195. In the hour of trial
James Montgomery, 1771-1854
Alt. Frances A. Hutton and Godfrey Thring
The hymn is based on Luke 22:32: “I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” It was written October 13, 1834, with the title, “In trial and temptation,” and published in 1853 in Montgomery’s Original Hymns under the title “Prayers on Pilgrimage.” The third and fourth stanzas have been altered considerably, not entirely for the better. Montgomery began the second stanza:
With its witching pleasures.
In the first stanza he had
Jesus pray for me;
to which there was much objection on scriptural grounds, in spite of the words of Christ, “I pray for them” (John 17:9).
For comments on James Montgomery see [Hymn 62].
MUSIC. PENITENCE was composed by Spencer Lane, 1843-1903, who received musical training in the Boston Conservatory of Music and became a teacher of vocal and instrumental music. He was in charge of music in various churches in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Maryland. While choirmaster at St. James Church, Woonsocket, R. I., he wrote this tune one Sunday while his wife was preparing dinner. It was used at a parish choir festival on “Easter Tuesday, 1899, at 7:30 p.m.” and at the suggestion of the rector of the church, it was sent to Dr. Chas. L. Hutchins, who included it in the Episcopal Hymnal of 1879. Of the various tunes composed by Lane, this is the only one in general use today.