THROW OUT THE LIFELINE
(Edwin S. Ufford, 1888 / arr. by George C. Stebbins, 1890)


   1. Throw out the lifeline across the dark wave;
      There is a brother whom someone should save;
      Somebody’s brother! Oh, who then will dare
      To throw out the lifeline, his peril to share?
          * Refrain:
            Throw out the lifeline! Throw out the lifeline!
            Someone is drifting away;
            Throw out the lifeline! Throw out the lifeline!
            Someone is sinking today.
   2. Throw out the lifeline with hand quick and strong:
      Why do you tarry, why linger so long?
      See! he is sinking; oh, hasten today
      And out with the life boat! Away, then, away!
   3. Throw out the lifeline to danger-fraught men,
      Sinking in anguish where you’ve never been;
      Winds of temptation and billows of woe
      Will soon hurl them out where the dark waters flow.
   4. Soon will the season of rescue be o’er,
      Soon will they drift to eternity’s shore;
      Haste, then, my brother, no time for delay,
      But throw out the lifeline and save them today.
   5. This is the lifeline, oh, tempest-tossed men,
      Baffled by waves of temptation and sin;
      Wild winds of passion, your strength cannot brave,
      But Jesus is mighty, and Jesus can save.
   6. Jesus is able! To you who are driv’n
      Farther and farther from God and from Heav’n,
      Helpless and hopeless, o’erwhelmed by the wave,
      We throw out the lifeline—’tis, “Jesus can save.”
   7. This is the lifeline, oh, grasp it today!
      See, you are recklessly drifting away;
      Voices in warning, shout over the wave,
      Oh, grasp the strong lifeline, for Jesus can save.