178 8.8.6. J. Berridge
No Gathering to Profit but with Christ. Matt. 12. 30
1
Abundance of good folk, I find,
 
Are gathering goodness for the wind
 
To scatter it about;
 
They seek, with human care and skill,
 
Their vessels with good wine to fill,
 
But all the wine leaks out.
2
[A fretful soul his fault may spy,
 
And struggle much, and often try
 
Some patience to obtain;
 
Yet after many toilsome years,
 
And many sighs and many tears,
 
He has not got a grain.]
3
He that with Jesus gathers not,
 
May plough and sow, and weed his plot,
 
But scatters all his corn;
 
No real goodness long can stand,
 
Which planted is by human hand;
 
It dies as soon as born.
4
[They reap and scatter all the while;
 
They reap and gather nought but toil;
 
’Tis labour lost, I see.
 
O Lord, do thou instruct my heart
 
With my own reaping-hook to part,
 
And gather all with thee.]
5
In Christ my treasure gathered is;
 
My wisdom, wealth, and might are his,
 
My peace at his command;
 
With him is free and plenteous store,
 
And faith may have enough and more,
 
When gathered from his hand.