Bible Songs — Temperance Songs

Launch the Life-Boat!

Launch the life-boat! see; the ship is stranding!

No. 1384
Tune LAUNCH THE LIFE-BOAT!
Words F. E. B.
Music F. E. Belden.
Key B-flat major
Singing key B♭ major
Time 4/4
4 stanzas

Words

Launch the life-boat! see; the ship is stranding!There are loved ones you may save:Launch the life-boat from the gospel landing!The storm is on the wave.

Chorus.

Launch the life-boat! launch the life-boat!Tho' the surges roar;Launch the life-boat! launch the life-boatFrom the gospel shore!Wrecks of manhood on the rocks of evil,Wrecks of youth upon the shoals:Quickly launch the blessed gospel life-boat,And gather in the souls.

Oft beneath youth's mild and sunny watersHidden shoals of danger lie;Where's the pilot for our sons and daughters,To guide them safely by?

Oft upon life's dark and stormy oceanSturdy manhood's bark is tossed;Where's the faith that stills the wild commotionBefore a soul is lost?

O for hearts to love as did the MasterThose who sadly fail in life!O for willing hands that labor fasterThe fiercer grows the strife!

About this hymn

As printed As printed: hymn number «1384» (large) at the left, title «LAUNCH THE LIFE-BOAT!» centred (capitals and small capitals); under it a Scripture epigraph in two lines (given below; the two asterisks marking an omission are the print's; the printer's thin spaces before «;» and around the colon closed up; old-style figures written as ordinary figures); «F. E. B.» (the words) at the left and «F. E. BELDEN.» (the music, capitals and small capitals) at the right above system 1; «With energy.» (italic) over the first bar; «Copyrighted 1886 by F. E. Belden.» centred under the music, folio «592» below it. The song runs over to the next page under the heading «LAUNCH THE LIFE-BOAT!—Concluded.» (the last system of the CHORUS, ending with a double heavy bar). No meter, no tune name other than the title, no reference line. The four stanzas are interlinear under the melody staff of PDF 593, numbered «1.»–«4.» in system 1; «CHORUS.» (bold capitals) heads system 3 and is sung after every stanza (its first line is set in a condensed bold type). Each printed line of words carries more than a verse line; the verse lines are given here one per line, by the rhymes (stranding/landing, save/wave; waters/daughters, lie/by; ocean/commotion, tossed/lost; Master/faster, life/strife; roar/shore, shoals/souls) and the capitals that open them. Words divided under the notes are joined («sun - ny», «wa - ters», «Hid-den», «dan - ger», «up - on», «storm-y», «o - cean», «Stur - dy», «Mas - ter», «sad - ly», «pi - lot», «safe - ly», «com-mo - tion», «Be - fore», «will - ing», «la - bor», «fast - er», «fierc - er», «gos - pel», «land - ing», «e - vil», «up- / on» across the page turn, «bless-ed», «gos-pel»); «bless-ed» is printed with a hyphen to show its two syllables and is written «blessed». «life-boat» is the compound with its hyphen (printed tight «life-boat» in m1 and the chorus, spaced «life - boat» in m5). «stranding!», «beneath», «manhood's», «daughters,», «surges», «manhood», «Quickly» and «gather» stand solid under two notes. Spelling («Tho'», «fierc-er»), punctuation (no comma after «Master» or «faster») and capitals are the print's; apostrophes and quotation marks are written straight.