Throw Out the Lifeline Lyrics
1 Throw out the lifeline across the dark wave;
There is a brother whom someone should save;
Somebody’s brother, O 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, O hasten today;
And out with the lifeboat, away, then, away! [Refrain]
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. [Refrain]
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. [Refrain]
Throw Out the Lifeline Hymn Story
“Throw Out the Lifeline” is a hymn that was written in 1888 by Edward S Ufford.
Below is the story of how George Stebbins came to write the tune to this song and also to re arrange it after buying it from the author:
“In the autumn of 1887 Dr. Pentecost, having resigned the pastorate of his church in Brooklyn to devote his entire time to evangelistic work, engaged to conduct a series of meetings in Lawrence, Massachusetts.
While there Mrs. Stebbins and I were invited to dine with one of the pastors of the city, who called our attention to the hymn “Throw Out the Life-line.”
I was struck at once with the possibilities of its usefulness and wrote the author (who was then pastor of a Baptist church on the coast) asking if he would sell his hymn.
He replied that he would and named a satisfactory price, which I paid. As the original music was poorly arranged, I re-harmonized the song, which was published in the next edition of “Gospel Hymns.”
Before that book was issued, however, it was arranged for male voices and published in “Male Chorus,” which Mr. Sankey and I were just then editing. I began singing it very soon and found at once that the song had a mission.
It sprang into favor immediately, and from that time on, for many years, was one of the most popular hymns of the kind in use.
The author, Reverend E. S. Ufford, some years later made a tour around the world, singing his song everywhere he went and using it as a text to preach from in arousing Christians to a sense of their obligations to make known the gospel.
In the autumn following, Dr. Pentecost having accepted a call to spend the winter in Scotland, I joined Mr. Moody on the Pacific coast.
I remember very well how the hymn got hold of men that winter and how inspiring it was to hear four or five thousand voices singing the chorus.
Mr. Sankey was not with Mr. Moody that winter, and the responsibility of leading the singing, often without adequate support from choirs, fell upon me.
This, with much special music required in the various daily meetings, and the intensive work of the inquiry room, proved a severe test of endurance.
But the summer’s rest, that soon followed those strenuous months, restored wasted energies, and when the fall campaign set in, strength was found equal to the duties imposed.
Below are more hymns’ stories and lyrics:
Evening Prayer Lyrics, Story, and Video
Ye Must Be Born Again Lyrics, Story, and Video
I’ve Found a Friend Lyrics, Story, and Video
Just Over in the Glory Land Lyrics, Story, and Video
