Brother, now thy toils are o'er. G. Moultrie. [Burial.] Written during the singing of a requiem in the Church of St. Nicholas, Boulogne, in the summer of 1863, and first published in the Church Times, Sept. 3rd, 1864, and in his edition of the Primer, 1864. In 1867 it was embodied in the author's Hymns and Lyrics, pp. 413-15, in 11 stanzas of 4 lines, with the refrain; and, in an abridged form, in the People's Hymnal, 1867, No. 380. Upon this last the Rev. John Ellerton's hymn, “Now the labourer's task is o'er" (q.v.), is based, and stanzas iii., vi., and vii. are specially represented therein as stanzas iii., v., and vi. Mr. Moultrie's hymn was originally intended "To be sung as the body leaves the church;" and is a free paraphrase of detached portions of the Roman Office for the Dead. Original text as above. Authorized arrangement in People’s Hymnal.
-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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Brother, now thy toils are o'er, p. 184, i. This hymn begins in The English Hymnal, 1906, "Now the labourer's toils are o'er," and is abbreviated to 6 stanzas.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)