The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1910-08-09

Ten VISIONS FAITH IN MINOR
YAiITY.
BY WILLIAM J HART. ID. D..

BY WILLIAM J. HART. D.. d.
Il don't know what [ have done to
make people feel like that toward
me, except that | have always kept
my faith in immortality" These We're
the words of Alfred Tennyson, uttered
after he had read one Of the many
letters which reached him on his
eightieth birthday, and in hich his
friends freely expressed their great
love and warm admiration.
Fighting his doubts, and thereby
gathering strength, che came at length
to find a stronger faith his own and
this cheerful faith he generously i'm
parted to others The. instinct for
another life is a presumption Of it's
TRUTH he said on one occasion. Writ
ing to d friend who had lost a son,
the poet was a preacher with q com
fOrting message, for he wrote: MY
own belief is that the son WhOm you
SO loved is not really what we call
dead, but more actually living than
when alive here" When Lord Hough-
ton lost his wife by death, Tennyson
wrote to him: Il think l can see,
as far as anyone can see in this twi-
light, that the nobler nature does not
pass from its individuality when it
passes out of this one life" Even in
the face of deep personal sorrow his
faith faltered not, as is shown in those
deeply pathetic words he uttered when
his son, Hallam, then at school, was
seriously i'll, for he said: God will
take him, pure and good, straight
from his mothers lessons" This faith
Of his young remained with
years; thus did he say: "In my age
l have stronger faith in God . eve
than in youth"
The psalmist saw the glory of Cod
revealed in the heavens; T%ennyson saw
it equally plainly in h small things
OF earth. This little incident has teen
preserved for Us by one Of his biog-
raphers: con one occasion Tennyson
was walking with a friend, and, STUN
bling in getting over a stile, fell to
the ground. His friend ak away
q little distance, as he knew the poets
aversion to being helped, or to have
such incidents witnessed. When, at
last, however, the friend turned
around, he saw that Tennyson had
made no effort to rise, but was lying
with bis face extended over a little
muddy pool by the hedgerow, over
the poet had dropped something in
his fall, and was looking for it, he
returned Tennyson raised himself
slowly on his hands and knees, and
turned a face, dim with rap and Sc
rious contemplation upon him. saying
i'll a deep tone: Z What an
Imagination God Almighty has!" This
exclamation was drawn from him by
the sights Of the little pool, with it's
myriad and dainty forms Of infusorial
life and beauty, all fresh from the
mind Of God"
h faith Of Tennyson in Christ as
the Son OF God was as pronounced as
his faith in a future life. AS he was
walking with a friend in the garden.
on n occasion, he was asked what
he thought Of Christ. For a mo-
ment he did not answer, then he
stopped by a beautiful flower, and
said, What the sun is to that flower,
Jesus Christ is to my soul. He is the
Sun of my soul" Very positively does
he express himself in memoriam:
Strong Son of God, immortal Love,
Whom we, that ave not seer Thy
face,
BY faith, and faith alone, embrace,
Believing where we cannot prove" :
In 1889 he wrote to his future wife
that he was staying at Maplethorpe
with a man and his wife. who were
two perfectly honest M~ethodists."
When l came he says, II asked her
after news, and she replied: WHY.
Mr.. Tennyson. there is only one piece
Of news that I know, that Christ died
for all men, And I said to her:
That is old news and good news and
new news whereupon the good wo-
man seemed satisfied. I was half yes
terday reading anecdotes of Methodist
ministers, and liking to read them.
too. and of the teaching of
Christ, the purest light of God"
The day before his death, the mind
OF the poet was wandering. and in
these moments he thought he was