The sower went forth sowing

The sower went forth sowing. William St Hill Bourne* (1846-1929). According to Frere (1909, p. 650) this was written in 1874 for a Harvest Festival service when Bourne was a curate at Christ Church, Ashford, Kent. It was printed in Church Bells (1874), and immediately found its way into the Second Edition of A&M (1875). It remained in subsequent A&M editions, with minor alterations in 1904, up to and including A&MR, after which it was dropped.  It was based on Mark 4: 3, and parallel passages in Matthew (13: 3) and Luke (8: 5), but it transforms the parable into a sermon on the sufferings and death of Our Lord, as in stanza 2: Behold! The heav’nly Sower   Goes forth with better...