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There Is Sorrow on the Sea

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Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Mar 17, 1909

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 36, No. 11.

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“There Is Sorrow on the Sea.”

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle

By Mrs. L. D. Avery-Stuttle.
WHERE the billows of old ocean Foam and dash with ceaseless roar, ’Neath the solemn skies of midnight, ’Stood I on the wave-girt shore. “Tell me, O ye tossing billows— Tell your secrets unto me; Earth is filled with sin and sorrow,— Is there sorrow on the sea?”
“Know ye not some wave-bound islet ’Neath a fair and cloudless sky, Where the flowers of love may blossom, Never, nevermore to die? Know ye not some far-off garden, Some green dale or verdant spot, Where the mourner’s tear ne’er falleth, And death’s angel cometh not?”
Thus I spoke; and quick the answer Came in saddest tones to me: *“There is sorrow on the earthland, There is sorrow on the sea.”*
Then the sky grew dark with tempest, And the sudden lightning sped, And the great ship neared the harbor Where the black waves reared their head. And the while I gazed in terror At the storm-king’s awful glee, Sank the white ship; while I murmured, “There is sorrow on the sea.”
Then again there rose before me In the visions of the night, Such a scene of awful carnage That my spirit failed with fright; For a battle raged in fury, And the vessels dripped with gore, And the cannon boomed a requiem, As they sank, to rise no more.
Once again, the sad, sad message Came in thrilling tones to me: *“There is sorrow on the earthland, There is sorrow on the sea.”*
O, our God will come to judgment, And His coming is at hand, When the vials of His fury Shall be poured on sea and land. And the earth shall shake and tremble, ’Neath the earthquake’s mighty tread, And the cities of the nations Lie above their buried dead.
Yes, there’s sorrow on the earthland, And there’s sorrow on the sea; But sometime the troubled ocean Shall forever cease to be. And sometime this mighty graveyard Shall yield up its precious trust, And with all the saints now sleeping In the earth’s unnumbered dust, They shall hear the “last, loud trumpet,” While the hosts of heaven sing, Shout the tidings of His coming— The great coming of the King!