God is in His holy temple

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 >

God is in His holy temple, All the earth, &c. J. Montgomery. [Public Worship.] Dated "Sheffield, Dec. 24, 1833" [Montgomery Manuscript], and published in his Original Hymns, 1853, No. 107, in 4 stanzas of 6 lines, and headed, "For the great Congregation." In Dr. Hatfield's Church Hymn Book, N. Y., 1872, it is reduced to 3 stanzas, and in the Songs for the Sanctuary, N. Y., 1865-72, to 2 stanzas. In Clapham's Leeds Sunday School Hymn Book, 1858 and 1878, it is somewhat freely altered, and is signed "G. R.," i.e. George Rawson, in error.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)