O for the death of those. [Burial.] The opening line of this hymn is the first line of J. Montgomery's "Ode to the Volunteers of Britain, On the Prospect of Invasion," published in his Wanderer of Switzerland and Other Poems, 1819; and the third line of stanza i. is partly from the last stanza but one of the same "Ode." From these extracts, and the whole tone and swing of the hymn, it is clear that it was suggested by the "Ode”. It appeared anonymously in Mason and Greene's American Church Psalmody, Boston, 1831, No. 616, in 5 stanza of 4 1. It is given in several modern American collections, including Hatfield's Church Hymn Book, 1872, and others. It is sometimes ascribed to J. Montgomery, and at other times to S. F. Smith, but in each case in error. Its authorship is unknown. [Rev. F. M. Bird, M.A.]
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)