Page:Olney Hymns - 1840.djvu/139

BOOK I. We find a tall and sickly stalk, But not the fruitful ear.

4 The beaten path and highway-side Receive the trust in vain ; The watchful birds the spoil divide, And pick up all the grain.

5 But where the Lord of grace and power Has bless d the happy field, How plenteous is the golden store The deep-wrought furrows yield !

6 Father of mercies, we have need Of thy preparing grace ; Let the same hand that gives the seed Provide a fruitful place.

1 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.

2 Will it relieve their horrors there To recollect their stations here How much they heard, how much they knew, How long amongst the wheat they grew ?

3 Oh ! 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.

4 We seem alike when thus we meet, Strangers might think we all are wheat ; But to the Lord s all-searching eyes Each heart appears without disguise.

5 The tares are spared for various ends ; Some for the sake of praying friends, Others the Lord, against their will, Employs his counsels to fulfill.