Boundless Salvation (Founders Song)

ZCjA7sqLkPM Words: Will­iam Booth, 1893.

Sal­va­tion Army Com­mis­sion­er The­o­dore Kitch­ing said that one morn­ing he ar­rived at the house of the Found­er (Sal­va­tion Ar­my term for William Booth; “Bound­less Salvation” is al­so called “The Found­er’s Song,” though Booth wrote ma­ny songs). Kitch­ing found Gen­er­al Booth in his stu­dy com­plet­ing the vers­es of this song. He wrote it to be sung at an evan­gel­is­tic cam­paign be­ing held at Ex­e­ter Hall in Lon­don. The cru­sade was called the “Bound­less Sal­va­tion Cam­paign,” and this song was first sung No­vem­ber 14, 1893, dur­ing that cam­paign. Ori­gin­al­ly, the cho­rus “Hea­ven­ly Gales are Blow­ing” was sung be­tween each of the vers­es. The words were first pub­lished in the Salvation Army ma­ga­zine The War Cry on De­cem­ber 23, 1893. Booth an­nounced this song the last time he ap­peared in pub­lic, at his 83rd birth­day cel­e­bra­tion in the Roy­al Al­bert Hall, Lon­don, May 9, 1912.

Music: My Je­sus I Love Thee, J. Ellis.

Lyrics
O boundless salvation! deep ocean of love,

O fullness of mercy, Christ brought from above,

The whole world redeeming, so rich and so free,

Now flowing for all men, now flowing for all men,

Now flowing for all men, come, roll over me!

My sins they are many, their stains are so deep,

And bitter the tears of remorse that I weep;

But useless is weeping; thou great crimson sea,

Thy waters can cleanse me, thy waters can cleanse me,

Thy waters can cleanse me, come, roll over me!

My tempers are fitful, my passions are strong,

They bind my poor soul and they force me to wrong;

Beneath thy blest billows deliverance I see,

O come, mighty ocean, O come, mighty ocean,

O come, mighty ocean, and roll over me!

Now tossed with temptation, then haunted with fears,

My life has been joyless and useless for years;

I feel something better most surely would be

If once thy pure waters, if once thy pure waters,

If once thy pure waters would roll over me.

O ocean of mercy, oft longing I’ve stood

On the brink of thy wonderful, life giving flood!

Once more I have reachèd this soul cleansing sea,

I will not go back, I will not go back,

I will not go back till it rolls over me.

The tide is now flowing, I’m touching the wave,

I hear the loud call of the Mighty to Save;

My faith’s growing bolder, delivered I’ll be;

I plunge ’neath the waters, I plunge ’neath the waters,

I plunge ’neath the waters they roll over me.

And now, hallelujah! the rest of my days

Shall gladly be spent in promoting His praise

Who opened His bosom to pour out this sea

Of boundless salvation, of boundless salvation,

Of boundless salvation for you and for me.

External link

 * Cyberhymnal.org - Boundless Salvation QuickTime or QuickTime Lite required.