The God of harvest praise. J. Montgomery. [Harvest.] The original manuscript of this hymn is dated 1840. From Holland's Memoirs of Montgomery we find that in August, 1840, the poet.visited the widow of E. C. Brackenbury of Raithby Hall, Spilsby, Lincolnshire, and that on his return journey he wrote this hymn. On reaching Sheffield he gave the stanzas to Holland, saying, "You may do what you like with them." Holland adds, "The hint was well understood, and the author's townsmen had the pleasure of reading his beautiful harvest hymn the next day in the Sheffield Mercury" (Memoirs, vol. v. p. 407). It was also printed in the Evangelical Magazine of Nov. 1840, as "A Harvest Hymn for 1840," and dated "The Mount, Sheffield, Sept. 1840." Montgomery included it in his Original Hymns, 1853, No, 279, in 7 stanzas of 7 lines. It is a spirited hymn, and in an abbreviated form would be of some value.
-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
James Montgomery (b. Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland, 1771; d. Sheffield, Yorkshire, England, 1854), the son of Moravian parents who died on a West Indies mission field while he was in boarding school, Montgomery inherited a strong religious bent, a passion for missions, and an independent mind. He was editor of the Sheffield Iris (1796-1827), a newspaper that sometimes espoused radical causes. Montgomery was imprisoned briefly when he printed a song that celebrated the fall of the Bastille and again when he described a riot in Sheffield that reflected unfavorably on a military commander. He also protested against slavery, the lot of boy chimney sweeps, and lotteries. Associated with Christians of various persuasions, Montgomery supported missio… Go to person page >
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