The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1890-08-31
NEWMAN AND HYMNS.
THEY WILL KEEP HIS MEMORY
FRESH FOREVER.

Other Contributions to sacre" s""k W
the Author.of LEAD. Kindly Light
WHARF the Key to His shifting Thought
May Readily be Found.
For John Henry Newman the n'ght
ia GONE. - and in the everlasting morn
toward which his earthly eyes looked
for nigh a century he sees that blessed
LIGHT which shed it's soft rave upon MS
| life and guided his footsteps hcme. he
has met his pilot face to face. and from
that "infinite beyond, in which even
Robert Ingersoll believes, he scans !he ,
mysteries Of life and comprehends tue
vast design that rules the universe
His prayer
wneneer goes forth Thy dread command
| And my last hour Is nigh,
Lord grant me In Christian ianu'
As IVES born. TO die
has been granted. His morality rests
peacefully in the soil he loved IN the
shadow of that cross to which his soul
| was ALWAYS drawn, while all who honor
purity of life and nobility Of character,
whether Protestant or Roman Catholic,
Pagan or Infidel. pause to lay the tn
butte of grateful thoughts upon MS
grave.
Happily for mankind Cardinal New,
man put something of his intellectual
nature into something besides his
"Tracts for the Times" his sermons
and the autobiography of his religious
life. For the student of theology ana
the analyst of the mental and spirituai
process by which a protestant per
picked by the fogs OF private JUG
ment, sought refuge from doubt IN lts
absolute surrender to the edicts OF Holy
Church, his prose writings will always
possess a fascination and an enduring
charm. They are instinct with the fine
| nature and exhaustive learning OF their
author. But the general interest IN
the struggle of which they were born
is passing away, If it has not already
passed, and literature linked with the
discussion of creed seldom survives
the life of its author. Occasionally the
genius of Milton may force into lite
rature the sublimated theology of an
individual; but the dust of rushing
generations gathers quickly and thickly
over whole libraries Of gifted writers
who struggle with the external husks
of religion. In his hymns, however,
Cardinal Newman has left heritage to
etters as rich in its way as is the story
of his pure and gracious life to human
ity. The author of Lead, Kindly
Light needs no tomb in Westminster
Abbey, no canonization by Holy
Church, to keep his memory fresh IN
the hearts and thoughts of mankind
Before the inspired beauty OF ths
simple song of trust and praise the fame
of the author of the Tracts" and the
"Apolopiar sink into nOthingness. In
its presence they seem the echoes of
the questionings of wandering SOUL
while this is the strong, confiding song
of trustful spirit, borne upward to
the gates of heaven on the broad wings
of melody. What Shelley's "Skyl&k
is to poetry Newman's Lead, Kindly
Light" is to hymnology. While the
one expresses with all the subtle
power of sense linked to rhythmic sound
the thoughts of an inspired lover OF ma
ture. the other touches the devotional
instinct of mankind with the language
of worship welded to measure that
must be sung. And this is above any
thing else the distinguishing feature OF
almost all of Cardinal Newman 8 metrl-
cal writing. In whatever form Ms cast II
chants It's praise or prayer to the God
of his residence and love.
Although Lead, Kindly Light Is
the single production on which Cardi'
nal Newman's fame as hymn-wrlteI
largely rests. no one can read his vol
ume of verse without regretting that
from the date of his secession his pro
Effectiveness in this field gradually
ceased. 1t contains at least score OF
short hymns which have gone into the
hymnals of every Christian Church
which sings in his beloved English
tongue. If the student of Newman
faith would trace where he learned tt
trust rather in the love of God than tt
fear 1.-THE wrath to come, let him turn
) to these hymns and he will fine
il there confessed that. when II
doubt and troubled by the Church
word, he went to that knee where
MY mother oped her trust, the Holy Book
And healed my pang.
Would the reader seek the key t.
Cardinal Newman g shifting views, M
will find it embedded in these hymns
where. in many different forms, be
acknowledges his strange susceptibility
( to superstitious influences. At OxforC
, in 1882 he wrote:
Whenever across this sinful flesh of mine
draw the Holy Sign,
! All good thoughts stir within me- ana re
: Their slumbering strength divine.
Through all his early youth he wa
: perplexed with doubts and dreams, al
these hymns testify. But there were
often days when hope took the place O
doubt, and then he sang
such loss is gain
Wait the bright advent that shall loose III!
: chain!
; En- now the shadows break, and CLEANS di
vine.
5 Edge the dim distance line.
When thrones are trembling, and earth's ia
S ones quail.
;, True seed! thou shalt prevail!
, As far back as 1882 he wrote hymn
l on "Private Judgment" exhortlng tn
poor wanderers who trusted each to hi
own weak will-"All wranglers and al
l wrong TO abandon their worship of
s blind idol" and submit to the creed a
= conveyed by the Church from age t,
0 age.
No one can read the hymns oil Cardi
nal Newman without remarking hi
amazing fecundity of verse during tn
Q years 1882 and 1888. and that more thai
n one third of all his hymns were writer
b during a voyage which he took arount
: the Mediterranean from December Z
t 1882, to June q, 1888. 1t was durin,
t this voyage that Lead, Kindly Light
J. was written lat sea" on June 16, 1883
e Since his secession to the Roman faitl
t The Dream of Gerontius" stands fortl
= as the one pre- eminent.production o
d Cardinal Newman in verse. IL is apoen
: of remarkable beauty and power, EN-
d bodying in metrical and lyrical form
t the authors views of what transpire
It in the intermediate state between tn
g death of holy man and 1.-THE awfu
Q Throne Aside from its doctrinal ar
:. gument, the only feature of this nobl
n work unworthy of the theme is tn
trivalisy of some of the rhyming ant