Chalice Hymnal ‎#604

604. That Cause Can Never Be Lost or Stayed

1 That cause can never be lost nor stayed
which takes the course of what God has made,
and is not trusting in walls and towers
but slowly growing from seeds to flowers.

2 Each noble service that we have wrought
was first conceived as a fruitful thought;
each worthy cause with a future glorious
by quietly growing becomes victorious.

3 Thereby itself like a tree it shows:
that high it reaches, as deep it grows;
and, when the storms are its branches shaking,
it deeper root in the soil is taking.

4 Be then no more by a storm dismayed,
for by it the full grown seeds are laid;
and though the tree by its might it shatters,
what then, if thousands of seeds it scatters!

Text Information

• First Line: That cause can never be lost or stayed
• Title: That Cause Can Never Be Lost or Stayed
• Author: Kristian Ostergaard (1892)
• Translator: J. C. Aaberg (1928, alt.)
• Meter: 99.10 10
• Language: English
• Publication Date: 1995
• Topic: Life of Discipleship: Stewardship and Service; God's Church: Life of Discipleship: Stewardship and Service; Adversity; God: Providence; Service; Stewardship

Tune Information

• Name: OSTERGAARD
• Composer: Jorgen Nellemann (20th century)
• Harmonizer: Ellwood S. Wolf (1966)
• Meter: 99.10 10
• Key: E♭ Major
• Copyright: music © 1928 Grand View College; harm. © 1966 Judson Press
• Notes: Now Public Domain.