Come, Ye Thankful People
94

Text: Henry Alford (1810–1871)
Music: George J. Elvey (1816–1893)
Tune name: ST. GEORGE’S WINDSOR

“Live in thanksgiving daily,” exhorted the prophet Amulek (Alma 34:38). Especially during the Thanksgiving holiday season, the time when this hymn is usually sung, we should reflect even more thoughtfully and joyfully upon our blessings. This hymn gives us an opportunity to recognize and praise the generous goodness of our Heavenly Father.

Like “Prayer of Thanksgiving” (no. 93), this hymn, which Americans so automatically link with the Pilgrims and their first Thanksgiving feast, actually has no historical connection with these events. The author and composer both lived in England during the nineteenth century.

The hymn’s original title was “After the Harvest.” The first verse is a straightforward statement of rejoicing in a bounteous harvest. Because the grain has been safely gathered and stored “ere the winter storms begin,” the “thankful people” know they are secure from want for another year, and a pause for praise, gratitude, and song is in order.

The thanks for the harvest leads naturally to the second verse’s reference to the parable of the wheat and tares. Some of the words are based closely on the words of Jesus, as given in Mark: “For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear” (Mark 4:28). The wholesome, desirable wheat grows side by side with the noxious and intrusive tares, as Matthew mentions in his account of this parable (see Matthew 13:24–30). Only at harvest time will the wheat finally be separated out and the tares burned.

The original four- stanza hymn concluded with these words, which complete and emphasize the thought that the righteous followers are the Lord’s final harvest:

Then, thou Church triumphant come
Raise the song of harvest home;
All are safely gathered in,
Free from sorrow, free from sin,
There forever purified,
In God’s garner to abide:
Come, ten thousand angels, come.
Raise the song of harvest home.

(Quoted in Marilyn Kay Stulken, Hymnal Companion to the Lutheran Book of Worship [Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1981], 444.)

The tune, ST. GEORGE’S WINDSOR, is named for the church where the composer, George J. Elvey, was organist for forty- seven years.