The Church — Ministry and Missions

Ho! reapers of life's harvest

No. 1053
Metre 7s & 6s. D.
Tune LIFE'S HARVEST.
Words Isaac B. Woodbury.
Music Isaac B. Woodbury.
Key C major
Singing key B♭ major
Time 4/4
4 stanzas

Words

Ho! reapers of life's harvest,Why stand with rusty blade,Until the night draws round thee,And day begins to fade?Why stand ye idle, waitingFor reapers more to come?The golden morn is passing,Why sit ye idle, dumb?

Thrust in your sharpened sickle,And gather in the grain;The night is fast approaching,And soon will come again.The Master calls for reapers,And shall he call in vain?Shall sheaves lie there ungathered,And waste upon the plain?

Come down from hill and mountain,In morning's ruddy glow,Nor wait until the dialPoints to the noon below;And come with the strong sinew,Nor faint in heat or cold;And pause not till the eveningDraws round its wealth of gold.

Mount up the hights of wisdom,And crush each error low;Keep back no words of knowledgeThat human hearts should know.Be faithful to thy mission,In service of thy Lord,And soon a golden chapletWill be thy rich reward.

About this hymn

As printed As printed: running head «THE CHURCH—MINISTRY AND MISSIONS.»; hymn number «1053» (large), tune name «LIFE'S HARVEST. 7s & 6s. D.» centred over the music, «ISAAC B. WOODBURY.» at the right (capitals and small capitals); printed vertically in the right margin beside system 2, reading downward, «By per. O. Ditson & Co.» Stanza 1 is interlinear, one line per system, with «1.» before «Ho!»: system 1 = verse lines 1–3, system 2 = verse lines 4–6; verse lines 7–8 are printed in italics as a second line under the last bars of system 1 and the first bars of system 2 («D. S.—The gold - en morn is passing,» / «Why sit ye i-dle, dumb?»), and are sung there after the «D. S.» at the end of system 2 (the music returns to the segno over «Un-» and ends at «Fine.» after «fade?»). Stanza 1 below is assembled in the order sung. «harvest», «rusty», «passing», «begins» and «waiting» are set unbroken under two notes; «Un - til», «gold - en», «i - dle», «reap - ers» are hyphenated. The italic reference line «833, 246.» (= the same words may be sung to the tunes of hymns 833 or 246) stands under the music; stanzas 2–4 follow as text in the left column, numbered «2», «3», «4» without period, with «Isaac B. Woodbury.» in italics after stanza 4. The print sets a thin space before «!», «?» and «;» («Ho !», «fade ?», «come ?», «dumb ?», «grain ;», «below ;», «cold ;», «low ;»); it is closed up here. «hights» (stanza 4) is the print's spelling. Lines 2, 4, 6 and 8 of each stanza are indented in the print. Spelling, punctuation and capitals are the print's.