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Thursday, August 07, 2014

The Two Seas

The Two Seas: A Parable of Giving and Hoarding.
"It is more blessed to give than to receive."

1. There is a sea which, day by day, 
Receives the rippling rills
And streams that spring from wells of God, 
Or fall from cedared hills;
But what it thus receives it gives 
With glad, unsparing hand.
A stream more wide with deeper tide 
Flows to a lower land.
But doth it lose by giving? Nay! 
Its shores of beauty see--
The life and health and fruitful wealth 
Of Galilee!

2. There is a sea which, day by day, 
Receives a fuller tide,
But all its store it keeps, nor gives 
To shore nor sea beside;
What gains its grasping greed? Behold! 
Barrenness round its shore.
Its fruit of lust, but fruit of dust 
Rotten from rind to core:
Its Jordan water turned to brine 
Lies heavy as molten lead;
Its dreadful name doth e'er proclaim
That sea is---Dead!

-- written by Richard Glover, from The Church Missionary Gleaner, Volume XVI, No. 182, Feb. 1889, p. 22

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