Work is sweet, for God has blest honest work with quiet rest

Representative Text

1. Work is sweet, for God has blest
Honest work with quiet rest,
Rest below and rest above
In the mansions of His love,
When the work of life is done,
When the battle’s fought and won.

2. Work ye, then, while yet ’tis day,
Work ye Christians, while ye may,
Work for all that’s great and good,
Working for your daily food.
Working whilst the golden hours,
Health, and strength, and youth are yours.

3. Working not alone for gold,
Not the work that’s bought and sold,
Not the work that worketh strife,
But the working of a life
Careless both of good or ill,
If ye can but do His will.

4. Working ere the day is gone,
Working till your work is done,
Not as traffickers at marts,
But as fitteth honest hearts,
Working till your spirits rest
With the spirits of the blest.

Source: The Cyber Hymnal #7505

Author: Godfrey Thring

Godfrey Thring (b. Alford, Somersetshire, England, 1823; d. Shamley Green, Guilford, Surrey, England, 1903) was born in the parsonage of Alford, where his father was rector. Educated at Balliol College, Oxford, England, he was ordained a priest in the Church of England in 1847. After serving in several other parishes, Thring re­turned to Alford and Hornblotten in 1858 to succeed his father as rector, a position he retained until his own retirement in 1893. He was also associated with Wells Cathedral (1867-1893). After 1861 Thring wrote many hymns and published several hymnals, including Hymns Congregational (1866), Hymns and Sacred Lyrics (1874), and the respect­ed A Church of England Hymn Book Adapted to the Daily Services of the Church… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Work is sweet, for God has blest honest work with quiet rest
Author: Godfrey Thring
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Tune

DIX (Kocher)

An early form of the tune DIX was composed by Conrad Kocher (b. Ditzingen, Wurttemberg, Germany, 1786; d. Stuttgart, Germany, 1872). Trained as a teacher, Kocher moved to St. Petersburg, Russia, to work as a tutor at the age of seventeen. But his love for the music of Haydn and Mozart impelled him t…

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VOLLER WUNDER


O DU LIEBE MEINER LIEBE (Thommen)

Originally a folk song ("Sollen nun die grünen Jahre") dating from around 1700, O DU LIEBE MEINER LIEBE was used as a hymn tune in the Catholic hymnal Bambergisches Gesangbuch (1732). The tune name is the incipit of the text to which it was set in Johann Thommen's Erbaulicher Musicalischer Christen…

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Timeline

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The Cyber Hymnal #7505
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The Cyber Hymnal #7505

Include 17 pre-1979 instances
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