I Struggle On

The music of this song was written by “Texas Baptist Evangelist” William Evander Penn, editor of the songbook in which it appeared. Penn was born in Rutherford County, Tennessee, August 11, 1832, the son of George Douglas Penn and Telitha Patterson. He united with the Beachgrove Baptist Church on October 3, 1847. Penn studied law and opened a law office in Lexington, Tennessee around 1852. He married Corrilla Frances Sayle in 1856. In 1866, the Penns moved to Jefferson, Texas, where he established a law office. The Baptist Church at Jefferson licensed him to preach, and on December 4, 1880 the Broadway Baptist Church in Galveston, Texas ordained him. He began preaching protracted meetings or revivals in 1875, and continued until his death April 29, 1895 in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.

The words of this song were written by another Texas Baptist preacher, James Britton Buchanan Boone Cranfill. He was born in Parker County Texas, September 12, 1858, the son of Eaton A. Cranfill and Martha Jane Galloway. Cranfill was raised among the Primitive Baptists, his father being both a country doctor and an ordained Primitive Baptist preacher. J. B. Cranfill married Celia Olivia Allen in 1878. He was converted as a young man of about 17, joining the Primitive Baptist Church at Tilden in Coryell County. In 1882, Cranfill joined the Missionary Baptist Church at Turnersville, also in Coryell County. He was ordained to the ministry January 1890 in Waco. Initially he practiced medicine and was a newspaperman. Cranfill served in many ways the Baptist General Convention of Texas. With M. V. Smith, he started The Baptist Standard periodical. (They purchased the Western Baptist and turned it into the Texas Baptist Standard.) It became the official publication of the Baptist General Convention in 1914. Cranfill was the U.S. Prohibition Party’s vice-presidential candidate in 1892. He died December 28, 1942 in Dallas, Texas and is buried at the Grove Hill Memorial Park in Dallas. An engaging story of Cranfill’s life – up to 1916 – can be found in Dr. J. B. Cranfill’s Chronicle: a Story of Life in Texas, written by himself about himself.

J. B. Cranfill, about 1916

The song, No. 36 in Harvest Bells Nos. 1, 2 and 3, was copyrighted by Penn in 1891. It is in the style of the old campmeeting songs, with an interrupting refrain “I (I’ll) Struggle On” interspersed throughout the song. The caption associates it with a Bible text – “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.—Heb. 4:9” – and provides a dedication, “To all the faithful laborers in the Lord’s vineyard.”

I’ll Struggle On.
Words by J. B. Cranfill and music by W. E. Penn.

1. Though sin doth often weigh me down,
I struggle on.
I’m striving for the victor’s crown,
I struggle on.
The tempest wild around me blow
There’s sin and want where’er I go.
And yet the Lord will guide, I know—
I struggle on.

2. Sometimes the way is dark and bleak,
I stuggle on.
It’s for the better land I seek—
I struggle on.
Discouragements and storms arise,
Temptations oft confront my eyes,
But I am journeying to the skies—
I struggle on.

3. Sometimes the mists will clear away; 
I’ll struggle on.
The night will be transform’d to day;
I’ll struggle on.
Sometime I’ll lean on Jesus’ breast,
I’ll kiss the brow the thorns have press’d,
And in His arms find peace and rest—
I’ll struggle on.

4. And as I look the vision grows—
I’ll struggle on.
In Heav’n are no distressing woes—
I’ll struggle on.
Just o’er death’s raging, surging tide
That sin and sorrow made so wide,
Is bliss for me at Jesus’ side—
I’ll struggle on.