The Story of Our Hymns Part 32

says Canon Barry, "which leads the soul up to G.o.d, not through one, but through all of the various faculties which He has implanted in it." And Dr. Pusey adds: "It taught, because his own soul was moved so deeply; the stream burst forth, because the heart that poured it out was full; it was fresh, deep, tender, loving, because he himself was such; he was true, and thought aloud, and conscience everywhere responded to the voice of conscience."

The publication of "The Christian Year" brought Keble such fame that, in 1831, he was elected professor of poetry at Oxford. He did not remove thither, but in 1833 he preached at Oxford his famous sermon on "National Apostasy" which is credited with having started the so-called "Oxford Movement."

This movement had its inception in the earnest desire on the part of many prominent leaders of the Church of England, including John Newman, to bring about a spiritual awakening in the Church. They looked askance at the evangelistic methods of the Wesleyan leaders and turned to the other extreme of high church ritualism. All England was profoundly stirred by a series of "Tracts for the Times," written by Newman and his friends, among them Keble. A disastrous result of the movement was the desertion of Newman and a large number of others to the Church of Rome; but Keble shrank from this final step and remained a high church Episcopalian.

Although a great part of his later life was occupied with religious controversy, we would like to remember Keble as a consecrated Christian poet and an humble parish pastor. For more than thirty years he labored faithfully among his people, visiting from house to house. If it was impossible for a candidate to attend confirmation instruction during the day, Keble would go to his house at night, armed with cloak and lantern.

He gave each candidate a Bible, in which he had marked the pa.s.sages that were to be learned. These Bibles were highly prized, and some of them are to be found in Hursley to this day. It was noticed that, whenever the Vicar prepared to read and explain a pa.s.sage of Scripture, he would first bow his head and close his eyes while he asked for the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Keble's famous morning hymn, "New every morning is the love," is taken from a poem of sixteen verses. The first line reads, "O timely happy, timely wise." It contains the two oft quoted stanzas that ought to be treasured in the heart of every Christian:

The trivial round, the common task, Will furnish all we ought to ask, Room to deny ourselves; a road To bring us daily nearer G.o.d.

Only, O Lord, in Thy dear love Fit us for perfect rest above; And help us this, and every day, To live more nearly as we pray.

The evening hymn is also taken from a longer poem, in which the author first describes in graphic words the setting of the sun:

'Tis gone! that bright and orbed blaze, Fast fading from our wistful gaze; Yon mantling cloud has hid from sight The last faint pulse of quivering light.

In darkness and in weariness The traveler on his way must press, No gleam to watch on tree or tower, Whiling away the lonesome hour.

Then comes the beautiful and rea.s.suring thought:

Sun of my soul! Thou Saviour dear, It is not night if Thou be near!

O may no earthborn cloud arise To hide Thee from Thy servant's eyes.

The peculiar tenderness in Keble's poetry is beautifully ill.u.s.trated in the second stanza:

When the soft dews of kindly sleep My wearied eyelids gently steep, Be my last thought, how sweet to rest Forever on my Saviour's breast.

Other familiar hymns by Keble are "The Voice that breathed o'er Eden,"

"Blest are the pure in heart," and "When G.o.d of old came down from heaven."

The Hymn of a Perplexed Soul

Lead, kindly light, amid th' encircling gloom, Lead Thou me on!

The night is dark, and I am far from home; Lead Thou me on!

Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see The distant scene; one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou Shouldst lead me on; I loved to choose and see my path; but now Lead Thou me on!

I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears, Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years!

So long Thy power hath blest me, sure it still Will lead me on O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till The night is gone, And with the morn those angel faces smile, Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.

John Henry Newman, 1833.

A FAMOUS HYMN BY A PROSELYTE OF ROME

When the children of Israel were about to resume the march from Mount Sinai and Moses had received the command to lead the people into the unknown wilderness, we are told in Exodus that Moses hesitated.

"See," said the great leader, "Thou sayest unto me, 'Bring up this people': and Thou hast not let me know whom Thou wilt send with me." And G.o.d answered, "My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest."

It was this sublime thought of the guiding presence of G.o.d that gave to John Henry Newman the inspiration for "Lead, kindly Light."

There was much of tragedy in the strange life of Newman. He was born in London, the son of a banker, February 21, 1801. It is said that he was extremely superst.i.tious as a boy, and that he would cross himself, after the custom of Roman Catholics, whenever he entered a dark place. He also came to the conclusion that it was the will of G.o.d that he should never marry.

He graduated from Trinity College, Oxford, at the age of nineteen, and four years later was ordained as a minister of the Church of England. He soon began to be attracted by Roman Catholic teachings and to a.s.sociate with leaders of that communion. In 1833 he was in poor health, and determined to go to Italy. This was the year of the famous "Oxford Movement," which was destined to carry so many high Anglicans into the Roman communion. While in Rome he came still further under the influence of the Romanists, who lost no opportunity to take advantage of his perplexed state of mind. Leaving Rome, he went down to Sicily, where he was stricken with fever and was near death. After his recovery, his one thought was to return to his native sh.o.r.es. He writes:

"I was aching to get home; yet for want of a vessel was kept at Palermo for three weeks. At last I got an orange-boat bound for Ma.r.s.eilles. We were becalmed a whole week on the Mediterranean Sea. Then it was (June 16, 1833) that I wrote the lines: 'Lead, kindly Light.'"

The hymn, therefore, may be said to be the work of a man who found himself in deep mental, physical, and spiritual distress. Newman was greatly dissatisfied with conditions within his own Church. In his perplexity he scarcely knew where to turn, but he had no intention at this time, as he himself states, to forsake the Church of England for the Roman Catholic communion. This step was not taken by him until twelve years later.

"Lead, kindly Light" was published for the first time in "The British Magazine," in the month of March, 1834. It bore the t.i.tle, "Faith--Heavenly Leadings." Two years later he printed it with the t.i.tle, "Light in the Darkness," and the motto, "Unto the G.o.dly there ariseth up light in the darkness." At a later date he published it under the t.i.tle, "The Pillar of the Cloud."

Newman ascribed its popularity as a hymn to the appealing tune written for it in 1865 by Dr. John B. d.y.k.es. As to its poetic qualities there has been the widest divergence of opinion. While one critic has called it "one of the outstanding lyrics of the nineteenth century," William T.

Stead observes, caustically, that "It is somewhat hard for the staunch Protestant to wax enthusiastic over the invocation of a 'Kindly Light'

which led the author straight into the arms of the Scarlet Woman of the Seven Hills."

The hymn has often been attacked on the ground that it is not definitely Christian in character. In this respect it is similar to Mrs. Adams'

famous hymn, "Nearer, my G.o.d, to Thee." When the Parliament of Religions convened in Chicago a few years ago, Newman's hymn was the only one sung by representatives of all creeds from every part of the world. Bishop Bickersteth of England, feeling the need of the Christian note in the hymn, added the following stanza:

Meantime along the narrow rugged path Thyself hast trod, Lead, Saviour, lead me home in childlike faith, Home to my G.o.d To rest for ever after earthly strife In the calm light of everlasting life.

This was done, said Bishop Bickersteth, "from a deep conviction that the heart of the belated pilgrim can only find rest in the Light of Light."

The additional stanza, however, has not come into general use.

Many interpretations have been given to the closing lines,

And with the morn those angel faces smile, Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile.

Some have believed that Newman by "angel faces" had in mind loved ones lost through death. Yet others are convinced that the author had reference to the actual visions of angels which are said to have come to him in youth, and the loss of which greatly grieved him in later life.

Newman himself, in a letter written January 18, 1879, refused to throw further light on the lines, pleading that he had forgotten the meaning that he had in mind when the hymn was written forty-six years before.

Rome honored its distinguished proselyte by making him a cardinal. It is said, however, that Newman was never again a happy man after having surrendered the faith of his fathers. He died at Birmingham, England, August 11, 1890, at the age of eighty-nine years.

A disciple of Newman's, Frederick William Faber, may be mentioned in this connection, for the lives of the two men were strangely intertwined.

Faber, who was the son of an English clergyman, was born at Yorks.h.i.+re, June 28, 1814. He was graduated from Oxford in 1836, and became a minister of the English Church at Elton in 1843.

While at Oxford he came under the influence of the "Oxford Movement" and formed a deep attachment for Newman. It was inevitable, therefore, that he too should be carried into the Roman Church, which communion he joined in 1846. For some years he labored with Newman in the Catholic church of St. Philip Neri in London. He died in 1863 at the age of forty-nine years.

Faber wrote a large number of hymns, many of them before his desertion to the Church of Rome. Others, written after his defection, containing eulogies of Mary and pet.i.tions addressed to the saints, have been changed in order to make them suitable for Protestant hymn-books. His inordinate use of the word "sweet", and his familiar manner of addressing Christ as "sweet Saviour" has called down harsh criticism on his hymns as sentimental and effeminate. However, such hymns as "There's a wideness in G.o.d's mercy," "Hark, hark, my soul! angelic songs are swelling," "O Saviour, bless us ere we go," "O Paradise, O Paradise," and "Faith of our fathers, living still" have probably found a permanent place in the hymn-books of the Church Universal, and will be loved and cherished both for their devotional spirit and their poetic beauty.