Father! Thy will, not mine, be done

Father! Thy will, not mine, be done

Author: James Montgomery
Published in 14 hymnals

Representative Text

"Father! Thy will, not mine, be done!"
So pray'd on earth Thy suffering Son;
So, in His Name I pray:
The spirit fails, the flesh is weak;
Thy help in agony I seek;
O! take this cup away.

If such be not Thy Sovereign will,
Thy wiser purpose then fulfill;
My wishes I resign,
Into Thine hands my soul commend
On Thee for life or death depend;
Thy will be done, not mine.

Sacred Poems and Hymns

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 >

Text Information

First Line: Father! Thy will, not mine, be done
Author: James Montgomery
Meter: 8.8.6.8.8.6
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

Father, Thy will, not mine, be done. J. Montgomery. [Resignation.] This hymn is said in the “M. MSS." to have been written at Oakbrook, Derbyshire (a Moravian settlement), in 1841. It was given in Montgomery's Original Hymns, 1853, in 2 stanzas of 6 lines, and entitled "In Affliction." It is in several collections both in Great Britain and America.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

=====================

Father, Thy will, not mine, be done, p. 372, i. Concerning this hymn, the late Mrs. Rawson of Wincobank Hall, Sheffield, communicated to us on Sep. 16, 1876, the following details:—"Of one other hymn I can give you the history, ‘Father! Thy will, not mine, be done.' My beloved husband, William B. Rawson, went to Paradise on July 19, 1829, aged 28. When Montgomery was here [Wincobank Hall] some time afterwards, he asked my dear mother about his last hours, and seemed much affected by hearing of his wonderful peace and resignation, for he had everything to make life desirable. My mother put into our friend's hand a short statement of the closing scene, which he took up with him when he retired for the night, and the next day we found these lines written in pencil on a fly-leaf of the manuscript." The reference at p. 372, i. is to the death of Ignatius, Montgomery's brother, at Oakbrook, April 27, 1841, when the hymn was revived by fresh and painful circumstances.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)

Timeline

Instances

Instances (1 - 14 of 14)

A Church of England Hymn Book #631

Page Scan

A Collection of Hymns #411

Page Scan

Hymns and Songs of Praise for Public and Social Worship #636

Page Scan

Hymns for the Church of Christ (3rd thousand) #656

Page Scan

Hymns for the Church of Christ. (6th thousand) #656

Page Scan

Offices of Worship and Hymns #634

Text

Sacred Poems and Hymns #179

Page Scan

The Book of Worship #513

Page Scan

The Clifton Chapel Collection of "Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs" #520

Page Scan

The Harp #608

Page Scan

The Harp. 2nd ed. #a608

The Hymns for the Use of Evangelical Lutheran Congregations #d97

Page Scan

The Liturgy and Hymns of the American Province of the Unitas Fratrum #506

Suggestions or corrections? Contact us