How many generations dead

How many generations dead

Author: James Montgomery
Published in 1 hymnal

Representative Text

How many generations dead
Dwell in the dust on which we tread!
How many yet may spring to birth,
When we are seen no more on earth!

Till, of past, present and to come,
Time shall cast up the destined sum,
And, name by name, through that amount,
Call every unit to account.

Where'er ensepulchred they lie,
Each then must answer, "Here am I!"
And once, but once, all Adam's race
Meet for a moment face to face.

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Then shall the King on either side,
As sheep from goats, the throng divide,
And those to bliss, and these to woe,
Rejoicing or lamenting go.

How small to that assembly this!
Yet heirs like them of woe or bliss:
Were the last trumpet now to sound,
On whether hand should we be found?

"Guilty" we plead, O Judge of all!
Guilty into Thine hands we fall;
The friend of sinners still art Thou;
Save or we perish, save us now!

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: How many generations dead
Author: James Montgomery
Meter: 8.8.8.8
Language: English

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Text

Sacred Poems and Hymns #233

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