Go, Labor On

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 heav’nly 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 hast’ning 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 wand’rer 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!"