All ye nations [gentiles], praise the Lord

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 >

All ye Gentiles, praise the Lord. J. Montgomery. [Ps. cxvii.] First published in his Songs of Zion, 1822, in 3 stanzas of 4 lines, and again in his Original Hymns, 1853, p. 91, where it is entitled, "Exhortation to Universal Praise and Thanksgiving." It is sometimes given as:—"All ye nations, praise the Lord,” in both English and American hymnals. It was introduced into congregational use at an early date, and has attained to a fair position.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)