CARDINAL NEWMAN'S "DREAM OF ST. GERONTIUS."

NZ Truth, Issue 136, 25 January 1908, Page 8

CARDINAL NEWMANS "DREAM OF ST. GERONTIUS."

,(BY DR. ZILLMANN.)

•That' celebrated poem of, Newmans has recently had a remarkable recrudescence m the minds of English people. Newman, with characteristic modesty, did not realise its true value at the time it was written. Someone found it among the rubbish of the waste-paper basket, where he had thrown it, and at puce perceived its literary value. His well-known hymn, "Lead Kindly Light," was m like manner not prized very 1 highly by Newman himself at the time it was written, though it is one of the gems of lyric literature. The modesty of the truly great mind contrasts t with "the rushing into print" habit of the conceited and shallow scribes of a lower order of intellect. "The Dream of Gerontiods" has lately been made the setting for one of the most original musical compositions of our age, by Dr. Elgar, one of England's -greatest musical geniuses. So splendid is the composition that German musical experts ha^e exclaimed, "At last something good I has come out of thc English musical * Nazareth," and they have been comjpelled to acknowledge that after all, some good music is to be found, he--1 sides that -labelled "Made m Gerimany." A London correspondent to ! a Sydney "daily contemporary, has lately informed' us all about tins. Though Newman was at first a theologian, he was also a true poet and philosopher. Where could we find a more . philosophic description of the place of music than m one of his university sermons ? In a passage i m which he dwells on the wonders of musical expression as suggesting that, m spite of its limitations, human nature contains within itself elements capable of expansion into m- j finite and eternal meanings, he says : '"There are seven notes m thp anusical scale ; make them fourteen, yet what a slender outfit for so vast an enterprise. What science ibrings so . much out of so little ? Out of what poor elements does some great master m it create this new world ? . . . Is it possible that that inexhaustible evolution and disposition ot- notes, so rich yet so simple, so intricate yet so regulated, so varied .yet so majestic, should be mere sound, which is •gone, and perishes ? Can it be that these mysterious stirrings of heart, and keen emotions AND STRANGE YEARNINGS after we know not what, and these awful impressions from we know 'toot whence, should be wrought ih us ■by. what is unsubstantial, and comes and goes, and begins and ends m itself ? It , is not so ; it cannot be. No; they have .escaped from some higher sphere ; they are the outpourings of eternal harmony, m the medium of created sound ; they are echoes from: our home ; they are the voice of angels, or the magnificat of saints, or the living laws" of divine government, or the . divine attributes ; something are they besides themselves which j we cannot compass, which we cannot utter— though mortal man, and he, perhaps, not otherwise distinguished above his fellow men, has the gift of eliciting them." Perhaps no passage m literature so well expresses the science of music, or could be more appropriate as descriptive ofthe grand composition of which Newmans greatest poem has been made. The subject, unknown, comparatively, as the poem has been to an ago which has forgotten nearly all- its Josephus, saving the great imperialistic idol surnamed by some

"Judas," an age which" is fof the most part puzzled to know what is meant by "The Oxford Movement" and who Newman, Keble and Pusey were ; there are, however, not wanting those who prize Newmans writings as their most precious treasure, and it is not solely among those who take pride m him as a Prince. . and Teacher m the Israel of their own I Communion, but among the multitude [ who have never bowed to Cardinal or to Pope. The incident may be remembered connected with the death of the hero of Khartoum, who found a last and real comfort m reading Newmans description of the soul's experience m passing out of the body, and the transcendental- vision of a receding and disappearing world. It was- stated that the little book, "The Dream "of Gerontius," was found m the coat pocket of General Gordon after his assassination, with the passage referred to underlined by him, and thus led to a most interesting correspondence between the sister of Gordon and the then aged and much enfeebled Cardinal, to . whom w the thought was intensely gratifying, i^hat his lines, once so lightly valued, had been a source of spiritual help to the martyr hero m his terrible time of suspense and trial. All sorts and conditions of religious and irreligious thinkers have -found interest m Newmans writings, and have gathered meanings and applications from his words, which he certainly could never have intended. The true prophet or poet may intend a "private interpretation," but his words can no more be confined to his limitations of utterance than the note of a Mozart or a Mendelssohn can be confined to the language of the people among . whom they originally discoursed their divine compositions. We may carry out- this thought m respect to the Catholic builders of the ancient . Cathedrals, who, notwithstanding their high ideals, for : •They dreamt not of a perishable home Who thus could build-*-Yet "they builded better than- they knew." Even the Atheist and Positivist have sang to the glories of human reason m the strains of "Lead Kindly Light Amid the Encircling Gloom," _ and this certainly was going one better than Newman intended. May . not Francis Newman, the one-time President of" the British Unitarian Society, and the BROTHER OP THE CARDINAL, have also passed through a crisis m his "phases of faith" when the pray- j cr for the guiding "light" would 1 have been quite appropriate ? But j Francis Newman, the matter-of-fact rationalist, could not indulge m day dreams or night dreams as the more idealistic and poet brother. Perhaps the ideal of a perfect church, as pictured by John Henry Newman, was a dream— so at ht-ast it had been thought by many— but his ideal of a future State, and the soul's experiences m dying, and after death, must be taken as a "dream," for so he has designated himself. The Dream of St. Gerontius .was really the fancy picture of Newman. As such it demiands our admiration, and challenges our more philosophical speculations. To ali believers m a' life beyond Newmans descriptions of the soul's experiences after death may, m the main, be psychologically correct. Who is to know ? Spiritualists tell us the soul immediately after its exit from the earthly tenement is m a most curious condition of mind, that it feels as Paul did when he tells of his great trance vision "whether m the body or out of the body I know not." It takes some time they tell us for the soul to. realise that it is without the material casement. So Newman describes the emancipated soul of the Saint. His description reads like a passage borrowed from the literature of spiritualists, only that it may be said nothing so beautiful has ever been written m defence of the spiritualistic philosophy. In a similar way it may be said nothing so grand was ever written as Jean Paul Richter's description of the glories of the physical universe. The secretof the poet is Newman himself. It is the continuation of his "Apologia Pro Vita Sua," carried beyond the bounds which divide the heavenly Jerusalem from the earthly han'd-nnaid m bondage. It has been said : that such a description of after-death is only consistent with the Ptolmaic theory of the universe, ancl that the Copernican or modern view renders it absurd and impossible. But that does not detract from the merits of the poem-, and more than do the Miltonic conceptions on the same plane detract from the merits of "Paradise Lost." What is more to the point is that we have here the imaginations of a great and cultured intellect of what may happen -when the soul has "shuffled off its mortal coil." It must be regarded as true that "the diction, of the poem is more m terms of -psychology than ol imaginative poetry." Up to the extent that it is possible to verify human experiences of death we realise how true the poem is m its psychology, The approach of death is perhaps m most, cases accompanied with the dread ancl horror of comspleto collapse, of passing away into "that nothingness from which it came." This is no dreaming, but further on comes the fancy of an "inexpressive lightness and sense of freedom," and the opening out of the spiritual sense m a description which might satisfy the dreams of the most transcendental philosopher. It is m fact on the lines of Emerson's philosophy, and m the light of Newmans poem, we may understand what the Concord philosopher meant when told by A FANATICAL PROPHET that the world v/as soon coming to an end, and when he replied, "Well, what of that ? I think I can get along without it." We may not quite follow Newman m all his speculations concerning man's redemption, and the extent to whioh it is the theme of absorbing interest on the spiritual World— .»ut we can admire his genius and p**Jrv all the same. The great

Dr. Chalmers m his "Astronomical Discourses" endeavored to reconcile the divine attention bestowed on this world, as involved m the scheme of redemption, with the thoughts of its insignificance, as compared to the universe disclosed by modern astronomical investigation, but his gorgeous eloquence could not satisfy the scientific thinkers of his day, and did not save evangelicalism from the inevitable doom which awaits all atrophied thought. His astronomical discourses still remain a monument of eloqiuent pulpit declamation, though m spite of almost superhuman talents, "the dead horse" of obsolete Calvinism could not be roused to move, and the Tysiphian stone of an impossible theology could not be lifted to mark the time m the uphill pathway of progress. Newmans poem, even more than Chalmers's discourses, stands out as a great monument of genius, and his theology we may leave out when considering, the brilliance of his performance. The poem itself stands out as unique, ancl as solitary m its star-like splendor as what Wordsworth ascribes to Milton. The manner m which the inhab. itants of the heavenly i world are -les- 1 cribed by Newman may not be with such sbateliness and military array, as they appear iv Paradise ' Lost, described by the Puritan Milton ; but then there is a higher conception m this poem of St. Gerontius of the Di--vine Presence, while the anthropomorphic God, or the • Brigadier-Gener-al, Satan, or rival. God— "the better fellow of the two" I—of1 — of , Milton,' does not mar the higher ideals of the Catholic Newman. But for the genius of Milton, it has been contended, tho Protestantism of the ancient Puritans would have long ago been superseded by 'a more rational unitarianism, and it might be said, perhaps, with even a greater show of , truth, that the learning, philosophy and literary and poetic genius of Newmnn have given Catholic ideals endorsement for centuries to come. Still the poem, under consideration now*; is apart from Newmans theology. Wis may not he attracted by what some might, call "carnal representations" of Fm-an-uel m Heaven, with '-'wounded hands and feet and side," or the picture of "The Crucified One," thc Chief Figure amidst the brightness of the Eternal Throne, may seem too realistic for the sublime trend and exquisite finish of the poem. Yet "The Dream of St. Gerontius" may still be, m its main features, the hope of the. devout soul m its aspirations for the life beyond., when the riddle of present existence shall be solved, and' the enigmas bf sublunary darkness be Jufiy and eternally explained. There is' '" A BEAUTIFUL ANTHEM (it has become a well-known hymn m nearly all Anglican-: and"' Protestant hymnals) which appears as a sort of interlude m the main poem, "The Dream of St. Gerontius." It is the song of praise, chanted by the heavenly choristers, and which the soul approaching "the excessive light" of the Divine Presence hears m intoned and antiphonal melody. The simple metre and perfect rhyme of this, anthem is a model for all forms of hymnal devotion. The first aud last verses are almost identical, and are Catholic and comprehensive enough for the worship of Christian, Jew .or Mahometan. Indeed there is no reason why a disciple of Confucius or a Buddhist should not sing them, though the intervening stanzas are true to the spirit ancl letter of the old theology. But as one verso of "Lead Kindly Light" is ample enough for all who earnestly ' invoke God or Reason, so one verse of this particular anthem could fill any heart or any temple m the universe with the diapason note of praise :— < Praise to the holiest m the height, And m the depth be praise. Iw all His works most ~ onderfult— . Most true m all His ways.