The Firstfruits | AdventAI

California Conference of Seventh-day Adventists · Oakland, Cal. · Mar 25, 1875

The Firstfruits.

Just as the Hebrew priest received The first sheaf from the reaper's hand, And to the Lord, whom they believed, Offered the harvest of the land, So Jesus, risen from the tomb, Where love had laid him gently down, Came to the altar, in the bloom Of that new life which won his crown.

"Christ the firstfruits!" the first ripe sheaf Of the wide world's great harvest field; The perfect pattern, type, and chief, Of all the treasures death shall yield. So let the precious seed be sown In every furrow of the earth; Beneath the seas, in graves unknown, Till Christ shall send the reapers forth.

Lord of the living and the dead, Who art alive forevermore, Thy sleeping saints await their Head, Like Mary at the open door. They shall come with thee in that hour When, without sin, thou com'st to save. They shall be like thee, by thy power To conquer death and spoil the grave.

Break, break, O morning fair and bright! Wake all the sleepers of the tomb; O sun of glory! with thy light Flood the dark vale, dispel its gloom. Wave thy ripe sheaf, O Prince of life, In the great house not made with hands, And at thine altar end the strife With death and sorrow in all lands.

"Christ the firstfruits!" and afterward They that are Christ's when he shall come; The best sheaf lifted heavenward, Then the full garnered harvest-home. Then shall our harvest-joy arise, When all thy sheaves are safe at home. Singing the hymn of paradise, "Thy will be done! Thy kingdom come!" —Bible Society Record.