A plaintive plea comes o'er the sea

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A plaintive plea comes o'er the sea

Author: Clara McAlister Brooks
Tune: [A plaintive plea Comes o'er the sea]
Published in 2 hymnals

Printable scores: PDF, Noteworthy Composer
Audio files: MIDI

Representative Text

1 A plaintive plea
Comes o’er the sea
From nations in distress;
From darkest night
They ask for light,
Their ruined land to bless.

Refrain:
A plaintive plea
Comes o’er the sea,
How long, O Lord
Still must they wait?
Oh, hasten there
With faith and prayer,
Or soon ’twill be too late.

2 The ripened grain
On India’s plain,
Still waits for reapers true;
Hours swiftly fly,
While daily die
The millions in their woe. [Refrain]

3 The strong command
To ev’ry land—
“Go, spread the gospel news!”
Then haste away,
Till truth shall sway
Its scepter o’er the seas. [Refrain]

4 A plaintive plea,
Oh, can it be
Their souls are doomed and lost?
Go save them now,
Till all shall bow
Before the Savior’s cross. [Refrain]

Source: Songs of Grace and Glory: A New and Inspiring Selection of Sacred Songs for Evangelical Use and General Worship #96

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Author: Clara McAlister Brooks

Birth: Oct. 9, 1882, Parke County, Indiana, USA Death: Mar. 20, 1980, Tampa, Hillsborough County, Florida, USA Clara McAlister Brooks was one of our early songwriters and four of her pieces are in the current hymnal. From the earliest days of the movement we have had women prominent in all forms of our ministry—missionaries, evangelists, teachers, pastors, and God has honored their sacrificial labors. For that reason we can stand in amazement when here, in the 1970s, such old-line denominations as the Episcopal church are being racked with controversy over whether the ordination of women is permissible. But before we gather Pharisaic robes about ourselves, perhaps we need to look candidly at the way in which we, too, succumbed to so… Go to person page >

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