Voices o’er the Sea

Oft they break the mid­night still­ness—

Voices float­ing o’er the sea

Voices filled with ten­der pa­thos

Asking help from you and me.

And I know my Christ

my Bi­ble

Is as tru­ly theirs as mine;

And I know that I de­fraud them

Not to share these gifts di­vine.

We

who nev­er knew a sor­row

God’s dear smile could not il­lume

Little dream how dense the dark­ness

Shrouding hea­then souls in gloom.

And the Sav­ior’s last com­miss­ion

Was in lov­ing thought of them;

How His ten­der sweet com­pass­ion

Doth our cold ne­glect con­demn!

Christ

for­give the souls so faith­less

To the trust Thou didst re­pose;

For this sin let not Heav’n’s por­tals

At the last against us close.

Bless

and by our gold and sil­ver

By our lips no long­er dumb

We will spread abroad Thy Gos­pel

Till on earth Thy king­dom come.