James Hutton, a cousin of the celebrated Sir Isaac Newton, was born in 1715, and on reaching his teens became an apprentice to a bookseller, whom he afterwards succeeded in business.

A few years later, when a wave of spiritual revival swept over Great Britain as a result of the faithful preaching of John and Charles Wesley, young James was led to the Savior. Hutton’s bookshop had now become the meeting place of many of like-minded thinkers and soon his zeal led him to start holding meetings in his house, for the preaching of the Gospel.

When Hutton was twenty-four years old he became acquainted with Count Zinzendorf who in the following years was to greatly influence his life. It was during a visit to Herrnhut, the renowned Moravian settlement, that the two met. The Count was at that time Bishop of the Moravian Church, and Hutton’s sympathies having for some time been leaning in that direction, became wholeheartedly one of Zinzendorf’s disciples.

Hutton continued to carry on business as bookseller in London, which gave him ample position to use his powerful influence towards the development and furtherance of Christian enterprise, both at home and abroad.

In 1741 he printed the second “Moravian Hymn Book.” A more comprehensive collection was published thirteen years later, to which Hutton contributed several hymns, and it is from this source that many of his compositions have been taken. Hutton’s hymns follow closely the style of his friend Zinzendorf. An earnest and devout Christian, he had ever a heart for the Lord’s work, and in the prime of his life gave up a prosperous business, that he might dedicate his entire life to the cause, particularly to the missionary work of the Moravian movement. These were the days of Whitefield, Cennick, and the Wesley brothers. His memoirs indicate that he was intimately acquainted with those notable preachers and their work of evangelism.

James Hutton died in 1795, at eighty years old and was buried in Chelsea.

Among his many hymns “O teach us more of Thy blest ways” is perhaps one of his sweetest hymns.

Just a blessed thought and prayer..

We have one who intercedes that our faith not fail..

Lord Jesus

The original has an extra verse as the 2nd verse:

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.

Also the original last verse is different, speaking of death instead of the Lord's return:

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.

James Montgomery's missionary parents died when he was 12. 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. When the editor fled England to avoid prosecution, 23-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). - Great Songs of Faity by Brown & Norton