man's 'Lead, Kindly Light.' My opinion is that the music and the congregational singing are the causes of emotion, not the words of any hymn." Cardinal Newman seems to have been very much of the same opinion. He once remarked that he was deeply thankful for the hold his hymn had obtained on the public; but, he added, "it is not the hymn but the tune that has gained the popularity." This is undoubtedly true in certain quarters. In the séance rooms of Chicago it was constantly sung while the medium was waiting for materialization or other manifestations, chiefly on account of the tune and the reference in the last verse to "angel faces." But, on the other hand, the hymn has the first place in the favour of such fervent Catholics as the Marquis of Ripon and Mr. Justin McCarthy, and such stout Protestants as Sir Evelyn Wood and a leading member of Lord Rosebery's Cabinet. Mrs. Lynn Linton (who may be said to represent the Agnostics) and Mr. Thomas Hardy include it among their three first favourites. The hymn was not at first included in some Nonconformist hymnals. Mr. Richard Le Gallienne, the poet, for instance, writes: "I was brought up among the Baptists, who, if I remember aright, did not in my time sing, Lead, Kindly Light,' which I learned to love in a late period of church-going. That seems to me," he adds, "if one had to choose, the finest of all hymns, as it contains piety and poetry in the highest proportion." The Rev. Dr. Rigg, who may be regarded as the best representative of the old school of Wesleyans, writes as follows about the hymn:

"Lead, Kindly Light,' is a great favourite with very many, being a hymn that touches the heart and expresses, more or less, the experience of many souls. Certainly it is one which might often have expressed, more or less distinctly, my own experience; but I have not found it a helpful hymn for deliverance, or a strengthening hymn in distress and conflict. It conduces to resignation, it may be, but scarcely leads on to victory. It is not in our Methodist collection, and I

could not say that it has been a helpful hymn to me spiritually, though it is a touching poem, and in various ways prophetic of the experience of its writer."

No doubt it is somewhat hard for the staunch Protestant to wax enthusiastic over the invocation of a 'Kindly Light" which led its author straight into the arms of the Scarlet Woman of the Seven Hills. Against this may be put the fact that when the Parliament of Religions met at Chicago, the representatives of every creed known to man found two things on which they were agreed. They could all join in the Lord's Prayer, and they could all sing, "Lead, Kindly Light." This hymn, Mrs. Drew tells me, and "Rock of Ages," are two of Mr. Gladstone's "most favourite hymns."

L

EAD, 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
Should'st 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 hath blest 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,

TUNE "LUX BENIGNA."

"It seems to me rather singular," writes a correspondent in Wales, "that verses so full of faith as 'Lead,

Kindly Light,' should be mentioned with such approval by so many sceptics." He then sends me the following attempt to express the views of an Agnostic, thoughtful, humble, and reverent, but quite unable to attain to Newman's standpoint.

The way is dark I cry amid the gloom
For guiding light;

A wanderer, none knows whence or what his doom,
I brave the night.

Fair scenes afar, as in a dream, I see,

Then seem to wake, and faith deserteth me.

In wondering awe I bend the knee before
The viewless Might;

And all my heart in mute appeal I pour,
While straining sight

Peers o'er the waste, yet Him I cannot find
Whom seeks my soul: I grope as grope the blind.
But 'mid confusing phantom-lights I strive

To go aright:

A still small voice leads on, and love doth give
An inward might;

And spite of sense, their lives a silent trust
That day will dawn, that man is more than dust.

R. M. L.

Another correspondent remarks: "To my mind there is only a spirit of sadness, the blind groping in the dark in loneliness and helplessness. Surely, this is not the highest hope of a follower of Christ."

On the other hand, a Scotchman writes as follows:My spiritual experience has been varied. I was baptised in the Roman Catholic Church, brought up in the Congregational Independent, and at length I was fascinated by the history, energy, and enthusiasm of the Wesleyans. I was at one time a local preacher in that

body with a view to the ministry. But my fervid fit of exaltation was choked with the dusty facts of life, and smouldered down into a dry indifference. I sought nourishment in secularism and agnosticism, but found none. I was in the slough of despond, at the centre of indifference, with the everlasting 'no' on my lips, when 'Lead, kindly light, amid the encircling gloom' came to my troubled soul like the voice of angels. Wandering in the wilderness, 'o'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent,' Newman's Hymn was to me a green oasis, a healing spring, the shadow of a great rock. Through the light and power of God I was led to light and love in Christ in a way I had never before known or experienced."

A "Friend" writes: "If thou art sending to Mr. Stead with regard to hymns, I should put for myself rather highLead, Kindly Light,' not only because of its beautiful words, but also because of him who felt them and wrote them. It is such an instruction that so great an intellect found without Christ nothing but an encircling gloom'-that so powerful a nature, a leader among men, wished to be 'humble as a child and guided where to go."

40-GUIDE ME, O THOU GREAT

JEHOVAH.

"

FOR those who have been brought up on the Bible and who have never suffered the bewilderment of the Agnostic, this famous Welsh hymn in its English dress is worth a hundred "Lead, Kindly Lights.' It was written at the close of last century by William Williams, a popular Calvinistic-Methodist evangelist and hymnwriter. It was Richard Knill the missionary's favourite hymn, and was constantly on his lips when dying. The last verse has been the comfort of many a dying Christian, and it has been sung and is still being sung around death-beds, to the accompaniment of heartchoking sobs and streaming tears. Here is a hymn that has helped indeed.

UIDE me, O Thou Great Jehovah !

I am weak, but Thou art mighty,
Hold me with Thy powerful hand.
Bread of heaven!

Feed me till I want no more.

Open Thou the crystal fountain,
Whence the healing streams do flow:
Let the fiery, cloudy pillar

Lead me all my journey through:
Strong Deliverer!

Be Thou still my strength and shield.

When I tread the verge of Jordan,
Bid my anxious fears subside:
Death of death, and hell's Destruction!
Land me safe on Canaan's side;
Songs of praises

I will ever give to Thee.

TUNE" DISMISSAL."

41 THE LORD 'S MY SHEPHERD.

IF "Lead, Kindly Light," is English, and "Guide me, O Thou Great Jehovah," is Welsh, "The Lord's my Shepherd" is Scotch.

HE Lord 's my shepherd, I'll not want.

THE

He makes me down to lie

In pastures green: he leadeth me

the quiet waters by.

My soul he doth restore again;

and me to walk doth make Within the paths of righteousness, ev'n for his own name's sake.