Verses for a Bible society - 1848
Statue of James Montgomery.
Introduction
James Montgomery was the editor of the Sheffield Iris, a newspaper. He went to prison twice for publishing material the government did not want to see in print. He also wrote verses, including a book-length account of the Moravian mission in Greenland. Perhaps his most famous poem is the Christmas carol “Angels from the Realms of Glory.” Here is a portion of another poem, written for a meeting of a Bible Society in Sheffield, held on this day 13 November 1848.
Quote
“Oh! could the first archangel’s eye,
In everlasting space,
Through all the mazes of the sky
A single sunbeam trace,
He might behold that lovely one
Its destiny fulfill,
As punctual as the parent sun
Performs its Maker’s will.
The Sun of righteousness with rays
Of uncreated light,
His power and glory thus displays
Through Nature’s darkest night.
Rays from that Sun of righteousness
Our humble missiles dart:
Mighty at once to wound and bless,
To break and bind the heart.
And could the first archangel’s sight
The least of these pursue,
He might record, in its brief flight,
Each had a work to do.”
Hatfield, Edwin F. The Poets of the Church. New York: Anson D. F. Randolph & Co., 1884.