231 Go, Labor on; Spend and Be Spent
Horatius Bonar, 1809-89
A hymn to encourage Christian workers. It was published in Songs for the Wilderness, 1843, under the title, “Labour for Christ.” In Hymns of Faith and Hope, 1867, it was entitled, “The Useful Life.”
Regarding the origin of the hymn, Rev. H. N. Bonar, son of the author wrote:
It was probably in the year 1836 that my father first wrote a hymn not primarily intended for the young. To encourage his faithful fellow workers in his mission district, he wrote, to the tune of the “Old Hundredth,” the now-familiar hymn, “Go, labour on.”
For comments on Horatius Bonar see Hymn 129.
MUSIC. ERNAN was written for Cantica Laudis, 1850, one of the books which Mason published with the assistance of Geo. J. Webb. For comments on the composer, Lowell Mason, see Hymn 12.