The Harvest Home

Though in the outward church below

p. 36
Key G major
Singing key E♭ major
Time 4/4 (printed C)
7 stanzas

Words

Though in the outward church below,
The wheat and tares together grow;
Jesus ere long will weed the crop,
And pluck the tares in anger up.

Will it relieve their horrors there,
To recollect their stations here;
How much they heard, how much they knew,
How much among the wheat they grew?
*For soon the reaping time will, &c.*

No! this will aggravate their case,
They perish'd under means of grace,
To them the word of life and faith
Became an instrument of death.
*For soon the reaping time will, &c.*

We seem alike when thus we meet,
Strangers might think we all were wheat,
But to the Lord's all-searching eyes,
Each heart appears without disguise.
*For soon the reaping time will, &c.*

The tares are spared for various ends,
Some for the sake of praying friends:
Others the Lord. against their will,
Employs his counsels to fulfil.
*For soon the reaping time will, &c.*

But though they grow so tall and strong,
His plan will not require them long;
In harvest, when he saves his own,
The tares shall into hell be thrown.
*For soon the reaping time will, &c.*

Oh! awful thought, and is it so?
Must all mankind the harvest know?
Is every man a wheat or tare?
Me, for that harvest, Lord, prepare.
*For soon the reaping time will, &c.*

About this hymn

As printed As printed: stanza 1 and the chorus between the two staves of printed p. 36 (five systems, «Chorus.» in bold before system 4); the whole hymn again as words on printed p. 37 (PDF 41) under the running head «MILLENNIAL HARP.» and the title «Harvest Home.», stanzas 1–7, the chorus printed in full in italics under «CHORUS.» (small capitals) after stanza 1 and abbreviated as «For soon the reaping time will, &c.» after stanzas 2–7. The text of stanzas and chorus below follows p. 37; under the music, line 4 of stanza 1 reads «trees» where p. 37 reads «tares» (see uncertainties.md).