Sundays with the Poets. By THOMAS BAYNE, No III.-LEWIS MORRIS. PROBABLY the most widely popular of living poets, next to Mr. Tennyson, is Mr. Lewis Morris, whose latest volume, entitled, "Songs Unsung," is the first to bear his name on the title-page. The reason of Mr. Tennyson's popularity is perfectly apparent no other singer of this generation is so thoroughly English in character and attitude, or such a master of a rare musical gift. It is, however, a perfectly fair question for speculative criticism, whether Mr. Tennyson, without his undoubted charm of music, would have been with his other powers alone a force and an influence for very large numbers. Even "In Memoriam" owes much to its structural ornaments and graces, while such a remarkable poem as "The Higher Pantheism can never become known to any but students of the poet, and that very much because it lacks the spell of captivating harmonies. On the other hand, the author of "Songs of Two Worlds " and the "Epic of Hades" has a unique power of philosophising in verse. He is like Herbert and Vaughan, both in attitude and utterance, while his poetic range is wider than either of these poets ever attained, and he surpasses Herbert in acuteness and Vaughan in ease and lucidity. Mr. Morris has succeeded in a sphere in which success is extremely difficult, and therefore very rare. He embodies solid and subtle reflections in verse; elaborates a particular mood throughout a series of unpretending but expressive stanzas; introduces to his readers some pathetic incident, and tells its significance with quiet, memorable simplicity; estimates the bearing of a phase of thought on that great mysterious entity, the eternal life of the soul; and does all in a manner that is at once striking and deeply impressive. Herein is found the secret of Mr. Morris's popularity. He stands alone among the poets of his time. What Mr. Tennyson might have done, had he chosen, for the philosophical reader and the special student of poetry, the author of "Songs of Two Worlds," &c. has achieved in the interests of the thousands that can follow and appreciate a train of reflection in verse. Or again, it may be said that Mr. Morris's popularity is akin to that which environs for ever the author of the Elegy written in a Country Churchyard, whereas he might have been only the exponent of an inferior "Prince Hohenstiel-Schwangau." Poetry of this reflective. character must either succeed at once or fail altogether, and it is undeniable that the "New Writer" of 1870, or thereby, is in these days a conspicuously successful poet. He arrests and retains the attention of his numerous readers, because he has something important to communicate, and because his mode of address is admirably adapted to the nature of his message. The "Two Worlds" of Mr. Morris's songs are, the world of the individual as he exists under human conditions, and the world towards which these conditions manifestly direct him. Every man, in the poet's view, is under a very serious and imperative responsibility, resting on his mysterious and manifold gifts and privileges. Esse quam videri should be the universal motto for conduct; every soul should be so thoroughly in earnest as to eliminate from his considerations, like the Prince of Denmark, all that is implied in "seems"; and the claims of the higher life should invariably be so definite and so strong that the sad dirge over Grylle should be for ever impossible. Thus, then, life for this poet is not a passing show, but an impressive and enjoyable reality. It is optimism, and not its melancholy reverse, that Mr. Morris insists upon in all his work. There is no despair in his note, but a wellassured and cheerful confidence. It is thus, for example, that a "fair spring morning" inspires him : SUNDAY TALK. "Better than this, The burning sins of youth, the old man's greed, Than thus to live inane; To sit and read, And with blind brain Daily to treasure up a deadly doubt, And live a life from which the light has fled, Self-sufficient and assertive egoism is always dan- and it shall be the heroine of the Trojan war herself: "There be some souls For which love is enough, and who can bear Is sweeter for them, and the great spheres ring on It would be difficult to find a passage that better sets forth the poet's conception of what may be called the pilgrimage of souls. Every individual has an importance peculiarly his own, and his every thought and action are more or less satisfactory records of progress within a multiform and infinite system. The illustration of this central belief, by numerous examples and from widely-different points of view, is the direct and steadfast purpose of Mr. Morris in all his works. Sometimes, as in "Evensong," he meditates past and present, and rises to something like passion of argument; sometimes, as throughout the "Ode of Life," and many of the "Songs," his work is characterised by charm of sentiment, purity of feeling, and felicitous movement; sometimes it is his novelty of observation and quick sympathetic appeal that mark his attitude; and sometimes, as in the climax of "The New Creed," here quoted from "Songs Unsung," he bursts into a hymn of triumph as he catches a glimpse of his ideal : "Not so, indeed, we hold, but rather this- This truth alone of all trnths else holds fast :- This is the teaching of the voice sublime: Eternal are the worlds, and all that them do fill ; Eternal is the life of men, and sun, and star; Ay, even though they fade a while, they are; And though they pause from shining, speed for ever still." saying that he is not a didactic poet according to the It would not be fair to part from Mr. Morris without ordinary use of that designation. He has a purpose no doubt, and a very lofty one it is, in all that he sophical, than, by calling him didactic, to run the risk writes; but it is more correct to say that he is philoof attaching to him a stigma that will prevent worthy readers from making his acquaintance. He is not a mere reasoner in verse, but he philosophises in poetic form, as being thereby likely to give most adequate expression to as fine an ideal as any poet of these times has conceived. He is emphatically the poet of the higher spiritual life -a fact that is charged with significance when taken in connexion with his undoubted popularity. The Children's Column. THE NEW YEAR. [HAVE HAVE been asked to say a few words to you, by way of Sunday talk, at this new-year time. The year begins at different times in different countries. I need not tell you why in this and other lands it begins on the first day of January. Its beginning is connected with certain events which always happen at the same time. So that the New Year tells us that God, who created all things, and in whose hands we are, is a God of order. The seasons come round in regular succession. Everything is fixed, settled, and carried on upon a system which never changes, and never fails or gives way. And this comes from God's goodness, and is meant for man's good. If all the seasons were mixed up together, or followed each other without any settled order, the world could not go on. And as regularly as the first day of the year comes round, so does the first day of the week, the Lord's day, on which I hope you will read this Sunday Talk. In providing for our souls, as well as for our bodies, God is a God of order. We can always depend upon Him. We can always know what He seeks from us, and what He will give to us. We can always be sure that we can get what we need for our soul's good, and find out where we may get it. Now many people at this new-year time are thinking, perhaps, that while they may know for certain much about God's works and ways, they know very little about what may happen to themselves. For the new year brings sad, as well as happy thoughts, care and anxiety, as well as hope and good cheer. I do not suppose that you will trouble yourselves much about the future and what it may bring, except in the way of pleasant anticipation. And at your time of life it would not be either natural or profitable that you should be careful and troubled about it. But I would like you to be happy and free from care, not because you do not think much of what the coming days may bring, but because, in your own childlike way, you do think much of God, and trust always in His goodness and love. Everything that can or will happen in the year that is just begun is perfectly well known to God, and wholly in His hands. He knows all things, controls all things, determines all things, according to His own purposes, and, as the Bible tells us, makes all things work together for good to them that love Him. If you can know nothing for certain about yourselves, you may know all this for certain about God. And if God helps you to know it, you will be very happy, and feel very safe. Suppose a poor, wild, ignorant savage, from the depths of Africa, or from some newly discovered island in the Pacific, were taken into one of the large factories in this great city. When he saw and heard the great wheels, the revolving belts, the plunge of the pistons, the dash and clang of the looms, would he not be amazed and terrified, and afraid to move a limb? Would he not feel as if death were all around him, and expect every moment to be crushed to pieces? And would not one accustomed to such places smile at his fears? And why? Because he would know that all these powerful engines, which, so far as mere power goes, could crush him to death in a moment, were all under perfect control, were all working according to a fixed plan and certain rule. And so he would know that he was as safe in the midst of them as in his own house, and far safer, perhaps, than in the street, if a busy and crowded one, where his house was situated. Now far more thoroughly than these wheels, and belts, and looms, would be under the control of the engineers of that great factory, is this world, and everything that may or will happen in it, under the control of God. Not only the great movements of the earth, which every new year comes back to the point from which it started, but the slightest movement of the tiniest insect, the smallest atom, on the earth's surface, and everything, great and small, He holds in his own hand, and directs according to His own purposes. And what do you know of God's purposes about you? You know what the Lord Jesus said of His Father and your Father: "What man is there of you, whom if his son ask bread will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask Him?" Can you tell me how much more? No you cannot, and I cannot, and no man can. Your Father in heaven cares for you, loves you, wishes you well; and He knows all about you, what you do, what you say, even what you only think. He knows what you are thinking and wishing now. And He has many thoughts about you. David said: "How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O, God! How great is the sum of them?" God has many thoughts about you, turns over in His SUNDAY TALK. mind, so to speak, what you need and want. Aye, He has what we may call a jealous concern for your safety and welfare. "Take heed," said the Saviour, in very beautiful and solemn words, "that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you that in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father, who is in heaven. "Your Father, who is in heaven!" Think of that too when you think of God. He is not only a loving Father, but a holy Father. He is in heaven, and heaven is a holy place where no sin can enter. there is a way to this holy place, for the Lord Jesus But says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father but by me." Believe in Him, for He is true; trust in Him, for He is mighty to save; love Him, for He loves you with a love that passeth knowledge. And if you cannot of yourselves do these things, and no one can, God will help you to do them, if only you ask Him. For to repeat that beautiful verse I quoted before, as we find it in St. Luke's Gospel, "If ye, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?" R. W. MACKERSY. Books for Reading. (RECEIVED.) "St. Paul's Use of the terms Flesh and Spirit :" the Baird "Life: Is it Worth Living." By the Rev. John Marshall 66 The Angel in the Marble," and other papers. By George F. Pentecost, D.D. Same publishers. Price 1s 6d. 'Wayside Springs from the Fountain of Life. L. Cuyler, D.D., author of "God's Light on Dark Clouds,' By Theodore "Pointed Papers," "Heart Life," &c. Same publishers. Price 1s 6d. "Life in a Look." By Maurice S. Baldwin, Dean of Montreal, Same publishers. Price 1s. "Thirty Thousand Thoughts," being extracts, covering a comprehensive circle of religious and other topics, gathered from the best available sources, of all ages and of all schools of thought, with suggestive and seminal headings, and homiletical and illuminative framework; the whole arranged upon a scientific basis, with classified and thought-multiplying lists, comparative tables, and elaborate indices, alphabetical, topical, textual, and scriptural. Edited by the Rev. Canon H. D. W. Spence, M. A.; Rev. Joseph S. Exell, M.A.; Rev Charles Neil, M. A. I. Christian Evidences. II. The Holy Spirit. III. The Beatitudes. IV. The Lord's Prayer. V. Man and his Traits of Character, with introduction by the Very Rev. J. S. Howson, D,D., Dean of Chester. London: Kegan Paul, Trench & Co., Paternoster Square. "Songs Unsung." Honorary Fellow of Jesus College, Oxford, Knight of the By Lewis Morris, of Penbryn, M. A., Price 16s. Redeemer of Greece, &c., &c. "Fide-et-amore." Third elition. Same publishers. By Duncan London: "The Light of Life:" addresses to young men. "James Hurnard:" a Memoir, chiefly autobiographical, with Calendar for January. 1st-Born, Edin und Burke, 1730; Maria Edgeworth, 1767.-Died, Louis 2d-Born, General Wolfe, 1727.-Died, Alexander, Earl of Rosslyn, Lord 6th-Born, Benjamin Franklin, 1706.-Died, Madame D'Arblay (Frances 8th-Died, Galileo Galilei, 1642. 10th-Beheaded, Archbishop Laud, 1645.-Died, Mary Russell Mitford, 1855. 11th-Died, F. Schlegel, 1829. 12th-Born, George, Fourth Earl of Clarendon, 1800.-Died, John C. 13th-Died, George Fox, Founder of the Society of Friends, 1690. 15th-Born, Moliere, 1622; Dr. Samuel Parr, 1747; Dr. John Aikin, 1747; 16th-Born, Richard Savage, 1697.-Died, Edmund Spenser, 1599; Edward 19th-Born, James Watt, 1736.-Died, William Congreve, 1729; Isaac 21st-Died, Miles Coverdale, translator of the Scriptures, 1568; Joseph Scaliger, 1609; Henry Hallam, 1859. 22d-Born, Francis Bacon, Lord Verulam, 1561; Gotthold Lessing, 1729.Died, Gustave Doré, 1883. 23rd-Born, William Pitt, 1806; Archdeacon Hare. 1855 24th-Born, Frederick the Great, 1712; Charles James Fox, 1749. 25th-Born, Robert Burns, 1757: James Hogg, 1772; Benjamin Rober 26th-Born, Thomas Noon Talfourd, 1795.-Died, Edward Gibbon, 1794; 29th.. Born, Emmanuel de Swedenborg, 1688, engraver, 1749.-Died, John Theophilus Fichte, philosopher, 1814. 30th-Born, Walter Savage Landor, 1775; Charles Lord Metcalfe, 1785.William Sharpe, line Died, William Chillingworth, 1644. 31st-Born, Ben Johnson, 1574.-Prince Charles Edward Stuart, 1788. Ecclesiastical Calendar for January. The Epistle to the Romans, iv. 8-14. The Epistle to the Ephesians, iii. 1-12. SUNDAY, 13th-First Sunday after the Epiphany The Epistle to the Romans, xii. 1-5. FRIDAY, 25th-The Conversion of St. Paul. Sunday Talk will be sent, post free, to any address in the United Agents wanted in every town in Scotland. Specimen Copies will be sent Circulars. Terms, &c., on application." |