The Cyber Hymnal ‎#1937

1937. Go, Labor On: Spend, and Be Spent

1. Go, labor on: spend, and be spent,
Thy joy to do the Father’s will:
It is the way the Master went;
Should not the servant tread it still?

2. Go, labor on! ’tis not for naught
Thine earthly loss is heavenly gain;
Men heed thee, love thee, praise thee not;
The Master praises: what are men?

3. Go, labor on! enough, while here,
If He shall praise thee, if He deign
The willing heart to mark and cheer:
No toil for Him shall be in vain.

4. Go, labor on! Your hands are weak,
Your knees are faint, your soul cast down;
Yet falter not; the prize you seek
Is near—a kingdom and a crown.

5. Go, labor on while it is day:
The world’s dark night is hastening on;
Speed, speed thy work, cast sloth away;
It is not thus that souls are won.

6. Men die in darkness at thy side,
Without a hope to cheer the tomb;
Take up the torch and wave it wide,
The torch that lights time’s thickest gloom.

7. Toil on, faint not, keep watch and pray,
Be wise the erring soul to win;
Go forth into the world’s highway,
Compel the wanderer to come in.

8. Toil on, and in thy toil rejoice!
For toil comes rest, for exile home;
Soon shalt thou hear the Bridegroom’s voice,
The midnight peal, Behold, I come!

Text Information

• First Line: Go, labor on: spend, and be spent
• Title: Go, Labor On: Spend, and Be Spent
• Author: Horatius Bonar (1843)
• Meter: LM
• Language: English
• Source: Songs for the Wilderness, 1843
• Copyright: Public Domain
• Notes: Alternate tunes: ERNAN, Lowell Mason, 1850; ILLINOIS, Jonathan E. Spilman, 1812-1896, arranged by Thomas Hastings, 1784-1872

Tune Information

• Name: PENTECOST
• Composer: William Boyd (1864)
• Meter: LM
• Incipit: 33333 21433 33221
• Key: A♭ Major
• Source: First published in Thirty-two Hymn Tunes Composed by Members of the University of Oxford, 1868
• Copyright: Public Domain