Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these My brethren, ye have done it unto Me.
Matthew 25:40
Words: Charles D. Meigs, in Consecrated Hymns (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: Geibel & Lehman, 1902).
Music: Elizabeth M. Shields (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know where to get a good photo of Meigs or Shields (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
The…lines were suggested by a story told by General Booth who at one time desired to send a New Year’s greeting, by teLegram and cablegram, to all the Salvation Army Posts in the world.
Cablegrams are expensive and have to be short. Gen Booth boiled his message down to a single word, but he was great enough to choose the biggest word in all the dictionaries, so this was his message, and all of it—
Others.
Lord, help me live from day to day
In such a self-forgetful way
That even when I kneel to pray
My prayer shall be for—Others.
Refrain
Others, Lord, yes others,
Let this my motto be,
Help me to live for others,
That I may live like Thee.
Help me in all the work I do
To ever be sincere and true
And know that all I’d do for You
Must needs be done for—Others.
Refrain
Let Self
be crucified and slain
And buried deep: and all in vain
May efforts be to rise again,
Unless to live for—Others.
Refrain
And when my work on earth is done,
And my new work in Heav’n’s begun,
May I forget the crown I’ve won,
While thinking still of—Others.
Refrain