In a land of strange delight. J. Montgomery. [Midnight.] Published in Collyer's Collection, 1812, No. 920, in 4 stanzas of 4 lines, and headed, “A Midnight Thought." In 1819 it was repeated in Cotterill's Selection, No. 343, and Montgomery's Greenland and Other Poems;
in 1825, in his Christian Psalmist; and in 1853, in his Original Hymn. Various readings of stanza iv., lines 3, 4, are in common use. These are all by Montgomery, and appeared as follows:—
1. In Collyer's Collection, 1812 —
“When I wake to meet my doom,
I will hide in His embrace."
2. In Cotterill's Selection, 1819, and in the Christian Psalmist, 1825:—
Fearless in the day of doom,
May I see Him face to face."
3. In Greenland, &c, 1819:—
Fearless in the day of doom,
May I stand before His face."
4. In Original Hymns, 1853:—
When I wake to meet my doom,
May I see Him face to face."
Of these readings No. 2 is the finest, and is also the most popular.
--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)