Gospel Ship (I), The

DESCRIPTION: "The Gospel Ship is sailing by, The Ark of Safety now is nigh; On sinners, unto Jesus fly... Oh, there'll be glory... when we the Lord embrace." Fathers and brothers are invited to come along; the end of the world is described
AUTHOR: unknown
EARLIEST DATE: 1843 (Thompson-APioneerSongster, from a manuscript dated 1843); Flanders/Brown-VermontFolkSongsAndBallads cite a manuscript seemingly from 1831
KEYWORDS: religious nonballad
FOUND IN: US(MA,NE)
REFERENCES (2 citations):
Thompson-APioneerSongster 71, "The Gospel Ship" (1 text)
Flanders/Brown-VermontFolkSongsAndBallads, pp. 75-77, "The Gospel Ship" (1 text)
ST FlBr075 (Partial)
Roud #2838
CROSS-REFERENCES:
cf. "Shout, Shout, We're Gaining Ground" (lyrics)
NOTES [119 words]: Although the title of this is clearly reminiscent of "The Old Gospel Ship," the kinship consists at most of a few stray lines. It's a bit closer to Randolph's fragments, "Shout, Shout, We're Gaining Ground," which may be a free-floating chorus of this verse.
The piece itself is clearly inspired by the New Testament Apocalypse, but the language itself has almost no resemblance to the Bible (e.g. the name "Jehovah," which isn't what the Hebrews called their God anyway [see the notes on "Guide Me, Oh Thou Great Jehovah"], is not used in the New Testament, which uses the Greek word "Lord"; nor did YHWH the Father open the sealed book; it was the Lamb, i.e. God the Son, who opened the scroll; see Rev. 6.1ff.) - RBW
Last updated in version 2.8
File: FlBr075

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