Introduction
1791–1868
National Portrait Gallery
Words: Henry H. Milman, in Hymns Written and Adapted to the Weekly Church Service of the Year, by Reginald Heber (London: J. Murray, 1827), page 43, alt.
Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into My barn.
Matthew 13:30
Words: Henry H. Milman, in Hymns Written and Adapted to the Weekly Church Service of the Year, by Reginald Heber (London: J. Murray, 1827), page 43, alt.
The angel comes, he comes to reap
The harvest of the Lord!
O’er all the earth with fatal sweep
Wide waves his flaming sword.
And who are they, in sheaves to bide
The fire of vengeance bound?
The tares, whose rank luxuriant pride
Choked the fair crop around.
And who are they, reserved in store
God’s treasure-house to fill?
The wheat, a hundred-fold that bore
Amid surrounding ill.
O King of Mercy! grant us power
Thy fiery wrath to flee!
In Thy destroying angel’s hour
O gather us to Thee!