My first year it was the opening hymn at the first Chapel Service of the year. By the second verse I was in a puddle of ecstatic tears! Still does it to me!
I love this hymn, can't sing it without a crack in my voice. What's more, I have had the pleasure of having some Westminsterians sing Happy Birthday to me on the corso at the Spoleto Festival in 1985, my 24th.
I like having the words in front of me. Come, labor on! Who dares stand idle, on the harvest plain While all around him waves the golden grain? And to each servant does the Master say, “Go work today.” Come, labor on! Claim the high calling angels cannot share- To young and old the Gospel gladness bear; Redeem the time; its hours too swiftly fly. The night draws nigh. Come, labor on! The enemy is watching night and day, To sow the tares, to snatch the seed away; While we in sleep our duty have forgot, He slumbered not. Come, labor on! Away with gloomy doubts and faithless fear! No arm so weak but may do service here: By feeblest agents may our God fulfill His righteous will. Come, labor on! No time for rest, till glows the western sky, Till the long shadows o’er our pathway lie, And a glad sound comes with the setting sun, “Well done, well done!” Come, labor on! The toil is pleasant, the reward is sure; Blessèd are those who to the end endure; How full their joy, how deep their rest shall be, O Lord, with Thee!
Beautiful, noble and stirring. I couldn't recognize the words in the stanzas after the first, at least as I remembered them. Maybe the ordet was changed -- or maybe my hearing is going...
Those verses are what's in the hymnal I have, but they left out this verse: Come, labor on! The enemy is watching night and day, To sow the tares, to snatch the seed away; While we in sleep our duty have forgot, He slumbered not. Too bad it's missing; there's a good message there for today's world.
My first year it was the opening hymn at the first Chapel Service of the year. By the second verse I was in a puddle of ecstatic tears! Still does it to me!
That hymn still gives me goosebumps.
I love this hymn, can't sing it without a crack in my voice. What's more, I have had the pleasure of having some Westminsterians sing Happy Birthday to me on the corso at the Spoleto Festival in 1985, my 24th.
It’s one of the best. I first noticed it when heard it at some guy’s funeral when I was a child.
So many memories of singing this at Westminster!
I like having the words in front of me.
Come, labor on!
Who dares stand idle, on the harvest plain
While all around him waves the golden grain?
And to each servant does the Master say,
“Go work today.”
Come, labor on!
Claim the high calling angels cannot share-
To young and old the Gospel gladness bear;
Redeem the time; its hours too swiftly fly.
The night draws nigh.
Come, labor on!
The enemy is watching night and day,
To sow the tares, to snatch the seed away;
While we in sleep our duty have forgot, He slumbered not.
Come, labor on!
Away with gloomy doubts and faithless fear!
No arm so weak but may do service here:
By feeblest agents may our God fulfill
His righteous will.
Come, labor on!
No time for rest, till glows the western sky,
Till the long shadows o’er our pathway lie,
And a glad sound comes with the setting sun,
“Well done, well done!”
Come, labor on!
The toil is pleasant, the reward is sure;
Blessèd are those who to the end endure;
How full their joy, how deep their rest shall be,
O Lord, with Thee!
This was always my favorite hymn, due to the chromatic chords in the middle.
I know! It's so unique.
Beautiful, noble and stirring. I couldn't recognize the words in the stanzas after the first, at least as I remembered them. Maybe the ordet was changed -- or maybe my hearing is going...
Those verses are what's in the hymnal I have, but they left out this verse:
Come, labor on!
The enemy is watching night and day,
To sow the tares, to snatch the seed away;
While we in sleep our duty have forgot,
He slumbered not.
Too bad it's missing; there's a good message there for today's world.
My Jesus I love this song
Had to stop what I was doing and turn the volume up! 🥺🥰🥲 ‘70