The Sower Went Forth Sowing Lyrics
Author: W. St. Hill Bourne
The sower went forth sowing,
The seed in secret slept
Through weeks of faith and patience,
Till out the green blade crept;
And warmed by golden sunshine,
And fed by silver rain,
At last the fields were whitened
To harvest once again.
O praise the heavenly Sower,
Who gave the fruitful seed,
And watched and watered duly,
And ripened for our need.
Behold! the heavenly Sower
Goes forth with better seed,
The Word of sure salvation,
With feet and hands that bleed;
Here in His Church ’tis scattered,
Our spirits are the soil;
Then let an ample fruitage
Repay His pain and toil.
Oh, beauteous is the harvest,
Wherein all goodness thrives,
And this the true thanksgiving,
The first fruits of our lives.
Within a hallowed acre
He sows yet other grain,
When peaceful earth receiveth
The dead He died to gain;
For though the growth be hidden,
We know that they shall rise;
Yea even now they ripen
In sunny Paradise.
O summer land of harvest,
O fields forever white
With souls that wear Christ’s raiment,
With crowns of golden light.
One day the heavenly Sower
Shall reap where He hath sown,
And come again rejoicing,
And with Him bring His own;
And then the fan of judgment
Shall winnow from His floor
The chaff into the furnace
That flameth evermore.
O holy, awful Reaper,
Have mercy in the day,
Thou puttest in the sickle,
And cast us not away.
The Sower Went Forth Sowing Hymn Story
This harvest hymn, “The sower went forth sowing”, was written by Prebendary William St. Hill Bourne. He wrote this hymn while serving as the clergyman in charge of a church at South Ashford, Kent in the United Kingdom.
When publishers of Hymns Ancient and Modern obtained permission to use this hymn, they were not provided with a tune. They therefore sent the hymn to Sir Frederick Bridge at Westminster Abbey asking him to compose a suitable tune.
When Sir Frederick Bridge received it his own little daughter Beatrice lay dying.
You can understand how in such a situation he must have been touched deeply by the following lines in verse three:
When peaceful earth receiveth
The dead He died to gain;
For though the growth be hidden,
We know that they shall rise;
Sir Frederick stated that the writing of this tune to be different from any other work he had ever done. He named the tune, “St. Beatrice”, after his beloved little daughter Beatrice.
Below are more hymns’ stories and lyrics:
O Safe to the Rock That Is Higher Than I
O Lord of Heaven and Earth and Sea
Not Now but in The Coming Years
