Scripture References:
all st. = Ps. 65:9-13
In simple, vivid language derived from biblical images in the second half of Psalm 65, this text thanks the Lord for the harvest (st. 1-2) and offers to God the harvest of our lives (st. 3). Written by John S. B. Monsell in four stanzas, this text was published in Monsell's Hymns of Love and Praise in 1866.
John Samuel Bewley Monsell (b. St. Colomb's, Londonderry, Ireland, 1811; d. Guilford, Surrey, England, 1875) was educated at Trinity College in Dublin and served as a chaplain and rector of several churches in Ireland after his ordination in 1835. Transferred to England in 1853, he became rector of Egham in Surrey and was rector of St. Nicholas Church in Guilford from 1870 until his death (caused by a construction accident at his church). A prolific poet, Monsell published his verse in eleven volumes. His three hundred hymns, many celebrating the seasons of the church year, were issued in collections such as Hymns and Miscellaneous Poems (1837), Spiritual Songs (1857), Hymns of Love and Praise (1863), and The Parish Hymnal (1873).
Liturgical Use:
Harvest thanksgiving and similar services; offertory hymn; hymn of dedication; stanza is fitting for dedication of our gifts and our whole lives for kingdom service/missions.
--Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1988
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Sing to the Lord of harvest. J. S. B. Monsell. [Harvest.] Published in the 2nd edition of his Hymns of Love and Praise, 1866, in 4 stanzas of 8 lines and, again, altered to "Sing to the Lord of bounty" in his Parish Hymnal, 1873. Both forms of the text are in common use in Great Britain and America. In his Parish Hymnal, Dr. Monsell appointed this hymn for Rogation Days.
-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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