In a land of strange delight

In a land of strange delight

Author: James Montgomery
Published in 7 hymnals

Representative Text

In a land of strange delight,
My transported spirit stray'd;
I awake, where all is night,
Silence, solitude, and shade.

Is the dream of nature flown?
Is the universe destroy'd?
Man extinct, and I alone,
Breathing through the formless void?

No, my soul, in God rejoice;
Through the gloom, His light I see;
In the silence bear His voice,
And I feel His hand on me.

When I slumber in the tomb,
He will guard my resting-place,
When I wake to meet my doom,
May I see Him face to face.

Sacred Poems and Hymns

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 >

Text Information

First Line: In a land of strange delight
Author: James Montgomery
Meter: 7.7.7.7
Language: English
Copyright: Public Domain

Notes

In a land of strange delight. J. Montgomery. [Midnight.] Published in Collyer's Collection, 1812, No. 920, in 4 stanzas of 4 lines, and headed, “A Midnight Thought." In 1819 it was repeated in Cotterill's Selection, No. 343, and Montgomery's Greenland and Other Poems;
in 1825, in his Christian Psalmist; and in 1853, in his Original Hymn. Various readings of stanza iv., lines 3, 4, are in common use. These are all by Montgomery, and appeared as follows:—
1. In Collyer's Collection, 1812 —

“When I wake to meet my doom,
I will hide in His embrace."

2. In Cotterill's Selection, 1819, and in the Christian Psalmist, 1825:—

Fearless in the day of doom,
May I see Him face to face."

3. In Greenland, &c, 1819:—

Fearless in the day of doom,
May I stand before His face."

4. In Original Hymns, 1853:—

When I wake to meet my doom,
May I see Him face to face."

Of these readings No. 2 is the finest, and is also the most popular.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

Timeline

Instances

Instances (1 - 7 of 7)
Page Scan

Hymn Book of the Methodist Protestant Church. (2nd ed.) #747

Page Scan

Hymn book of the Methodist Protestant Church. (4th ed.) #747

Page Scan

Plymouth Collection #a1343

Page Scan

Plymouth Collection of Hymns and Tunes; for the use of Christian Congregations #1343

Text

Sacred Poems and Hymns #212

Page Scan

The Baptist Hymn and Tune Book #1343

Page Scan

The Hymn Book of the African Methodist Episcopal Church #1002

Suggestions or corrections? Contact us