Friends

Friend after friend departs;

Who hath not lost a friend?

There is no union here of hearts,

That finds not here an end.

Were this frail world our only rest,

Living or dying, none were blest.

Beyond the flight of time

Beyond the vale of death,

There surely is some blessed clime

Where life is not a breath.

Nor life’s affections transient fire,

Whose sparks fly upward to expire.

There is a world above

Where parting is unknown—

A whole eternity of love

Formed for the good alone;

And faith beholds the dying here

Translated to that happier sphere.

Thus star by star declines,

Till all are passed away.

As morning high and higher shines

To pure and perfect day;

Nor sink those stars in empty night;

They hide themselves in heaven’s own light

-       James Montgomery[1]

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[1] James Montgomery was born in 1771 in Scotland to Irish parents. His father was a Moravian minister.  When he was five, his parents left to be missionaries in Barbados, leaving him with the Moravian settlement at Gracehill in County Antrim. They died in the West Indies. At age seven, James the community sent James to Fulneck Seminary in Yorkshire. This was a bad fit. James had the soul of a poet, and poetry was prohibited at Fulneck. At the age of 16, he apprenticed himself to a baker, but it did not work out. He bounced from job to job in his late teens, and drifted from his faith.

In 1792 James began working for Joseph Gales, the publisher of the local newspaper The Sheffield Register. Gales supported some radical causes, and in 1794 fled to Germany to escape arrest. The 23 year old James took control of the paper, changed its name to The Sheffield Iris, and continued publication. For over three decades he served as editor, still supporting anti-government themes such as abolition. Twice he was jailed, but the opposition only made him more popular.

James became known for his poetry. He lectured at the Royal Society. But hymns were to become his ultimate love. In his 40s, James humbly returned to the Moravians, repentant and seeking restoration. He again attended services, and avidly supported Christian missions until his death in 1854. Today he is most remembered for his hymns—he wrote over 400. Christians today will recognize his words in Angels from the Realms of Glory, The Lord is My Shepherd, Prayer is the Soul’s Sincere Desire, and A Poor Wayfaring Man of Grief.  (Sources: lectionary.org; cybercarol.org; hymnsandcarolsofchristmas.com)