O it is hard to work for God

Representative Text

1 O, it is hard to work for God,
To rise and take his part
Upon this battle-field of earth,
And not sometimes lose heart!

2 He hides himself so wondrously,
As though there were no God;
He is least seen when all the powers
Of ill are most abroad;

3 Or he deserts us in the hour
The fight is all but lost,
And seems to leave us to ourselves
Just when we need him most.

4 It is not so, but so it looks;
And we lose courage then;
And doubts will come though God hath kept
His promises to men.

5 But right is right, since God is God;
And right the day must win;
To doubt would be disloyalty,
To falter would be sin!

Source: The Seventh-Day Adventist Hymn and Tune Book: for use in divine worship #600

Author: Frederick W. Faber

Raised in the Church of England, Frederick W. Faber (b. Calverly, Yorkshire, England, 1814; d. Kensington, London, England, 1863) came from a Huguenot and strict Calvinistic family background. He was educated at Balliol College, Oxford, and ordained in the Church of England in 1839. Influenced by the teaching of John Henry Newman, Faber followed Newman into the Roman Catholic Church in 1845 and served under Newman's supervision in the Oratory of St. Philip Neri. Because he believed that Roman Catholics should sing hymns like those written by John Newton, Charles Wesley, and William Cowpe, Faber wrote 150 hymns himself. One of his best known, "Faith of Our Fathers," originally had these words in its third stanza: "Faith of Our Fathers! Mary'… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: O it is hard to work for God
Author: Frederick W. Faber
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

O it is hard to work for God. F. W. Faber. [Trial of Faith.] Appeared in his Jesus and Mary, &c., 1849, in 19 stanzas of 4 lines, and headed, "The Right must Win;" also repeated in his Hymns, 1862. The following centos fom this hymn are in common use:-- (1) "O it is hard to work for God:" (2) "God's glory is a wondrous thing:" (3) "O blest is he to whom is given:" and (4) "Workman of God, O lose not heart."

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology

Tune

ST. AGNES (Dykes)

John B. Dykes (PHH 147) composed ST. AGNES for [Jesus the Very Thought of Thee]. Dykes named the tune after a young Roman Christian woman who was martyred in A.D. 304 during the reign of Diocletian. St. Agnes was sentenced to death for refusing to marry a nobleman to whom she said, "I am already eng…

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The Cyber Hymnal #5003

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