James Montgomery (4 November 1771 – 30 April 1854 / Irvine in Ayrshire)

'For ever with the Lord!'
Amen, so let it be;
Life from the dead is in that word,
'Tis immortality.

Here in the body pent,
Absent from Him I roam;
Yet nightly pitch my moving tent
A day's march nearer home.

My father's house on high,
Home of my soul, how near;
At times to faith's foreseeing eye,
Thy golden gates appear!

In darkness as in light
Hidden alike from view,
I sleep, I wake within his sight
Who looks existence through.

From the dim hour of birth,
Through every changing state
Of mortal pilgrimage on earth,
Till its appointed date;

All that I am, have been,
All that I yet may be,
He sees at once, as He hath seen,
And shall for ever see.

Be Thou at my right hand,
Then can I never fail;
Uphold Thou me, and I shall stand,
Fight, and I must prevail.