Scripture Verse

He will thoroughly purge His floor, and gather His wheat into the garner; but He will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. Matthew 3:12

Introduction

portrait
Benjamin C. Unseld
(1843–1923)

Words: Eli­za M. Sher­man, in Fount of Bless­ing, ed­it­ed by Ro­bert G. Sta­ples (Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois: Cen­tral Book Con­cern, 1880), page 143.

Music: Ben­ja­min C. Uns­eld (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Sher­man (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Long, O Mas­ter, in Thy vine­yard
Thro’ the dust and heat of day,
I have toiled, and with my bur­den,
Come I now thro’ sha­dows gray.

Refrain

Toiling in Thy vine­yard
All day long with wea­ry feet,
Glad to rest when ev­en­ing cometh,
And the hours are cool and sweet.

Tangled vines and fad­ed flow­ers
Hidden lie among my sheaves,
Look’st Thou sor­row­ful, O Mas­ter?
Is there no­thing there but leaves?

Refrain

Purge, Thou, then, the sheaves so worth­less,
That I lay at Thy dear feet,
So they yield Thee at the har­vest
Only fin­est of the wheat.

Refrain