The Bible Story Part 335

LEAD, KINDLY LIGHT

Lead, kindly Light! amid the encircling gloom, Lead Thou me on; The night is dark and I am far from home, Lead Thou me on; Keep Thou my feet; I do not ask to see The distant scene; one step enough for me.

I was not ever thus, nor prayed that Thou Shouldst lead me on; I loved to choose and see my path; but now Lead Thou me on: I loved the garish day, and, spite of fears, Pride ruled my will. Remember not past years.

So long Thy power has blessed me, sure it still Will lead me on O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till The night is gone; And with the morn those angel faces smile Which I have loved long since, and lost awhile!

--_John H. Newman_.

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MY COUNTRY! 'T IS OF THEE

My country! 't is of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing; Land where my fathers died!

Land of the Pilgrims' pride!

From every mountain side Let freedom ring!

My native country, thee-- Land of the n.o.ble, free-- Thy name I love; I love thy rocks and rills, Thy woods and templed hills; My heart with rapture thrills Like that above.

Let music swell the breeze, And ring from all the trees Sweet freedom's song: Let mortal tongues awake; Let all that breathe partake; Let rocks their silence break,-- The sound prolong.

{493} Our fathers' G.o.d! to Thee, Author of liberty, To Thee we sing: Long may our land be bright With freedom's holy light; Protect us by Thy might, Great G.o.d, our King!

--_Samuel F. Smith_.

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FROM ALL THAT DWELL BELOW THE SKIES

From all that dwell below the skies Let the Creator's praise arise; Let the Redeemer's name be sung Through every land, by every tongue.

Eternal are Thy mercies, Lord; Eternal truth attends Thy word; Thy praise shall sound from sh.o.r.e to sh.o.r.e, Till suns shall rise and set no more.

--_Isaac Watts_.

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NOTES

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NOTES

THE PSALMS.

_Psalm 1_. Ruskin, in "Our Fathers Have Told Us," declares that among others Psalms 1, 8, 15, 19, 23, 24, well studied and believed, are sufficient for all personal guidance; that Psalm 72 contains many of the principles of just government; and that Psalm 104 antic.i.p.ates the triumphs of natural sciences.

Jerome, a great scholar in the early church, was drawn to study while still young. One of his favorite texts was from Psalm 1: "But his delight is in the law of the Lord; And in his law doth he meditate day and night."

_Psalm 3_ was used as a prayer by the English when they learned that the great Spanish Armada had sailed against England in 1588. A still more romantic use was by the Huguenots of France, in whose armies it is said sentries were posted and relieved to the chant of Psalms, and Psalm 3 was used as the signal of danger.

_Psalm 4_ was an evening prayer, in the early church as well as in the Jewish nation. Many have turned to it in the evening of life. Luther said that he wished to hear it sung in his last moments; and the martyr Ridley, who died in England for conscience's sake in 1555, spent the last night of his life in quiet sleep, having repeated the last verse of this Psalm.

_Psalm 8_. Not only Protestants, but, at other times, Catholics suffered in England for conscience's sake. One of these, the Earl of Arundel, imprisoned in the tower of London, carved the words of Psalm 8, lines 11, 12, on the wall, where they still remain. This is one of the nature Psalms, and men who loved nature have often had it on their lips, as did frequently Palissy, the Huguenot inventor of porcelain ware. The guild of butchers in Mediaeval England took their motto from Psalm 8, lines 13-16.

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_Psalm 16_. One of the last days of Henry Martyn's life was spent in "writing notes on Psalms 15 and 16." Hugh M'Kail, a young Scottish insurgent, repeated the first line of Psalm 16 on the evening before his execution.

_Psalm 17_. The funeral text of John Howard, the great prison reformer, was taken from Psalm 17, lines 18, 19.

_Psalm 19_. Another great nature Psalm. Joseph Addison (1672-1719) paraphrased it in the hymn--

"The s.p.a.cious firmament on high."

_Psalm 23_. No Psalm has been translated in verse so often. George Herbert, an English poet (1593-1632), is the author of one version-- "The G.o.d of love my Shepherd is."

Joseph Addison, of another-- "The Lord my pasture shall prepare."

_Psalm 25_. In the Indian Mutiny an English collector, Mr. Edwards, was for weeks among natives of doubtful loyalty, hidden with a few other English in a cowhouse, almost stifled with the heat. He derived, according to his letters, unspeakable comfort from the 25th Psalm, especially lines 28-34.

_Psalm 27_. The motto of the University of Oxford, "Dominus illuminatio mea," is taken from the first two lines of Psalm 27.

_Psalm 29_. Another nature Psalm. From lines 15 and 16 is taken the motto of George Herbert's "Sacred Poems."

_Psalm 31_. Few Psalms have been more widely used in Christian history than this. The last work which Savonarola did was to write a commentary on it, which was left unfinished by his death. So highly did Luther consider this commentary that he had it published. The words, "Into thy hand I commend my spirit," were consecrated by the use of Christ on the cross, and have been the words with which many of his followers have met death. The list of those who thus used them begins with the first martyr Stephen, and includes kings, like Charlemagne and Charles V.; martyrs, like Huss, Bishop Ridley and Lady Jane Grey; reformers, like Luther, Melancthon, and {499} John Knox; poets, like Ta.s.so and George Herbert; missionaries, like Henry Martyn.

Mary Queen of Scots on the scaffold and Columbus in a wretched lodging at Valladolid, both pa.s.sed out of life with these words on their lips.

_Psalm 34_. Columba, the great missionary to North Britain in the sixth century, sat on the last day of his life transcribing the 34th Psalm. He had written lines 19 and 20 when he laid down his pen, saying, "Here I make an end"; and he never took up his pen more.

_Psalm 37_. Livingstone says of lines 9 and 10 that they sustained him at every turn of his course in Africa, and even in England.

_Psalm 42_. The hart was the symbol in the early church for those souls who thirsted for the love of G.o.d. Cardinal Manning, one of the ablest of Catholic statesmen of the last century, wrote, "'Why art thou cast down, O my soul,' always seemed a voice to me." Scott was true to the love of the Scottish people for the Psalms when he makes Jeanie Deans repeat the above words in an hour of peril during her journey to save her sister's life.