Interesting Stories of the Origin of World-famous Sacred Lyrics Which Have
Been Sung in Every Country on the Globe.
The two favorite hymns, "Lead, Kindly Light," and "Abide With Me," were
each written in circumstances which lend them peculiar significance. In
1833 John Henry Newman, afterward Cardinal Newman, left England in extreme
ill-health. "My servant thought I was dying," he relates, "and begged for
my last directions. I gave them as he wished; but I said: 'I shall not
die, for I have not sinned against light, I have not sinned against
light!' I never have been able to make out at all what I meant." This was
just before he started upon his journey. He was still in a very feeble
state, suffering from bodily weakness and mental depression, when one June
evening he was becalmed in an orange-boat on the Mediterranean, in sight
of Garibaldi's home on the island of Caprera. As he lay there he composed
the beautiful hymn "Lead, Kindly Light."
Did the language of his fevered mind flash back upon him as he saw the
shore lights on Caprera? The lights led the boat safely to harbor, and he
returned to England. The mental darkness with which he had been struggling
also cleared for him, for it was just after his return that the Oxford
Movement began. He was a leader in that movement until he went over to the
Church of Rome in 1845.
Henry Francis Lyte, curate of Brixham, in Devonshire, England, from 1823
until his death, in 1847, wrote many "hymns for his little ones, and hymns
for his hardy fishermen, and hymns for sufferers like himself." His health
declined as the years passed, and it was seen that the climate of the
Devon coast was too harsh for his frail constitution. But he was loath to
leave his parishioners, and, lingering at his post, could not be persuaded
to go to Italy until it was too late for the change to save him.
He held a last communion service and delivered his solemn, pathetic
parting words. Then, dragging himself wearily to his room, he wrote the
hymn "Abide With Me," a most affecting expression of the faith of a dying
man. Not long afterward he died at Nice, France. Of all his hymns, "Abide
With Me" is best remembered. Like "Lead, Kindly Light," it is a hymn of
comfort and help. Always the most helpful words have come from those who
have themselves most felt the need of help.