COWPER AT OLNEY. Even in that the associations of Olney were altogether unhelpful to the poet's malady. Newton's biography it was thought necessary to make a lengthy deprecation. Cecil remarks: There has gone forth an unfounded report, that the deplorable melancholy of Cowper was, in part, derived from his residence and connections in that place." Surely no one can read Cowper's letters through that period of his existence, and attribute such a result to Newton's love for his dear friend. What Cowper would have done without it, who can say? 4 In life, in death, on earth, in heaven, The same sweet style and title given Thomas Hornblower Gill is an English layman. He was born at Bristol Road, Birmingham, England, February 10, 1819. His parents were Presbyterians who became Unitarian in belief. Hence the young man could not make the subscription to the articles of faith of the Church of England, then demanded as the condition of entrance at Oxford. He did not go to college, but became a sort of recluse; so he has lived the life of a student and writer, choosing themes from history and theology. The number of hymns which he has given to the churches is estimated as two hundred at least. They are earnest, peculiarly original, unlike most other songs of experience and devotion, and deeply evangelical and religious. It is said that he became estranged from the faith of his parents by studying the hymns of Isaac Watts, and noticing how the Unitarian hymnals cut them up and tore away their meaning. one here chosen seems to allude to Mark 10:44: "And whosoever of you will be chiefest shall be servant of all." He says of it: Composed in 1849, and printed first in a small collection of poems entitled (I think) The Violet." 66 669 "Trembleth at My Word." OH, for that tenderness of heart 2 Oh, for those humble, contrite tears Which from repentance flow; The C. M. That sense of guilt which, trembling, fears 3 Saviour! to me in pity give, For sin, the deep distress; The pledge thou wilt, at last, receive, 4 Oh, fill my soul with faith and love, Raise my desires and hopes above- In the Short Hymns of Rev. Charles Wesley, published in 1762, this poem first was printed. It is a prayer for a truly contrite heart, awakened to a realization of sinfulness. It undoubtedly reflects the author's personal experience, as we know from his own words that he was inclined to be timid and desponding. The two brothers, Charles and John Wesley, were associated in all the early work of establishing the Methodist Church. On one of the great monuments in London their two profiles appear in a kind of medallion together. The likeness and the contrast of their characters can be seen in this very MEDALLION ON THE LONDON MONUMENT. plainly. In the biography written by Jackson the analysis of their differences is drawn out quite skillfully. John Wesley, in talking of the new and difficult circumstances in which he and his brother Charles often found themselves placed in the days of their early ministry, said, "My brother Charles would say, Well, if the Lord would give me wings I would fly.' I used to say, Brother, if he bid me fly I would trust him for the wings.'" This account is highly illustrative of the character of the two brothers; John Wesley had more confidence, Charles more caution. It pleased the great Head of the Church to use both those dispositions to promote the knowledge of that salvation which myriads both in earth and heaven are now enjoying. Henry Moore describes the distinctive peculiarities of their preaching thus: "John's preaching was all principles; Charles's all aphorisms.' Charles, in a private letter, thus states the difference between him and John: His brother's maxim was, First the Methodists, then the Church;" whereas his was, "First the Church, then the Methodists;" and that this difference arose from the peculiarity of their natural temperament. "My brother," said he, " is all hope; I am all fear." 670 3 Why restless, why cast down, my soul? His aid for thee, and change these sighs 4 I sigh to think of happier days, 5 Why restless, why cast down, my soul? After all the differences among critics, we are probably safe now in continuing the credit of this most musical version of Psalm 42 to Rev. Henry Francis Lyte; admitting, however, that many of the expressions are found in the old New Version of the Psalms, by Tate and Brady, 1696. This was given to the public in Lyte's Spirit of the Psalms, 1834. We might say of it that it was re-written; and the additions which were made rendered the stanzas better for singing and reading at every point they touched. 4 Come, Lord, when grace has made me meet For if thy work on earth be sweet, 5 My knowledge of that life is small; But 't is enough that Christ knows ali, Rev. Richard Baxter was an English clergyman, curate of Kidderminster, and afterward a Nonconformist in London, where he died, December 8, 1691. He was born at Rowton, in Shropshire, England, November 12, 1615. For ten years he lived with his maternal grandfather, then he was taken home to his parents. His father had been converted only recently, and was then in some measure of trouble; the manner in which he faced and conquered his enemies with the force of gentleness and faith made a deep impression on the boy's mind, and he became a decided and devoted Christian at the age of fifteen. From this time forward there was never any repose or tameness to his life. At first he took orders in the Church of England and, after some RICHARD BAXTER. changes, in 1640 he assumed charge in Kidderminster. For a while, during the civil war, he was doing religious work in the army. But the triumph of his career was achieved in his parish as a godly and faithful pastor and preacher. It has been recorded of him that at the beginning of his ministry in Kidderminster there "was scarcely a house in a street where there was family worship;" but when he left the parish there was scarcely a family in the side of a street where it was not; and whoever walked through the town on the Lord's day evening heard everywhere the delightful sound of reading the Scriptures and prayer and praise." After the restoration Baxter was one of the chaplains of Charles II.; he was also offered the Bishopric of Hereford, but declined the honor. On Black Bartholomew's Day, 1662, he was ejected from his charge, with two thousand more Nonconformists, and went forth to suffer persecution for conscience' sake. He was once imprisoned for a year and a half. In times of forced retirement this wonderful man wrote The Saint's Rest, Call to the Unconverted, and other religious books. In his last illness he was asked how he was, and, with an upward look, he answered," Almost well." In those days there was not very much of portrait-taking, except among opulent people. Occasionally in an old book there will be discovered a wood-cut, out of which a likeness can be fashioned, but the work is not good. But there is a pen-picture given by his biographer worth quoting in full. Baxter's life was harassed with persecution and attacks of every sort, and, if we may judge from the tone of his remarks on parties at court, some of his heaviest trials from without must have come upon him in his intercourse with Cromwell. He had several interviews with the Protector, and speaks of being "wearied" with his speeches. He says: "I told him a little of my judgment; and when two of his company had spun out a great deal more of the time in such tedious, but mere ignorant speeches, some four or five hours being spent, I told him that if he would be at the labor to read it I could tell him more of my mind in writing on two sheets than in that way of speaking in many days. He received my paper, but I scarce believe that he ever read it; for I saw that what he learned must be from himself, being more disposed to speak many hours than to hear one, and little heeding what another said when he had spoken himself." Who would not like to have had the privilege of a quiet glance or two, first at one and then at the other of those two great antagonist faces, during the grave performance of this comical act? Who can pretend to a conception of the style in which the political chief kept up appearances? Baxter's visage would, of course, be true to its mission. A remarkable visage was that of his; never to be forgotten if once seen. Long it was, but decided. Hard, some would say, but telling with fearful eloquence how bravely his righteous soul maintained a life struggle against the acrid humors of a diseased body; how superhuman labors for the world's health had been continued amidst losses of blood and daily sweats, brought upon him, he tells us, by "the acrimonious medicaments" of stupid doctors, who thought to save him from the effects of a youthful taste for sour apples by overdoses of "scurvy-grass," wormwoodbeer, horse-radish, and mustard! He looked, indeed, like one who, as a last remedy for a depressing affliction, had literally swallowed a "gold bullet of thirty shillings' weight," and, having taken it, "knew not how to be delivered of it again!" With all of this the marks of a confessor were traceable on the good man's countenance. He had been driven from place to place. Now in prison for preaching at Acton; now kept out of his pulpit by a military guard; now seized again, and his goods and books sold to pay the fine for preaching five sermons-he being so ill that he could not be imprisoned without danger of 672 Richard Baxter was one of the most prolific of religious writers. He issued at least sixty large volumes, and his treatises, if reckoned with them, would swell the number to a hundred and sixty-eight. It is plain from the history of his times that it was these books which kept getting him into trouble. That generation, so deficient in toleration, as well as in spirituality, refused to endure their pointedness and exhortational force. Every effort was put forth to check or suppress so perilous and pertinent a public censor. It is on record that once one of his friends bequeathed to the author twenty pounds for copies of his Call to the Unconverted to be distributed among the people. But North, then the Lord Keeper, decided that this legacy was for "superstitious uses," and therefore void. By this he meant, so interpreting an enigmatical expression in the statute, that the book was designed for the propagation of a faith not approved by the State, the Episcopal Church then being the establishment in England. Thus Baxter's friends were cheated and his enemies allowed to triumph, but his books still circulated. It is possible that some generous critics would like this old Puritan's poetry as a whole; but stanza-making was not his strongest field of effort. Modern scholars praise the verses he composed in Latin. A collection of his was published in 1681, entitled Poetical Fragments: Heart Imployment with God and Itself: The Concordant Discord of a Broken-healed Heart: Sorrowing-rejoicing, Fearing-hoping, Dyingliving. But I do not know of even so much as one more hymn than this which has found a permanent place and a familiar use in the hymnals of the present day. This one appears in the volume mentioned above, bearing the title. "The Covenant and Confidence of Faith." To it there is appended this pathetic little annotation by the author: "This Covenant my dear Wife in her former Sickness subscribed with a Chearful will." "My repentings are kindled." 4 There for me the Saviour stands; Jesus weeps, and loves me still. 7S. This piece by Rev. Charles Wesley was first published in his Hymns and Sacred Poems, 1740, but it has been considerably altered and abbreviated to fit it for use at the present time. The hymn is remarkable for its dramatic presentation of Christ's aspect as he stands appealing to the sinner. A very suggestive comment was published some years ago in an English volume of Teachers' Helps: "There are many portraits of our Lord, each more or less expressive of its painter's nationality, but all, nevertheless, bearing certain well-known lines which tradition has reserved for the Master. Rarely, however, is there a person, other than the painter himself, that feels satisfied with any of these pictures. Each of us has painted in living colors on his heart the divine Brother, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners. Perhaps it is singular that Holy Writ is so mute regarding the personal appearance of Jesus, while it speaks with such fullness upon what he did and what he was; but the inference seems plain; outward appearance is a small matter compared with the man himself. And yet we cannot altogether help wondering how Jesus looked. We cannot think his face was unchangeable. We have all noted the marvelous changes in some human faces. Such a face will not give you a good photograph; that moment of rest, that single poise, was the dropped curtain between the acts on that beautiful face-the stage of the drama of life. You sit looking at the photograph, but see not your friend till you shut your eyes and turn the panorama of memory. It seems to us that in writing his gospel Mark was thus affected; he continually turned back in memory to see how Jesus looked when He said this or that. Matthew does not mention Jesus' looks, nor does the beloved disciple John; Luke does so only twice, but Mark, in his short book, speaks of them no less than seven times." 673 The Ancient Litany. 2 By thy helpless infant years, Of the insulting tempter's power- 3 By thine hour of dire despair; By the cross, the nail, the thorn, 4 By thy deep expiring groan; By the vault whose dark abode Oh, from earth to heaven restored, Of our solemn Litany! 7s, D. This paraphrase of the ancient Litany, by Sir Robert Grant, was earliest printed in The Christian Observer, 1815. It was included with the rest of the illustrious author's compositions, that were gathered by his brother, Lord Glenelg, into a volume, Sacred Poems, in 1839. There were only twelve of these in all; but they are widely in use among the collections, and are of excellent merit. The Litany was compiled from various sources; parts of it are as ancient as the Apostolical Constitutions, 300; parts from services Roman and Anglo-Saxon; other parts from the liturgies of Bucer, 1543, and Cranmer, 1549. These were amended in 1661 and in 1798. 674 "Jesus, visit me." JESUS, Jesus! visit me; How my soul longs after thee! When, my best, my dearest Friend! Shall our separation end? 2 Lord! my longings never cease; 3 Mean the joys of earth appear, 4 Thou alone, my gracious Lord! 75. Johann Scheffler wrote this hymn in 1657, and it was published in that year in his Heilige Seelenlust. It had nine stanzas of four lines each, and was entitled She (the Soul) longs after Jesus alone." The English version here given is the work of Rev. Prof. Robinson Porter Dunn, D. D., who was born at Newport, Rhode Island, May 31, 1825. He graduated with high honors from Brown University in 1843, but remained two years longer at his Alma Mater as librarian and instructor in French. Subsequently, he studied theology at Princeton, and November 1, 1848, was ordained, and became pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Camden, N. J. He ministered in this field until 1851, when he accepted the chair of Rhetoric and English Literature at Brown University, where in 1864 the degree of Doctor of Divinity was conferred upon him. He died in Newport, August 28, 1867, after a brief illness. The American collections owe a number of fine hymns to the able pen of Dr. Dunn, who is to be remembered in that connection as well as for his scholarly attainments and his ability as an instructor. 675 Christ, our all. Let me to thy bosom fly With the shadow of thy wing. 3 Thou, O Christ! art all I want; I am all unrighteousness; Vile and full of sin I am, Thou art full of truth and grace. 4 Plenteous grace with thee is found, Grace to pardon all my sin; Let the healing streams abound, Freely let me take of thee; Spring thou up within my heart, 75. D. |