Behold, a Sower!
SAB choir and Organ (or Piano). This rollicking early American tune (LEANDER from Johnson's Tennessee Harmony, 1818) is great fun to sing. Moderately easy to learn and one of those anthems that makes your small choir sound great.
Text: Washington Gladden, 1897, alt.
Behold a Sower! from afar
Goes onward forth with might;
The rolling years the furrows are,
The seed, the growing light;
For all the just God’s Word is sown,
It springeth up alway;
The tender blade is hope’s young dawn,
The harvest, love’s new day.
O Lord of life, to you we lift
Our hearts in praise for those,
Your prophets, who have shown
Your gift
Of grace that ever grows,
Of truth that spreads from shore to shore,
Of wisdom’s wid'ning ray,
Of light that shineth more and more
Unto the perfect day.
Shine forth, O Light, that we may see,
With hearts all unafraid,
The meaning and the mystery
Of things that You have made;
Shine forth, and let the long dark past
Beneath the beam grow bright;
Shine forth, and touch the future vast
With Your untroubled light.
Light up Your Word; the ancient page
From all past bondage free,
Light up our way; lead forth this age
In love’s large liberty.
Oh, light of light! within us dwell,
Through us Your radiance pour,
That word of life all truth may tell,
And praise You evermore!