A story is related, which has to do with the Second Coming of our blessed Lord and the general dissemination of this precious truth. At last it reached the workers in the South as they worked in the cotton fields. Said one of the old brethren, What’s the use of us picking cotton if the Lord is coming back? And scores of others agreed. The cotton pickers stopped their work, and the cotton wasted in the fields. Everybody else was busy attending conferences and camp meetings, singing the praises of God, and looking for His return.

The following winter was one of great need and privation because their crops had been so woefully neglected.

Then one of their number, an evangelist, began preaching on this text: “It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns.”

Before long the people were once again tilling their ground and picking cotton in the rows. It remained for Bertrand Shadwell to give us the following poem which suggests their change in attitude:

There’s a King and Captain high, Who’ll be coming by and by; And He’ll find me hoeing cotton when He comes. You can hear His legions charging in the thunder of the sky; And He’ll find me hoeing cotton when He comes. When He comes! When He comes! All the dead shall rise, in answer to His drums. Oh, the fires of His encampment star the firmament on high; And the heavens shall roll asunder, when He comes.

There’s a Man they thrust aside, Who was tortured till He died; And He’ll find me hoeing cotton when He comes. He was spat upon and mocked at; He was scourged and crucified; And He’ll find me hoeing cotton when He comes. When He comes! When He comes! He’ll be loved by saints and angels when He comes; They’ll be calling out “Hosanna!” to the Man that men denied; And I’ll kneel among the cotton—When He comes!

“Occupy till I come” (Luke 19:13 KJV).