Turn not aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart.
1 Samuel 12:20
Words: Raymond W. Doster, in The Best Gospel Songs and Their Composers (Dalton, Georgia: Anthony J. Showalter, 1904), number 176.
Music: James M. Vines (🔊 pdf nwc).
If you know where to get a good photo of Doster (head & shoulders, at least 200×300 pixels),
Out from the hedges of this life,
And to the Lord your service give;
Out from the way of wrong
And go the way of honor;
Out from the way that is a strife,
And go the way that you should live,
Then the angels of the heav’ns will sing.
Refrain
Sing of His name with praise to Him,
Sing of His love and power to save,
Sing of the love and gladness there,
Over in that home beyond the grave.
Go ye among the ways of sin,
And throw a light to some poor soul,
Over the darkness of this life
’Twill shine the brightest;
Into some heart a light within
Would be a loving, kind patrol,
Leading him into the home of homes.
Refrain
Then your reward will be with Him
Whose light shall shine forever more,
Over the toils of life
You’ll say ’tis well
forever;
Into a world that ne’er shall end,
And where you’ll walk the golden shore,
Singing praises with the angels fair.
Refrain