Saturday, September 5, 2015



In Honor of Labor Day 



COME, LABOR ON 

Tune: “Ora Labora” by T. Tertius Noble
Text: Jane Borthwick
Gerre Hancock, organist, St. Thomas, New York

Come, labor on.
Who dares stand idle on the harvest plain,
while all around us waves the golden grain?
And to each servant does the Master say,
"Go work today."

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.
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.
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.
"Servants, well done."




An alternative arrangement performed 
by a parish choir in Columbia, S.C.

ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFqM2bx4Atk



44 comments:

  1. Lovely! As you know, FT, I am partial to organ with choir versions of any hymn.

    My mother grew up in the Baptist church in the hills of Appalachia (East Tennessee). One of her favorite hymns was "Work, for the Night Is Coming," and I learned to sing that hymn when I was very young.

    The words are not as classy as those of "Come, Labor On," but the sentiments are much the same (albeit, not identical):

    Work, for the night is coming,
    Work through the morning hours;
    Work while the dew is sparkling,
    Work ’mid springing flowers;
    Work when the day grows brighter,
    Work in the glowing sun;
    Work, for the night is coming,
    When man’s work is done.

    Work, for the night is coming,
    Work through the sunny noon;
    Fill brightest hours with labor,
    Rest comes sure and soon.
    Give every flying minute,
    Something to keep in store;
    Work, for the night is coming,
    When man works no more.

    Work, for the night is coming,
    Under the sunset skies;
    While their bright tints are glowing,
    Work, for daylight flies.
    Work till the last beam fadeth,
    Fadeth to shine no more;
    Work, while the night is darkening,
    When man’s work is o’er.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know that piece too, AOW. My mother learned it Sunday school when she was a little girl. When I was small, she'd sing part of it to me when she thought I was too idle. I think of Work for the Night is Coming more as a SONG than a hymn. We never sang it in any of the churches I attended, but you're right the two pieces convey much the same message.

      Delete
    2. If you'd like to hear a sweet traditional performance of Work for the Night is Coming, it may be found at the following link.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWUo9KZW_Vg

      Delete
    3. If you'd prefer to hear it in an upbeat Hillbilly style,

      }}}}}}}}}}}}} SHUDDER {{{{{{{{{{{{{

      try this:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhV7vJQq6Nc

      Goes right along with my passionate conviction that tunes don't matter nearly as much as the WAY they are TREATED.

      Delete
    4. FT,
      I'll take that first version, please.

      Delete
  2. Jane L. Borthwick (b. Edinburgh, Scotland, 1813; d. Edinburgh, 1897) wrote the text for Come, Labor On and published it in her Thoughts for Thoughtful Hours (1859) in seven, six-line stanzas. Borthwick revised the text into its present five-line form and published that version in her Thoughts for Thoughtful Hours of 1863. The Psalter Hymnal includes stanzas 1, 2, 4, and 6 from her revised version.

    Inspired by the gospel parables that liken the coming of God's kingdom to the sowing of seed and harvesting of grain (see Matt. 9:37-38; Matt. 13; John 4:35-38), the text calls us to work for God's cause even in the face of Satan's opposition. Because our earthly time is limited, we must use our resources wisely and be diligent in our kingdom tasks until we hear the final “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25:21).

    Borthwick was a member of the Presbyterian Free Church of Scotland and had a strong interest in the church's mission work. She also supported Moravian missions in Labrador, Canada, and was involved in social service work in Edinburgh. Both Jane and her younger sister Sarah Findlater Borthwick (PHH 333) are well-known translators of German chorales.

    Liturgical Use:
    Ordination for church offices and for missionaries (although this text applies to all of God's people, not only to church workers); many occasions of worship that focus on our task in the world and in missions; profession of faith; at the beginning of a church season.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thomas Tertius Noble (May 5, 1867 – May 4, 1953) was an English-born organist and composer, resident in the United States for the latter part of his career. After studying at the Royal College of Music he served as Organist and Choirmaster at Ely Cathedral from 1892 to 1898, then at York Minster from 1898 to 1913, during which time he also conducted the York Symphony Orchestra, and composed for them.

    His last appointment was at St Thomas Episcopal Church in New York City from 1913 to 1943, where he was responsible for establishing a choral tradition along Anglican cathedral lines.

    Dr Noble also founded the Saint Thomas Choir School for boys in 1919.

    He composed orchestral and chamber music, but is now remembered for the music he wrote for the Anglican church, particularly his Evening services in a A major, B minor and A minor, and his anthems Go to dark Gethsemane, Souls of the Righteous, and Grieve not the Holy Spirit. His tune Ora labora for the hymn Come, labour on is well known in the United States, as is his edition of Handel's Messiah, published by G. Schirmer in 1912.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Glad to see you back in business! I knew you couldn't keep 'er shuttered for long.

    ReplyDelete
  5. He's ba-ack! Now, why on Earth does a conservative care a bit about Labor Day?!?!

    JMJ

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There is an ongoing global elitist attack on workers everywhere.

      I apologize for just recently waking up to it. It should concern us all, regardless of politics.

      Delete
    2. "Elitist" is irrelevant. There is an ongoing global capitalist attack on workers everywhere, and it's in need of some restraint.

      JMJ

      Delete
    3. Jersey, me dear, that just goes to show you how very LITTLE you know and understand about the motives of true libertarians.

      We care very deeply about trying to restore the RIGHT and the OPPORTUNITY for the "little man" to make the fullest possible use of his strength and talents to pursue and promote his OWN best interests in "building a better mousetrap" and CAPITALIZING on his invention, his original ideas, his intellectual property, his superior brand of service, his dedication to hard work, thrift and sound economy, etc.

      In the USA I knew and loved no one was forced into a CASTE SYSTEM, or made to bow before the arbitrary whims and caprices of DESPOTS and ARISTOCRATS.

      People really were FREE to do their best to advance themselves. Upward Mobility was not just a term it was a viable Way of Life for most who had Vision, Courage, Ambition, the will to work hard, and the willingness to take RISKS in order to get ahead.

      Your Collectivist Welfare State has virtually destroyed those opportunities for all but the very strongest, most ruthless, most unprincipled players in the brutal, Game of International Power Politics where CRONY CAPITALISM, a modern form of Mercantilism and Legalized Piracy, now reigns supreme.

      The achievements of men like my immigrant grandfather who arrived here penniless with nothing but Faith, Hope, Courage and Ambition to aid him have been obviated by the machinations of so-called Progressives working hand in glove with the Powerful.

      Delete
    4. Jersey, without capital and capitalists, there would be few jobs.

      We know they have no morals, Adam Smith pointed this out centuries ago, so the trick is to have governments impose just enough rules to keep them from running roughshod over everyone.

      Obviously, this is not happening, and everything is out of whack...

      Delete
    5. I know, Silver. I was just pointing out that the "elite" classes are not necessarily the same as the masters of commerce.

      FT, I understand libertarianism and was essentially one myself when I was young. But I came to find that the progress of western civilization was important to me and that libertarianism seems taken in by short-term profit-taking interests who are too often standing in the way of progress, this added to but distinct from conservative vested interests.

      I get it. That's why I am very strongly civil libertarian, but not as much as commercial libertarian.

      JMJ

      Delete
    6. Every man a worker... and nobody an owner. Sounds like a pretty dismal future for humanity, if you asked me. Become a Vrag Proletariata! Every man a bourgeois!

      Delete
  6. All Americans matter.September 5, 2015 at 4:02 PM

    There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that the primary cause for the decay and decline of America is the result of the Republican's corruption. Whether this corruption is caused by lobbyists influencing corrupt self-serving politicians, like Bush, and company exerting tremendous political pressure on other republican politicians, or the bureaucracy engaging in self-serving activities that increase their personnel numbers, like Dick Cheney and his oil deals and influence over American’s lives.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ONE-EYE BLIND.

      You are one-eye blind, and that is the only problem I have with your statement.

      Democrats and Republicans are in a race to see who can see the nation out from under us faster.

      Wall Street gives to both parties, and both parties dole out favors in return,

      Silicon Valley gives overwhelmingly to Democrats, who collude with Crony Chamber of Crapulent Commerce types to import scab labor under the guise of H1B visas.

      We suffer under two corrupt parties. Open both eyes.

      Delete
    2. stomp, snort, and gruntSeptember 7, 2015 at 7:33 PM

      Which is why we need to get rid of Citizens United and enact serious campaign finance reform. Tweak the oligarchs and damn the plutocrats.

      Delete
  7. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is a BITCH-FREE Zone.

      In future please refrain from making SNOTTY, BELLIGERENT, IRRELEVANT, INANE, AGENDA-DRIVEN remarks.

      Thanks for your future cooperation.

      Delete
  8. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is a BITCH-FREE Zone.

      In future please refrain from making SNOTTY, BELLIGERENT, IRRELEVANT, INANE, AGENDA-DRIVEN remarks.

      Thanks for your future cooperation.

      Delete
    2. Trump and the asinine Tearumplicans are a celebration of ignorance, xenophobia and nativism. I hate all of the above. I supported Reagan's amnesty program and I support Obama's DREAM Act. And I support the Bush family embracing the country's great Hispanic Americans.

      Spanish was spoken on the shores long before English was.

      Waiting for something to happen like Trump confronting a Navajo native speaker and telling him to learn English or go home.

      Delete
    3. I would agree that "Xenophobia" is a sign of ignorance and foolishness, but I sympathize profoundly with what-you-want-to call "Nativism" –– a relatively new new term very likely either created or newly exploited by the Left to denigrate and demonize Caucasians as though the desire to preserve and celebrate their ethnic identity and cultural heritage was as deplorable as most of the other "isms" -- like Marxism, Socialism, Fascism, Collectivism, Progressivism, and Fanaticism, et al.

      In the words of an enormously popular early Progressivist:


      "There is no room in this country for hyphenated Americanism ... the one absolutely certain way of bringing this nation to ruin, of preventing all possibility of its continuing to be nation at all, would permit it to be a tangle of squabbling nationalities."

      "We have room for but one language here, and that is the ENGLISH language, for we intend to see that the crucible turns our people out as AMERICANS, and not as dwellers in a polyglot boarding house."


      ~ Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)

      Delete
  9. Think whatever you wish. It matters not to me that you equate what I said to worst possible motives. It is what you do.

    My discussion with you on this Blog is done, Happy Labor Day

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "My discussion with you on this Blog is done"

      Thank Gawd and good riddance. Don't let the door hit ya where the Good Lord split ya!

      Delete
    2. Hugh, that was snotty and belligerent, so I should delete you according to my own rules, BUT it was also pretty FUNNY. Laughs are in short supply these days, so you get to stay.

      Don't let the door hit ya
      Where the Good Lord split ya!


      INDEED! I'll remember that, and probably use it myself one of these days.

      §;-D=

      Delete
  10. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

    ReplyDelete
  11. LETS bring back sense and sanity to AmericanSeptember 6, 2015 at 9:04 AM

    Whilst strolling round the Harbor this morning about 11 am., I noticed this character shouting “Allah be praised” and “Death to all infidels” and suddenly he tripped and fell into the water.
    He was struggling to stay afloat because of all the explosives he was carrying.
    If he didn’t get help he would surely drown.
    Being a responsible American citizen, and abiding by the law of the land that requires you to help those in distress, I informed the Police, the Coast Guard, the Immigration Office and even the Fire Dept.
    It is now 4 p.m., the terrorist has drowned and none of the authorities have yet to respond.
    I’m starting to think that I wasted four stamps

    ReplyDelete
  12. Libertarians for Bernie SandersSeptember 6, 2015 at 12:15 PM


    1) I think BHO was born in Hawaii.
    2) Even if he were born in Kenya, it would not matter to me. and I would support him remaining in office in the face of a challenge based on birth status.
    3) I don't think he is a Muslim (something that always comes up with the birther thing!)
    4) And, again, even if he were, I would support him remaining in office. Unlike the birth status thing (which isn't true anyway), this would require no government action:the Bill of Rights fully protects him as a Muslim no more and no less than if he were of any other faith, or lack of one.
    I guess I am really out of touch with Republicans.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You think you're out of touch with REPUBLICANS?

      Sorry, LFBS, you're out of touch with REALITY.

      Yours is yet another comment that has no bearing whatsoever on Labor Day. As such it should be deleted, but I'll allow it to stay, because it exemplifies a dangerous mindset of which too many are blithely unaware –– the kind of willful ignorance and failure to think through the implications and ramifications of the ideas and point of view expressed.

      Also, you are either a liar or a complete fool, because no LIBERTARIAN would ever even CONSIDER supporting a TYRANNIST candidate like Mr. Sanders.

      We are unalterably opposed to COLLECTIVIST ideology and ever increasing CENTRALIZED POWER.

      Next time, please try to THINK before you speak.

      By the way I don't believe it's a mere coincidence that Mr. Sanders' initial are BS.

      To me that's just another piece of solid evidence that God works in mysterious ways, indeed. ;-)

      Delete
    2. The way that I feel is Any Body But The Trumpster!
      And yes, I'm for Bernie!

      Delete
    3. Is your name Muriel Puce by any chance? Do you remember Muriel? Patrick Dennis described her to Gloria Upson, his fleeing fiancée in Auntie Mame as "an empty-headed bigot with the IQ of a dead flashlight battery."

      Later Auntie Mame, herself, described Gloria as "an Aryan from Darien with braces in her brains,"

      Of course, the Upsons were a wickedly satirical caricature of typical rich white Republicans, but Bigotry and Stupidity STINK to HIGH HEAVEN from any and all directions. The source doesn't much matter.

      Delete
  13. Libertarians for Bernie SandersSeptember 7, 2015 at 8:45 AM

    All Trump the Lump is, is a loud mouthed Billionair who says snything that he thinks the people want to hear. With NO plan, nor with anything of substance .
    But people like you get all excited as if he were Gd sent.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Bernie Sanders is a simpleton with a one size fits all government solution to every nonproblem. He's the ultimate low information voter magnet.

      Delete
    2. Your pointedly pejorative evaluation of Mr. Trump may be correct in many respects, but even so he is raising questions that need to be addressed and saying many things that NEED to be SAID.

      I suspect he has all the makings of first-rate demagogue, and as such he may prove dangerous, but as an avowed enemy of Political Correctness he's earned my applause.

      I find it VERY interesting to see that quiet, unassuming, but highly intelligent, powerfully accomplished Dr. Carson has garnered more support from potential Republican voters than any of the other candidates save Mr. Trump.

      "The People" may be unsophisticated, but they are nowhere near as stupid as the standard politicos on either side of the aisle like to assume.

      As Lincoln said, "You can fool some of the people some of the time, all of the people sone of the time, but you can't fool ALL of the people ALL of the time."

      The Trump Phenomenon distasteful as it may be is a clear indication that a tremendous percentage of the voting population is FUCKIN' FED UP, SICK and TIRED of Business As Usual in the Whited Sepulcher and Cesspit better known as Washington, D.C.

      Delete
  14. "The Trump Phenomenon distasteful as it may be is a clear indication that a tremendous percentage of the voting population is FUCKIN' FED UP, SICK and TIRED of Business As Usual in the Whited Sepulcher and Cesspit better known as Washington D. C."

    And I say Amen to that .
    And that I proudly support Donald Trump.
    And REJECT the asswipes like Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden

    ReplyDelete
  15. Found on one of the more "conservative' blogs, JEB is getting beat for pandering with his Spanish and using a language that is not American.

    Seriously... and they wonder why they are struggling to connect with Latinos...

    Maybe it is a question of tone, as Nikki Haley suggested...

    “The problem for our party is that our approach often appears cold and unwelcoming to minorities,” she said. “That’s shameful and that has to change. . . . It’s on us to communicate our positions in ways that wipe away the clutter of Conservitive lies.

    ReplyDelete
  16. For those of you getting caught up with the media, and their attempt to get us to sympathize about water boarding TERRORIST, here's a little reminder about why we treat scumbags the way we do.

    Think about 911-
    WE MUST NEVER FORGET!

    ReplyDelete
  17. A question for these Liberal idiots who come here to disrupt, and to spread their venom. Do you think it's good idea to give financial aid and other assistance to those freaks who are chanting "pigs in blank fry them like bacon", "what do we want? dead cops" to give those people money and guns?

    ReplyDelete
  18. We have seen the democrat party become the neo-Communist Party in the United States and the destruction of most of our cherished institutions as they have set about re-writing history and erasing people who made our country great.
    Remember this in 2016 – you were sold out by the democrat party. The very same party that supports a corrupt liar who exposed our national security so she could keep the communications about government business away from Congress, the people, and most of all, those who could put Hillary in jail for her criminal actions.
    So the bottom line is, if that SOB get elected......We are so screwed.

    ReplyDelete
  19. I’m wondering how long before the German states will be rolling out the Army to control these mostly Muslim refugees? Remember; *There is no God other than Allah*, that is their unshakable mantra and no matter where they go, for whatever reason, they WILL try to convert that place to Islam and to Sharia Law.

    ReplyDelete

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