A hundred years ago, not one

Author: James Montgomery
Published in 1 hymnal

Representative Text

A hundred years ago, not one
Of us had sprung to birth;
A hundred years to come, and none
Can hope to walk this earth.

We are, we were not! here our mind
Looks round with hopes and fears;
This point is Time; before, behind,
Eternity appears.

216
'Tis yet, through grace, within our power,
To choose what we would be;
On the decision of an hour,
Depends eternity.

This hour! this moment, let us take
The narrow upward path;
This hour, this moment, all forsake
The broad down road to wrath.

O Lord, our Shepherd! lest like sheep,
Thy children go astray,
Feed us with knowledge, guide and keep
Our souls in Thy right way.

So, when a hundred years are fled,
Remembering this day's choice,
On earth, though number'd with the dead,
In heaven, may we rejoice.

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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