Must I Go (And Emptyhanded) – Inspirational Singers

This is a beautiful piece of music performed with great depth of feeling by the Inspiration Singers. It was written in 1877 by Charles C. Luther who was inspired by A. G. Upham who told the story of a young man who was dying. The young man had only been saved a short while and was regretting that he had spent so little of his time in this life serving his Lord and could not lay claim to having witnessed enough to any one soul to have impacted their life enough to inspire them to follow Christ. Charles Luther lived from 1847 to 1924 and wrote the words for about 25 hymns. He was a journalist and evangelist and became an ordained minister in 1886.

Luther gave the words to George C. Stebbins and Stebbins set the words to the music he wrote for it. It was published in Gospel Hymns No. 3 in 1878. Stebbins studied music in Buffalo and Rochester, New York and was a singing teacher. He worked for the Lyon and Healy Music Company, and worked with Moody in his campaigns. He met the leaders in the Gospel music field, such as George Root, Philip Bliss, and Ira Sankey. He lived from 1846 to 1945.

We invite you to join the Inspiration Singers as they perform this beautiful old hymn. Please feel free to check out their other songs as we will be adding to the list from time to time.