1833.

A FAMOUS HYMN BY A PROSELYTE OF ROME

When the children of Israel were about to resume the march from Mount
Sinai and Moses had received the command to lead the people into the
unknown wilderness, we are told in Exodus that Moses hesitated.

"See," said the great leader, "Thou sayest unto me, 'Bring up this
people': and Thou hast not let me know whom Thou wilt send with me." And
God answered, "My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee
rest."

It was this sublime thought of the guiding presence of God that gave to
John Henry Newman the inspiration for "Lead, kindly Light."

There was much of tragedy in the strange life of Newman. He was born in
London, the son of a banker, February 21, 1801. It is said that he was
extremely superstitious as a boy, and that he would cross himself, after
the custom of Roman Catholics, whenever he entered a dark place. He also
came to the conclusion that it was the will of God that he should never
marry.

He graduated from Trinity College, Oxford, at the age of nineteen, and
four years later was ordained as a minister of the Church of England. He
soon began to be attracted by Roman Catholic teachings and to associate
with leaders of that communion. In 1833 he was in poor health, and
determined to go to Italy. This was the year of the famous "Oxford
Movement," which was destined to carry so many high Anglicans into the
Roman communion. While in Rome he came still further under the influence
of the Romanists, who lost no opportunity to take advantage of his
perplexed state of mind. Leaving Rome, he went down to Sicily, where he
was stricken with fever and was near death. After his recovery, his one
thought was to return to his native shores. He writes:

"I was aching to get home; yet for want of a vessel was kept at Palermo
for three weeks. At last I got an orange-boat bound for Marseilles. We
were becalmed a whole week on the Mediterranean Sea. Then it was (June
16, 1833) that I wrote the lines: 'Lead, kindly Light.'"

The hymn, therefore, may be said to be the work of a man who found
himself in deep mental, physical, and spiritual distress. Newman was
greatly dissatisfied with conditions within his own Church. In his
perplexity he scarcely knew where to turn, but he had no intention at
this time, as he himself states, to forsake the Church of England for the
Roman Catholic communion. This step was not taken by him until twelve
years later