We'll Work Till Jesus Comes

Author: Elizabeth Mills

Mills, Elizabeth, née King, daughter of Philip King, was born at Stoke Newington in 1805; married to Thomas Mills, M.P., and died at Finsbury Place, London, April 21, 1829. Her popular hymn:— We speak of the realms of the blest. [Heaven] is thus annotated in Miller's Singers and Songs, &c, 1869, p. 483: "We are much indebted to John Remington Mills, Esq., M.P. for information about this hymn, written by his accomplished relative. The original has 6 st. and was composed after reading ‘Bridges on the 119th Psalm' (on ver. 44, p. 116), ‘We speak of heaven, but oh! to be there.' . . . Already deservedly a favourite, new interest will be added to this hymn when we know that the authoress was early called to ‘the realms of the blest,' o… Go to person page >

Published in 1837 in Wakefield's The Christian Harp
===============================
Sweet land of rest, for thee I sigh. [Heaven desired .] The earliest date to which we have traced this hymn is the American Songs for the Sanctuary, 1865, where it is "Anon" In Hatfield's Church Hymn Book, 1872, it is given as by "G.M.—1829," but in several later collections the name of "Elizabeth Mills” is freely used. Beyond these ascriptions we have no evidence in favour of either. Sometimes the hymn begins "O land of rest," as in Sankey's Sacred Songs & Solos, 1881.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)