A year, another year is fled

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A year, another year is fled

Author: James Montgomery
Published in 6 hymnals

Representative Text

A year, another year is fled;
Its issues who can tell?
Millions of voices of the dead
Reply from heaven or hell.

All these were living at the birth
Of the departed year;
They all have vanish'd from the earth,
We fill their places here.

Though to the eye, the ear, the mind
Of man their speech is seal'd,
The eternal meaning each may find,
In two plain words reveal'd.

Lost spirits, from the dark abyss,
Cry mournfully "Beware!"
Spirits in glory, and in bliss,
Sing joyfully "Prepare!"

Thus timely warned, and moved with fear,
Of wrath, let us beware;
For life or death, in this new year,
For earth and heaven prepare.

304
Who then of those with us, this day
In childhood, youth, or age,
"To love the Lord our God" can say
"We all our hearts engage."

Sacred Poems and Hymns

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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 >

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