The Sower

1 Ye sons of earth prepare the plough,
Break up your fallow ground!
The Sower is gone forth to sow,
And scatter blessings round.

2 The seed that finds a stony soil,
Shoots forth a hasty blade;
But ill repays the sower's toil,
Soon withered, scorched, and dead.

3 The thorny ground is sure to balk
All hopes of harvest there:
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 blessed 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.

The Christian's duty, exhibited in a series of hymns, 1791

Ye sons of earth, prepare the plough. W. Cowper. [The Sower.] Published in the Olney Hymns, 1779, Bk. i., No, 85, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines, and entitled, "The Sower." It is in several modern collections, but it does not rank in popularity with many of Cowper's hymns.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)