Difference between revisions of ""Come, Ye Thankful People, Come""

Revision as of 04:41, 5 March 2023

Part 3 The Scripture of "Come, Ye Thankful People, Come"

Part 1: The Poetry of "Come, Ye Thankful People, Come"</strong>

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 Come,  ye thankful people, come,

     Raise the song of harvest home;

     All is safely gathered in,

     Ere the winter storms begin.

     God our Maker doth provide

     For our wants to be supplied;

     Come to God's own temple, come,

     Raise the song of harvest home.

 

       2

     All  the world is God's own field,

   Fruit unto His praise to yield;

   Wheat and tares together sown

   Unto joy or sorrow grown.

   First the blade and then the ear,

   Then the full corn shall appear;

   Lord of harvest, grant that we

   Wholesome grain and pure may be.

 

     3

 

   For  the Lord our God shall come,

   And shall take His harvest home;

   From His field shall in that day

   All offenses purge away,

   Giving angels charge at last

   In the fire the tares to cast;

   But the fruitful ears to store

   In His garner evermore.

 

     4

 

   Even  so, Lord, quickly come,

   Bring Thy final harvest home;

   Gather Thou Thy people in,

   Free from sorrow, free from sin,

   There, forever purified,

   In Thy garner to abide;

   Come, with all Thine angels come,

   Raise the glorious harvest home.

Part 2: The Background of "Come, Ye Thankful People, Come"

The words for the Thanksgiving hymn, "Come, Ye Thankful People, Come," were written by Dr. Henry Alford (1810-1871), a noted hymnologist and Greek scholar, and published in 1844, the same year of the publication of the first of his four volume work, "The Greek New Testament: With a Critically Revised Text; a Digest of Various Readings; Marginal References to Verbal and Idiomatic Usage; Prolegomena; and a Critical and Exegetical Commentary, For the use of theological students and ministers." Alford, the son of the Rector of Aston Sandford, was the picture of a 19th century Anglican churchman-- educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, took Holy Orders in 1833, vicar of Wymeswold, Leicestershire for 18 years, and Dean of Canterbury in 1857. The St. George's, Windsor tune for "Come, Ye Thankful People, Come" was originally composed by Sir George J. Elvey (1816-1893) in Thorne's "A Selection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes" (1858) for the hymn, "Hark, the Song of Jubilee." Elvey's tune was subsequently set to Alford's words in "Hymns Ancient and Modern" (1861). Elvey was the organist of St. George's Chapel, Windsor from 1835 to 1882. What diversity, that the Separatist Pilgrims and their later counterparts from the Church of England should combine on both sides of the Atlantic to give to us a Christian appreciation of the celebration of Thanksgiving!

4 Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand. 5 One man esteemeth one day above another: another esteemeth every day alike. Let every man be fully persuaded in his own mind. 6 He that regardeth the day, regardeth it unto the LORD; and he that regardeth not the day, to the LORD he doth not regard it. He that eateth, eateth to the LORD, for he giveth God thanks; and he that eateth not, to the LORD he eateth not, and giveth God thanks. 7 For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself. 8 For whether we live, we live unto the LORD; and whether we die, we die unto the LORD: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the LORD's" (Romans 14:4-8).

This festive harvest hymn was revised by Alford in his "Poetical Works" (1865/1868) and his "Year of Praise" (1867)-- containing seven verses-- but has been restricted in most modern hymn books to four verses. The first verse is a true expression of God's safe provision and a call for man's thanksgiving. "But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:19). It addresses the common theme of harvest festivals, called in England the Harvest Home, which is celebrated in English churches usually during the month of September. A thanksgiving service would be held in the church, where the bounty of the harvest is collected, displayed with the fall trappings of pumpkins and autumn leaves, and then dispensed to the needy. And, of course, unlike the humanist that is essentially grateful to only himself, a true Harvest Home celebration acknowledges the provision of God, as did the Pilgrims in 1621 and the ancient Hebrews in their Feast of Firstfruits in the spring on the first day after Passover at the time of the barley harvest. "9 <b/> <p>And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, 10 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, When ye be come into the land which I give unto you, and shall reap the harvest thereof, then ye shall bring a sheaf of the firstfruits of your harvest unto the priest: 11 And he shall wave the sheaf before the LORD, to be accepted for you: on the morrow after the sabbath the priest shall wave it. 12 And ye shall offer that day when ye wave the sheaf an he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering unto the LORD. 13 And the meat offering thereof shall be two tenth deals of fine flour mingled with oil, an offering made by fire unto the LORD for a sweet savour: and the drink offering thereof shall be of wine, the fourth part of an hin. 14 And ye shall eat neither bread, nor parched corn, nor green ears, until the selfsame day that ye have brought an offering unto your God: it shall be a statute for ever throughout your generations in all your dwellings" (Leviticus 23:9-14).<p/>
Though Henry Alford was decidedly not a Methodist, he found common ground with his Christian brother John Wesley in his disdain for sin, e.g., "Lord of harvest, grant that we wholesome grain and pure may be." Any Pilgrim would much rather have a bountiful yield of the "finest of the wheat" (Psalm 147:14) than the pitiful remains of a sin blighted harvest, and the LORD God of the Harvest is no different. "I am the Vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without Me ye can do nothing" (John 15:5). Though Alford differed widely with Wesley's Christian perfection, viewing it akin to Pelagianism; likewise, he aspired to give the LORD of the Harvest His due, e.g., "Gather Thou Thy people in, free from sorrow, free from sin, There, forever purified, in Thy garner to abide." "6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the First Resurrection: on such the Second Death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years. 11 He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still" (Revelation 20:6; 22:11).

While the first verse chiefly addresses the theme of thanksgiving, the last three verses deal with the theme of final harvest in the judgment of the world as paralleled in Christ's parables of the wheat and tares (Matthew 13:24-30) and the parable of the seed springing up without the sower knowing of it (Mark 4:26-29). "24 Another parable put He forth unto them, saying, The Kingdom of Heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field: 25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. 26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also. 27 So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares? 28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up? 29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn" (Matthew 13:24-30). Commenting upon this parable of the wheat and the tares, where an enemy sows tares in the field where true wheat had already been planted, Alford wrote: "Our Lord was speaking of an act of malice practised in the East: persons of revengeful disposition watch the ground of a neighbour being ploughed, and in the night following sow destructive weeds... The practice is not unknown even to England at present. Since the publication of the first edition of this commentary, a field belonging to the editor at Gaddesby in Leicestershire was maliciously sown with charlock (sinapis arvensis) over the wheat. An action at law was brought by the tenant, and heavy damages obtained against the offender" (excerpted from Volume I of "The Greek New Testament," commenting on Matthew 13:24-30).

Likewise, I have commented upon the same parable in expounding upon Revelation 13:17 ("And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the Beast, or the number of his name"): "As in the end game of a chess match, the LORD of the Harvest (Luke 10:2) must skillfully position His game pieces to harvest all the Elect, while carefully punishing only the wicked. '12 Whose fan is in His hand, and He will throughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire' (Matthew 3:12). When the LORD Jesus Christ returns at His Second Coming, and 'every eye shall see Him' (Revelation 1:7), He will carefully separate for judgment and damnation (cp. 14:9-11), the 'tares', which are the recipients of the Mark of the Beast. '28 He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto Him, Wilt Thou then that we go and gather them up? 29 But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares [a kind of darnel, which is a poisonous grass], ye root up also the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into My barn' (Matthew 13:28-30). Thus, the Almighty's use of the 'wrath of man' (Psalm 76:10) in the form of the Mark of the Beast, will 'praise' (76:10) Himself, when He separates for judgment the wicked, and preserves all the remaining Righteous ones. '[Jesus prayed immediately before the Garden of Gethsemane:] While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy name: those that Thou gavest Me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled' (John 17:12)"
The other harvest theme addressed by Alford's Thanksgiving hymn, e.g., "First the blade and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear," is the parable concerning spiritual growth and the proper timing of the harvest by the All Wise Husbandman. "26 And He said, So is the Kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground; 27 And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. 28 For the Earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. 29 But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come" (Mark 4:26-29). Life emanates from God alone. "Jesus saith unto him, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me" (John 14:6). Though modern agronomy may explain sufficiently the planting, cultivation, and harvest of crops, it is embarrassingly deficient in explaining the Source of Life, at least without embarking upon the "oppositions of science falsely so called:" (1Timothy 6:20) in the form of the theory of evolution. But, after faith has firmly grasped Almighty God as the Giver of Life, then the harvest of the fruit of those lives, either as "wholesome grain and pure" or "offenses" and "tares," is entirely acceptable to the faithful. "Because He hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that Man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised Him from the dead" (Acts 17:31).