Angels, the firstborn sons of light

Author: James Montgomery
Published in 1 hymnal

Representative Text

Angels, the firstborn sons of light,
Since from their glorious seats they fell,
Are outcasts in eternal night;
There is no gospel preach'd in hell.

Man, when beguiled from innocence,
Saw death and judgment come on all;
But Jesus died for his offence,
To raise us higher than our fall.

Angels, who kept their first estate,
Who sinn'd not, knew not guilt or woe,
In bliss beyond expression great,
The bliss of pardon cannot know.

We, born in sorrow and in sin,
Yet by a new and living way
To Paradise again brought in,--
May taste of sweeter joys than they,

Oh! through Eternity to trace
How much, how much hath been forgiven,
The riches of redeeming grace,
That, that must be the heaven of heaven.

Lord Jesus Christ, who, for our sake,
Wert pleased a child like us to be,
Of every soul possession take,
And new-create us all like Thee.

Sacred Poems and Hymns

All representative texts • Compare texts ^ top

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 >

^ top