Tune: St George\'s, Windsor
(\'Come, ye thankful people, come\')
Matthew 13 v.36-43
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Parable of the tares told
Jesus did it there unfold
To disciples, said that he
Who sows the seed, He* it be (*the Son of man)
And the field it be the world
Explanation now unfurled
Good seed children of kingdom
Tares children of wicked one
Enemy that the tares sowed
Is the devil, he bestowed
Them, and harvest is the end
Of the world, when reapers tend
They be the angels, servants
Awaiting the Lord\'s words thence
To gather tares and them burn
In the fire, with no return
So it shall be in the end
Of the world, the Lord shall send
Forth His angels, they work do
Harvest is their sight, their view
Gathering out of kingdom
All that offend, not just some
And them which continue sin
Who do no good deeds therein
They cast them into furnace
Of fire, weeping, anguish this
Their state, but then the righteous
Shall shine as the sun, e\'en us
If by grace counted among
The righteous, let praise be sung
Shining in the kingdom e\'er
Of their Father they shall share