An earthly temple here we raise

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 >

Author: Mrs. Herrick Johnson

Johnson, Catherine, wife of the Rev. Herrick Johnson, D.D., a Presbyterian minister in Chicago, is the author of “An earthly temple here we build" (Laying Foundation Stone of a Place of Worship), which in Hatfield's Church Hymns, N. Y., 1872, is dated 1866. Another hymn by this author is given in an abridged form in Stryker's Church Song, N. Y., 1889, as "The whole wide world for Jesus." Sometimes dated May 9, 1872. --John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)… Go to person page >