(Receive our blog posts in your email by clicking here. If the author links in this post are broken, please visit our Free PDF Library and click on the author’s page directly.)
Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days (Eccl. 11:1).
Among the writings of “Uncle Jeremy” — as United Presbyterian minister Jeremiah Rankin Johnston (1836-1890) signed letters to children which were published in the Youth’s Evangelist — is a collection of devotional poems which reveal his artistic side. Published posthumously by his friend James A. Grier, the poems — as well as sermons, addresses and biography of Johnston — are a delight to read. Here is one extract for consideration on a Sabbath afternoon.
Sowing the Seed
Let your seed be sown in the morning;
While the stars are still in view,
While the leaves are wet with dew;
And watch for its verdant adorning,
As you humbly wait and pray
In the coming sunny day.Let it scattered be at the nooning;
When the sky is all aglow,
When the tender breezes blow;
And think in your happy communing,
Of the day when it shall spread
All its beauty o’er your head.Let ev’ning forbid to withhold it;
As the air collects its chill,
As the shadows cloud the hill;
And trust, as the earth shall enfold it,
That its golden sheaves shall stand
In the singing reaper’s hand.But the see is His that you’re sowing;
From His hand distill the rains
That shall multiply your grains;
And from Him is the love bestowing,
That at last shall glory shed
On the happy sower’s head.
