Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Sing to the Lord of Harvest

Sing to the Lord of harvest,
Sing songs of love and praise;
With joyful hearts and voices
Your alleluias raise.
By Him the rolling seasons
In fruitful order move;
Sing to the Lord of harvest,
A joyous song of love.

By Him the clouds drop fatness,
The deserts bloom and spring,
The hills leap up in gladness,
The valleys laugh and sing.
He fills them with His fullness
And all things will increase,
He crowns the year with goodness,
With plenty and with peace.

Bring to His sacred altar
The gifts His goodness gave,
The golden sheaves of harvest,
The souls He died to save.
Your hearts lay down before Him
When at His feet you fall,
And with your lives adore Him,
Who gave His life for all.

To God the gracious Father,
Who made us “very good,”
To Christ, who, when we wandered,
Restored us with His blood,
And to the Holy Spirit,
Who doth upon us pour
His blessèd dews and sunshine,
Be praise forevermore!

---John S.B. Monsell, 1866; adapted c.m.b., 2009

2 comments:

Jim Swindle said...

This good hymn is new to me. It would go well with the tune "St. Theodulph," usually sung with the words, "All Glory, Laud and Honor."

C. Marie Byars said...

We use that same tune for "All Glory, Laud and Honor." But the tune this hymn is set to is "Wie Leiblich Ist der Maien" [How lovely is May], which is harder & which we only use with this hymn. I think your choice of tunes would be better, if you printed the workds & people could follow it without having the hymn tune printed out.