Keble's mind was that of a poet and not that of a logician. Intuition and feeling were more to him than reasoning, and he instinctively craved a comfortable support of authority as the sanction for his opinions and acts. His character, in its childlikeness and purity, its entire unworldliness, its devotional fervor and spirit of consecration, was lovely indeed. Taken together with his power of substituting lofty poetry for polemics, it has given him extraordinary influence within the Church of England. Beyond its bounds that influence was necessarily limited by a theory of the church that withdrew him from any real sympathy and communion with his fellow Christians in other folds. His position in hymnody does not by any means correspond with the important place he occupies as a religious poet. The two lovely hymns extracted from the opening poems of The Christian Year come near to exhausting the materials that are available without an effort of piecing together unrelated passages. It is a book of meditative poetry and not of hymns. Keble's other poetical works include Lyra Innocentium, in which childhood is contemplated with the light from stained-glass windows falling upon it; and also a complete metrical version of the Psalms. The latter was never used as a hymn book, but is far superior to the average attempt to do a thing which, as Keble himself knew and acknowledged, is inherently impossible. The hymn beginning "God, the Lord, a King remaineth" (The Hymnal, No. 89) is an example of Keble's renderings. From time to time he contributed a few other hymns to various books compiled by personal friends. He also assisted Earl Nelson in editing The Salisbury Hymn Book of 1857. In this he printed his familiar wedding hymn, "The Voice that Breathed o'er Eden" (The Hymnal, No. 687). Keble died on March 29th, 1866, at Bournemouth, where he had gone for the health of his wife, who survived him but six weeks. The last book he had in his hand was a hymn book-Roundell Palmer's Book of Praise. He had sent for it, because unable to recall all the verses of Bishop Ken's Evening Hymn, which he was accustomed to say in the night-watches by his wife. The graves of the poet and his wife are in Hursley church-yard. SOME POINTS FOR DISCUSSION (1) Can even a hymn so tender and lovely as this be sung thoughtlessly? There is in the diary of the late Archbishop Benson a good instance of the thoughtful hearing of the hymn. He was preaching in the chapel of Eton College, and notes: "In Evening Service I could not see one single boy who was not singing the Evening Hymn after Service, 'Sun of My Soul,'-and the last verse was most touching, and most touchingly sung, as one thought of school as the waking place of so many souls and minds : : "Come near and bless us when we wake, Ere through the world our way we take." (2) The many alterations made in the text of the hymn by various editors may well be passed by. The revisions of Keble himself are more interesting. Two autograph manuscripts of The Christian Year, or parts of it, are in existence, and of that dated 1822 a facsimile has been The Hymnal text here given is that of the second edition (1827) of The Christian Year. It differs from that of the first edition in only two places. In the opening line of the fourth verse the first edition followed the manuscript form, "If some poor wandering soul of thine"; and the last line of that verse began (oddly enough), "Let her no more." Can there be any question that in this second edition Keble improved the text of these lines? There is, however, one small particular in which the Hymnal text differs from that of all the early printed editions. In them the last line of the fifth verse is printed to read "Like infant's slumbers," instead of "Like infants' slumbers." In Keble's manuscript the position of the apostrophe is problematical. In later editions of The Christian Year the word is printed "infants'," whether or no by Keble's authority does not appear. It is hard to believe that he would have defended "like infant's slumbers" as good English, if his attention was called to it. It seems more likely that it was an overlooked misprint. (3) What passage of Scripture suggested the lines: "O may no earth-born cloud arise To hide Thee from Thy servant's eyes"? (4) The familiar tune, Hursley, was arranged for this hymn from an old German melody: Abends (The Hymnal, No. 18), Keble (No. 61), Sun of My Soul (No. 118), and Clolata (No. 444), were all specially written for it. Of the five tunes, which best expresses the spirit of the hymn ? IV HOW FIRM A FOUNDATION, YE SAINTS OF THE LORD I THE TEXT OF THE HYMN How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord, Is laid for your faith in His excellent word! What more can He say than to you He hath said,— 2 "Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed; I'll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand, 3 "When through the deep waters I call thee to go, "When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie, 5 "E'en down to old age all My people shall prove |