William O. Cushing (1823-1902) was raised by Unitarian parents but as a teen turned to more traditional Christianity and at age eighteen felt called to the ministry. He served as pastor in various churches in New York, but by his late forties a “creeping paralysis” affected his speech leaving him unable preach or continue his other pastoral duties. Retiring from the pulpit, he prayed "Lord, still give me something to do for Thee!" and soon turned his talents to hymn writing, completing over 300 in his lifetime. When asked how “Follow On” came to be written, he replied “I wrote this hymn in 1878. Longing to give up all for Christ who had given his life for me, I wanted to be willing to lay everything at his feet, with no wish but to do his will, to live henceforth only for his glory. Out of this feeling came the hymn, ‘Follow On.’ It was written with the prayer and the hope that some heart might by it be led to give up all for Christ. Much of the power and usefulness of the hymn, however, are due to Mr. Lowry, who put it into song.” Reflecting on Cushing’s life, the American gospel singer and composer Ira Sankey remarked that William’s hymn writing “blessed tens of thousands throughout the world, whom his voice as a preacher could never have reached.
In addition to “Follow On,” Cushing's works that remain popular today include “When He Cometh,” “Under His Wings,” “Ring the Bells of Heaven,” and “No Dark Valley.”
Robert Lowry (1826-1899), a Baptist minister and professor of literature at University at Lewisburg, Pennsylvania (now Bucknell University), wrote some 500 hymn tunes and was a music editor at the Biglow & Main publisher. He composed the music to “Follow On” in 1880.
An interesting aside, Scotland’s Glasgow Rangers football (“soccer” to Americans!) club found this hymn tune so rousing they merged it with that of another hymn “No, Not One” to make their team anthem, “Follow, Follow!”