First Line: | This place is holy ground |
Author: | James Montgomery |
Language: | English |
Copyright: | Public Domain |
This place is holy ground. J. Montgomery. [Death and Burial.] This is the opening line of Verses to the Memory of the late Richard Reynolds, of Bristol, London: Longmans, 1816. The Verses were given in three parts: i. "The death of the Righteous"; ii. "The Memory of the Just"; iii. "A Good Man's Monument." Mr. Reynolds was an emi¬nent Quaker philanthropist; and the “Monument" referred to was the Society for the relief of persons in necessitous circumstances which was founded in Bristol in his memory. The Verses were repeated in all the complete editions of Montgomery's Works. The cento given in several American hymnbooks, including Hatfield's Church Hymn Book, 1872, is composed of stanzas i., ii., vii.-ix. of pt. i. on " The death of the Righteous." The original is in 9 stanzas of 6 lines.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)