Heard Lauder’s Song and Wesley’s Hymn
“Before going to our watch-night services many of us heard Sir Harry Lauder singing his old favorite, ‘Keep right on to the end of the road,’ from ‘Though the way be long, let your heart be strong,’” wrote a woman at the beginning of 1947. She was thus reminded that though we take a long look backward at the close of a year, we are also disposed to take a forward look when the New Year dawns.
Then the woman went to the watch-night service at the church. Soon she found herself singing with the others the hymn written for this occasion by Charles Wesley:
“Come, let us anew our journey pursue,
Roll round with the year,
And never stand still till the Master appear.
His adorable will let us gladly fulfill,
And our talents improve,
By the patience of hope, and the labor of love.”
Returning home, she confessed that she found herself with the feeling that the Scotch minstrel and the English hymn writer each had an appropriate message for the human spirit.