In The Hour Of Trial
In the Hour of Trial
In the hour of trial, Jesus, plead for me;
Lest by base denial, I depart from Thee.
When Thou seest me waver, with a look recall,
Nor for fear or favor suffer me to fall.
With forbidden pleasures would this vain world charm,
Or its sordid treasures spread to work me harm;
Bring to my remembrance sad Gethsemane,
Or, in darker semblance, cross-crowned Calvary.
Should Thy mercy send me sorrow, toil, and woe,
Or should pain attend me on my path below,
Grant that I may never fail Thy hand to see:
Grant that I may ever cast my care on Thee.
When my last hour cometh, fraught with strife and pain,
When my dust returneth to the dust again,
On Thy truth relying, through that mortal strife:
Jesus, take me, dying, to eternal life.
Altered by Frances A. Hutton (1811–1877)
JAMES MONTGOMERY faced various trials, even as a young person. His missionary parents died when he was twelve. Soon after that, he was asked to leave school because he couldn’t turn in his assignments on time. After working at a couple of bakeries, he left for London, where he thought he could sell his poetry. Instead, he got a job with a newspaper. And when the editor fled England to avoid prosecution, twenty-three-year-old James Montgomery assumed that role. After he commemorated the fall of the Bastille, he was fined, imprisoned, and called “a wicked, malicious and seditious person.”
In time he was honored by the British government for his outspoken advocacy of humanitarian causes, especially the abolition of slavery. As he read the story of Simon Peter in the Gospels, he identified with that disciple. “I have pleaded in prayer for you, Simon, that your faith should not fail,” Jesus told Peter (Luke 22:32).
Since [Jesus] himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.
Hebrews 2:18
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