A children's temple here we build

Representative Text

A children's temple here we build,
And consecrate it, Lord, to Thee;
In hope, that with Thy presence fill'd,
These humble walls henceforth may be.

When Christ, Thy Holy Child, was born,
He had not where to lay His head;
Though King of kings, He did not scorn
The meanness of a manger-bed.

He, who the throne of glory shares,
Came down, that we, through sovereign love,
Might be God's children, and God's heirs,
Joint-heirs with Him in bliss above.

And is He not to-day the same,
And deigns He not to visit there,
Where two or three, in His great Name,
Are met for worship, praise, and prayer?

Ah! yes, where simple souls are taught
To know and do His Father's will,
Or infants to His arms are brought,
He welcomes all, and blesses still.

Come, Holy Ghost! while we draw nigh,
Such life and power to us afford,
That each may "Abba, Father!" cry,
And young and old call Jesus, Lord.

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

Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	A children's temple here we build
Author:	James Montgomery
Meter:	8.8.8.8
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

^ top

Notes

A children’s temple here we build. J. Montgomery. [The Erection of a Sunday School. This hymn was written for the opening of the first Sunday School building in Wincobank, Sheffield. The manuscript—which is in the Wincobank Hall Collection of Manuscripts—is dated “December 18, 1840,” and signed “J. M.” The building was opened on the 13th of April, 1841, the hymn being printed on a fly-leaf for the occasion. In 1853 Montgomery included it in his Original Hymns, No. 313, in 6 stanzas of 4 lines and entitled it “The erection of a Sunday School.” In the Methodist Sunday School Hymn Book 1879, No. 512, stanza iv. is omitted, and slight changes are also introduced. Original text in Original Hymns, 1853, p. 333. The hymn by Mrs. Gilbert, née AnnTaylor, “We thank the Lord of heaven and earth,” was also written for, and sung on, the same occasion. This hymn has not come into common use.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

^ top