Almighty God, in humble prayer

Top Text Author Text Info Notes Tune Timeline Arrangements Page Scans Instances

Almighty God, in humble prayer

Author: James Montgomery
Published in 107 hymnals

Piano/Organ
	Final Flourishes, Vol. 2

Representative Text

Almighty God, in humble prayer,
To Thee our souls we lift,
Do Thou our waiting minds prepare
For Thy most needful gift.

We ask not golden streams of wealth,
Along our path to flow,
We ask not undecaying health,
Nor length of years below.

We ask not honours which an hour
May bring or take away;
We ask not pleasure, pomp, or power,
Lest we should go astray.

We ask for wisdom:--Lord, impart
The knowledge how to live;
A wise and understanding heart
To all before Thee give.

75
For we, like children, born in sin
Know not till Thou hast taught,
How to go out, or how come in,
By word, or deed, or thought.

The young remember Thee in youth,
Before the evil days;
The old be guided by Thy truth
In Wisdom's pleasant ways.

Sacred Poems and Hymns

All representative texts • Compare texts ^ top

Author: James Montgomery

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 >

^ top

First Line:	Almighty God, in humble prayer
Author:	James Montgomery
Meter:	8.6.8.6
Language:	English

^ top

Notes

Almighty God, in humble prayer. J. Montgomery. [For Wisdom.] This hymn is in the "M. MSS.," but undated. It was published in Montgomery's Christian Psalmist, 1825, No. 498, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines and entitled "Solomon's Prayer for Wisdom." It is repeated, without alteration, in his Original Hymns, 1853, No. 70. In modern collections it is usually given in an abbreviated form, as in Windle's Metrical Psalter & Hymnal, No. 11, Harland's Church Psalter, No. 199, the American Sabbath Hymn Book, &c.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

^ top