In time of tribulation,
Hear, Lord, my feeble cries,
With humble supplication
To Thee my spirit flies:
188
My heart with grief is breaking,
Scarce can my voice complain;
Mine eyes, with tears kept waking,
Still watch and weep in vain.
The days of old, in vision,
Bring vanish'd bliss to view;
The years of lost fruition
Their joys in pangs renew;
Remember'd songs of gladness,
Through night's lone silence brought,
Strike notes of deeper sadness,
And stir desponding thought.
Hath God cast off for ever?
Can time His truth impair?
His tender mercy, never
Shall I presume to share?
Hath He His loving-kindness
Shut up in endless wrath?
No;--this is my own blindness,
That cannot see His path.
I call to recollection
The years of His right hand,
And, strong in His protection,
Again through faith I stand:
Thy deeds, O Lord! are wonder,
Holy are all Thy ways,
The secret place of thunder
Shall utter forth Thy praise.
Thee, with the tribes assembled,
O God! the billows saw;
189
They saw Thee, and they trembled,
Turn'd, and stood still with awe:
The clouds shot hail--they lighten'd,
The earth reel'd to and fro;
The fiery pillar brighten'd
The gulph of gloom below.
Thy way is in great waters,
Thy footsteps are not known;
Let Adam's sons and daughters
Confide in Thee alone:
Through the wild sea Thou leddest
Thy chosen flock of yore;
Still on the waves Thou treadest,
And Thy redeem'd pass o'er.
Sacred Poems and Hymns, 1854
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 >
My Starred Hymns
My FlexScores
My Hymnals
My Purchased Files
