Scripture Verse

He said unto them, Cast the net on the right side of the ship, and ye shall find. They cast therefore, and now they were not able to draw it for the multitude of fishes. John 21:6

Introduction

Words: Her­bert Kyn­as­ton, Oc­ca­sion­al Hymns (Lon­don: R. Clay, Son, & Taylor, 1862), pag­es 97–98. The thought chief­ly from St. Au­gus­tine.—Fourth Cen­tu­ry.

Music: Al­a­me­da So­lo­mon W. Straub, 1893 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Kyn­a­ston or Straub (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

When Je­sus stood upon the shore,
Athwart the lone­ly wave
The fish­ers watched, nor knew the Lord
New ris­en from the grave.
All night they toiled, and no­thing took,
But now they cast aright;
And morn­ing’s beams are ming­ling with
The ris­en Sav­ior’s light.

Poor store and mean could they but glean,
When first they smote the deep;
No net was hurled to wake the world,
Till He had woke from sleep:
O, glo­ri­ous was the fish­ing then,
No mix­ing in the throw
The re­fuse with the great and good,
All safe­ly ga­thered now.

No se­vered toils, no sink­ing ships,
No fright­ed fish­er’s cry,
Depart from me, O Lord, de­part,
A sin­ful man am I!

Fivescore the sea, and fif­ty-three,
Wrung from its nig­gard breast,
To bless the man whom Je­sus loved,
And him who loved Him best.

Though num­bered now, they tell of saints
Unnumbered at the day,
When sea and shore shall be no more,
And time shall pass away.
Men-fish­ers true the warn­ing knew,
To heal the mid­night’s dearth,
With knots new-strung the net was flung
Whose cords should sweep the earth.

Still more they drew, as morn­ing grew,
Embosomed in the fold,
The scep­tered mon­arch on the throne,
The mer­chant and his gold;
The ba­ron mailed, in moat­ed halls,
The young, the old, and yet,
For all they were so ma­ny there,
Not brok­en was the net.