Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1900-08-30
LEAD. KINDLY LIGHT"
Beautiful Hymn Which We Can Aow
Understand.

40 d AIdiltl VI IdCl tNe llQn MAS not
written by Cardinal Newman, nor even
by Roman Catholic. Ii wss wrlLtea
by the Rev. John Henry Newman n
young clergyman OF the Church OF
England, twelve years before he wen,
into the Church of Rome; and at
time when. as he himself tells. us he
had no thought Of leaving the Church
of England
The hymn is so much a part OF ,Ae
authors life that the story of the hymn
and Of his life must be told together
The son OF London banker, he w1s
born, in 1901, within sound of Bow
Bells. He was an imaginative boy
and so superstitious that he used 70
constantly cross himself in going into
the dark He never could explain
what started him in such a practice,
for his surroundings were those OF
! Evangelical Professionalism, and his
own beliefs were Calvinistic. including
the opinion that the pope was anti
| Christ At his conversion, when IL
years old, his mind became filled with
that sense of communion with God
which possessed him all his life, and
made outward things seem as nothing
to him A curious Imagination took
hold OF him at the same time that it
was Gods VIII that he should live a
single life. This feeling never Left
him.
Newman went UP to Oxford, and was
graduated from Trinity college in 1920,
remaining there first as a fellow, and
then as a tutor, of Orie. In 1924 he
was ordained and 1928 appointed yisar
OF Saint Mary's church at Oxford.
Then he began to preach those ser
mons, thought by many the greatest of
the century. Meantime, his religious
opinions were gradually changing
| under Oxford influences, especially
| under the influence Of his friend and
fellow tutor, Hurreu Froude. Froude
changed Newman's hostility to the
Church of Rome to deep admiration,
and taught him to look upon the refor-
nation as a mistake and failure.
Gradually Newman came to adopt
Roman Catholic doctrines.
In December of 1882, anxious in
mind and run down in health. Newman
| joined Herrell Froude and his father
in a tour to the south of Europe
They visited the Mediterranean coasts
together, and at Rome Newman left
! his companions, and went TO Sicily
alone. His mind was frctting over the
success of what he called Liberalism
in the church at home. Protestant
| doctrine and churchmansbip satisfied
! him less and less. A conviction took
| hold of him that he was "a man oil
! destiny" and was called to be a leader
| in undoing the work of the Refcrma-
| ton in England, and making the
! church to be what Archbishop Laud
! had striven to make 1t. At Rome
when Monsignore Wiseman expressed
| a wish that the friends might visit
| Rome again, Newman answered: I'VE
have work to do in England" In
| Sicily the presentiment grew intense
| until he was strusk down by fever
| His servant thought him dying New
| man felt sure he should not die After
| nearly three weeks he was able to get
| as far as Palermo. In starting he sat
| down in his weakness on his bed and
| sobbed violently. His servant asked
! what allied him, but in his highly
| wrought condition he could only an
! sWer: II have a work to do in Eng
land" He was aching to get home.
| but was detained at Palermo three
weeks for want of a vessel At last
he got off In an orange boat bound for
Marseilles. Then it was, he saws
that | worte the lines, Lead Kindly
Light We were becalmed a whole
week in the straits of Bonifacio. was
writing verse the whole time on my
passage"
We can now understand ,--e hymn
| 1t is a voice Of trust from lonely
| traveller at sea. But is much more
| than that. II is ,le prayer of one who
feels the call of God to start out on q
/ path full Of danger and difficulty. and
whose goal he cannot forsee. 1ne
| hymn is the answer of AS whole soul
| to that call. He is satisfied not TO
know his way. All he asks of God is
| light enough to 90 through the dark
/ ness step by step. We may think New
man mistaken as TO the particular
work to which God called him. e
| came TO change his own views about
that. But none the less beautiful Is
his trustfulness; not less appealing is
his cry for light
The date of the hymn Is June lG,
| 1893 The after history Of Newman's
| life hardly belongs TO its story. Re
turning to oxford, he became the CEN
ter Of very powerful movement %
AIRY the Church Of England toward
Rome But ne grew so much out 81
sympathy with all that Professionalism
stands for that In 1916 he asked 70 he
received into the Roman Catholic
church He continued deyou,
Catholic. and. in 1879 as made a car
dinal by the pope. dying In 1890 u
was a strange career Of wonderfully
gifted man. But no one doubts his
sincerity or the depth and purity OF his