_The Useful Life._ (818)
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
Thy willing heart to mark and cheer,
No toil for him shall be in vain.
4 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!"
Horatius Bonar, 1857.