The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1908-03-14
THINE HOUR OF DARK DESPAIR.

lF1lNE HOUR Ut DARK DESPAIR.
Mr.. Arthur Y. Meade, D. D. in last week
Christian Advocate" suggests altering the line i
"Hymn Sc" in the P. E. Prayer Book,
by thine hour of dark despair"
which is Hbeous blasphemy against the perfec
substituting for this line,
"By thy conflict with despair"
Another expression. but not less blasphemou
against our Lord and Saviour, than the original
The hymn in its entirety vas written by Isaac
Watts, who held very hazy views touching the Di
vine Person and Nature of Jesus Christ. The
conflict with despair" is a basphemy against oul
Lord less, only in degree, than Watts SUPPOSE
ton of the possibility of our Saviour yielding to
despair.
Our Divine Lord suffered because He willed
1t" His Human Nature was most perfect. He
had all the attributes of human nature. free will
included But this Human Nature. in Him, was
welded to His Divine Nature, in His Divine Per-
SON. 10 suppose that thee could be "a conflict with
despair IN His Human Nature would be to DENY
Him as our Co 1t was in His Person, God. that
Jesus Christ died for us on the Cross. His HUI
man Nature subsisted, and subsists. in the Divine
Person of the Eternal Word To suppose that
Jesus Christ the Son of God, could have an hour
OF dark despair or "a conflict with despair" is
blasphemy.
Our Redeemer endured and freely. ioyouslv
went forward to the bonds the outrageous insults
and pains, the atrocious scourgings. the piercino
of His temples with thorns, the heavy burden of
the Cross, the immediate expectation and unspealz-
able terrors of the Crucifixion
As the ideal bridegroom goes forth to meet
the bride he has woocd our Lord went willingly,
gladly, to all this for the redemption and saliva.
ton of all who would be saved" and will at last
be saved
Catholic theology tells us what that mystery
meant, which the Socinian Watts could NOT and
the stupid Dr. Meade can not, comprehend The
agony IN the Garden of Gethsemane, and the crv
on the Cross record but one same history. In the
Garden of Gethsemane, the prayer was: ooh. Nv
ather If 1t be possible let this cup pass from
me-" What cup or chalice? Not certainly His
sutterngs for those that were to be redeemed
made saints, and become members of His Body for
all eternity. For on their account, in the conn
els OF the Godhead, He had willed to become man
For these He rejoiced in "sufferings and afflic.
tons" That entreaty. then, in the Garden. that
solemn prayer to the Father, was for all those he
1oresaw would reject the Salvation He had bought
for them at terrible, price.
So on the Gross: why dost thou leave me
deprlved!'-u guild dereiquisti me?-was but q
part OF the one same tremendous sacrifice. They
show how incomprehensbly the sufferings Of orr
Lord Jesus Christ were, by the knowledge that His
and DEATH with all its tremendous ac
eessores, would prove valueess to countless mu1-
-itudes More than this: that so MANY nv +bo;r
Versity would render the Cross and Passion Of o,,r
Lord the occasion of their deeper damnation. For
his 1t was that the Son of God cried ON tho Cross
for human nature, while suffering as God i,
lis Human Nature. The meaning of the Pravor
n the Garden and the Cry on the Cross was tho
expression OF intense mental sorrow at the vision
II SO many lost souls, in spite of the sacrifice Ho
vas offering and the unutterabe sacrifices He had
ready undergone.
This is but mere glimpse at the Catholic doc
nne OF our Lords Passion. 1t is enough for us
o say that despair is one of the Hsins against
he Holy Ghost;" and to say that our Divine T ord
lther yielded to it the wretched versfier Waite
implies, or had to battle with it. as DR.. Meade i
eported to have maintained, is blasphemv.
Any clever Catholic child we'll instructed :,
Is Catholic catechism could point out the beresv
4 Isaac Watts hymn DR.. Meades suggested
Improvement
A quixotic writer asks What is the differ
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