuller tide;
But all its store it keeps, nor gives
To shore nor sea beside.
It’s Jordan’s stream, now turned to brine,
Like heavy, molten lead;
Its dreadful name doth e’er proclaim,
That sea is waste and dead.

Which shall it be for you and me
Who God’s good gifts obtain?
Shall we accept for self alone,
Or take, to give again?
For He who once was rich indeed
Laid all His glory down;
That by His grace our ransomed race
Should share His wealth and crown.

Scripture Verse

Introduction

Lyrics