Lord, 'tis Thy plenty-dropping hand That soils my land, And giv'st me for my bushel sowne Twice ten for one. All this, and better, Thou dost send Me, to this end, That I should render, for my part, A thankful heart.

These lines come from Robert Herrick’s devotional poetry, written in the milieu of early Stuart England and published in his 1648 collection *Hesperides* (issued together with the religious volume *His Noble Numbers*). Herrick (1591–1674), an Anglican clergyman, often blended homely rural imagery with liturgical gratitude. The speaker addresses God as the giver of agricultural abundance—seedtime and harvest—reflecting a society where prosperity was felt most immediately in the yield of the land. The poem functions like a brief prayer of thanksgiving: material plenty is acknowledged as divine gift, and the proper human response is inward and moral rather than merely celebratory.

The poem frames prosperity as grace rather than entitlement. God’s “plenty-dropping hand” suggests a continual, almost rainfall-like generosity that “soils” (i.e., enriches) the land and multiplies the sower’s return (“twice ten for one”). Yet the climax shifts from economics to ethics: the purpose of abundance is “to this end,” that the recipient cultivate “a thankful heart.” Herrick thus turns the language of husbandry into a spiritual lesson—gratitude is the true harvest. The compact stanza also implies stewardship: gifts are not merely to be enjoyed but to be answered with humility, praise, and a disposition oriented toward the giver.