This livelong night we've toiled in vain. J. Keble. [Obedience.] This poem is dated 1821. It appeared in the Christian Year, 1827, for the 5th Sunday after Trinity, and based upon a portion of the Gospel of the day, St. Luke v. 1, &c. In its original form it is unknown to modern hymnals, but a cento compiled from its 15 stanzas is given in the New Congregational Hymn Book, 1859, beginning with stanza i.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)