Scripture Verse

The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Matthew 9:37

Introduction

portrait
William Sherwin
(1826–1888)

Words: John S. B. Mon­sell, Hymns of Love and Praise (Lon­don: Bell & Dal­dy, 1863), pag­es 206–08.

Music: Re­joic­ing Will­iam F. Sher­win, 1880 (🔊 pdf nwc). Ap­peared in A Se­lect­ion of Spir­it­ual Songs with Mu­sic, ed­it­ed by Charles S. Ro­bin­son (New York: Cen­tu­ry Com­pa­ny, 1881), num­ber 29 (1880 com­po­si­tion date is in ac­com­pa­ny­ing co­py­right state­ment). Com­pos­er is not iden­ti­fied: Sher­win’s name is giv­en in Laudes Domini in 1884.

portrait
John Monsell (1811–1875)

Lyrics

Earth below is teem­ing,
Heav’n is bright ab­ove,
Every brow is beam­ing
In the light of love:
Every eye re­joic­es,
Every thought is praise,
Happy hearts and voic­es
Gladden nights and days;

Refrain

O al­migh­ty Giv­er,
Beautiful and free!
As the joy in har­vest
Joy we be­fore Thee!

Every youth and maid­en
On the har­vest plain,
Round the wa­gons lad­en
With their gold­en grain,
Swell the hap­py chor­us
On the ev­en­ing air,
Unto Him who o’er us
Bends with con­stant care:

Refrain

For the sun and show­ers
For the rain and dew,
For the hap­py hours
Spring and sum­mer knew:
For the gold­en au­tumn
And its pre­cious stores,
For the love that brought them
Teeming to our doors:

Refrain

Earth’s broad har­vest whit­ens
In a bright­er sun,
Than the orb that light­ens
All we tread u­pon;
Send out la­bor­ers, Fa­ther!
Where fields rip­en­ing wave;
And the na­tions ga­ther,
Gather in and save.

Refrain