Verses on Various Occasions by John Henry Newman (ebooks online reader txt) 📕
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Verses on Various Occasions is a collection of poems written by John Henry Newman between 1818 and 1865. This period of Newman’s ecclesiastical career saw his ordination as an Anglican priest in 1825, his involvement in the High Church “Oxford Movement” in the 1830s, his conversion to Roman Catholicism in 1845, and his founding of the Birmingham Oratory, a Catholic religious community, in 1849.
The poems in this collection span a range of Christian subjects, including piety, biblical prophets, Church Fathers, and Newman’s evolving views on the Catholic Church. Some noteworthy inclusions are “The Pillar of the Cloud,” which has been set to music as the hymn “Lead, Kindly Light,” and “The Dream of Gerontius,” which relates a man’s journey into the afterlife, inspired by Dante’s Divine Comedy.
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- Author: John Henry Newman
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Who can aid us, who can break
Teeth of envious foes, and make
Hours of loss and pain succeed,
Guiding safe each duteous deed,
And infusing self-control,
Fragrant chastity of soul,
Faith’s keen flame to soar on high,
Incorrupt simplicity.
Christ Himself for food be given,
Faith become the cup of Heaven,
Out of which the joy is quaff’d
Of the Spirit’s sobering draught.
With that joy replenishèd,
Morn shall glow with modest red,
Noon with beaming faith be bright,
Eve be soft without twilight.
It has dawn’d;—upon our way,
Father in Thy Word, this day,
In Thy Father Word Divine,
From Thy cloudy pillar shine.
To the Father, and the Son,
And the Spirit, Three and One,
As of old, and as in Heaven,
Now and here be glory given.
Ales diei nuntius.
Day’s herald bird
At length is heard,
Telling its morning torch is lit,
And small and still
Christ’s accents thrill,
Within the heart rekindling it.
Away, He cries,
With languid eyes,
And sickly slumbers profitless!
I am at hand,
As watchers stand,
In awe, and truth, and holiness.
He will appear
The hearts to cheer
Of suppliants pale and abstinent
Who cannot sleep
Because they weep
With holy grief and violent.
Keep us awake,
The fetters break,
Jesu! which night has forged for us;
Yea, melt the night
To sinless light,
Till all is bright and glorious.
To Father, Son,
And Spirit, One,
To the Most Holy Trinity,
All praise be given
In Earth and Heaven,
Now, as of old, and endlessly.
Nox et tenebrae et nubila.
Haunting gloom and flitting shades,
Ghastly shapes, away!
Christ is rising, and pervades
Highest Heaven with day.
He with His bright spear the night
Dazzles and pursues;
Earth wakes up, and glows with light
Of a thousand hues.
Thee, O Christ, and Thee alone,
With a single mind,
We with chant and plaint would own:
To Thy flock be kind.
Much it needs Thy light divine,
Spot and stain to clean;
Light of Angels, on us shine
With Thy face serene.
To the Father, and the Son,
And the Holy Ghost,
Here be glory, as is done
By the angelic host.
Lux ecce surgit aurea.
See, the golden dawn is glowing,
While the paly shades are going,
Which have led us far and long,
In a labyrinth of wrong.
May it bring us peace serene;
May it cleanse, as it is clean;
Plain and clear our words be spoke,
And our thoughts without a cloak;
So the day’s account, shall stand.
Guileless tongue and holy hand,
Stedfast eyes and unbeguiled,
“Flesh as of a little child.”
There is One who from above
Watches how the still hours move
Of our day of service done,
From the dawn to setting sun.
To the Father, and the Son,
And the Spirit, Three and One,
As of old, and as in Heaven,
Now and here be glory given.
Aeterna coeli gloria.
Glory of the eternal Heaven,
Blessed Hope to mortals given,
Of the Almighty Only Son,
And the Virgin’s Holy One;
Raise us, Lord, and we shall rise
In a sober mood,
And a zeal, which glorifies
Thee from gratitude.
Now the day-star, keenly glancing,
Tells us of the Sun’s advancing;
While the unhealthy shades decline,
Rise within us, Light Divine!
Rise, and, risen, go not hence,
Stay, and make us bright,
Streaming through each cleansèd sense,
On the outward night.
Then the root of faith shall spread
In the heart new fashionèd;
Gladsome hope shall spring above,
And shall bear the fruit of love.
To the Father, and the Son,
And the Holy Ghost,
Here be glory, as is done
By the angelic host.
Aurora jam spargit polum.
The dawn is sprinkled o’er the sky,
The day steals softly on;
Its darts are scatter’d far and nigh,
And all that fraudful is, shall fly
Before the brightening sun;
Spectres of ill, that stalk at will,
And forms of guilt that fright,
And hideous sin, that ventures in
Under the cloak of night.
And of our crimes the tale complete,
Which bows us in Thy sight,
Up to the latest, they shall fleet,
Out-told by our full numbers sweet,
And melted by the light.
To Father, Son, and Spirit, One,
Whom we adore and love,
Be given all praise, now and always,
Here as in Heaven above.
Jam lucis orto sidere.
(From the Parisian Breviary.14)
Now that the day-star glimmers bright,
We suppliantly pray
That He, the uncreated Light,
May guide us on our way.
No sinful word, nor deed of wrong,
Nor thoughts that idly rove;
But simple truth be on our tongue,
And in our hearts be love.
And, while the hours in order flow,
O Christ, securely fence
Our gates, beleaguer’d by the foe—
The gate of every sense.
And grant that to Thine honour, Lord,
Our daily toil may tend;
That we begin it at Thy word,
And in Thy blessing end.
And, lest the flesh in its excess
Should lord it o’er the soul,
Let taming abstinence repress
The rebel, and control.
To God the Father glory be,
And to His Only Son,
And to the Spirit, One and Three,
While endless ages run.
Littlemore. February, 1842.
CXL TerceNunc Sancte nobis Spiritus.
Come, Holy Ghost, who ever One
Reignest with Father and with Son,
It is the hour, our souls possess
With Thy full flood of holiness.
Let flesh, and heart, and lips, and mind,
Sound forth our witness to mankind;
And love light up our mortal frame,
Till others catch the living flame.
Now to the Father, to the Son,
And to the Spirit, Three in One,
Be praise and thanks and glory given
By men on earth, by Saints in heaven.
Rector potens, verax Deus.
O God, who canst not change nor fail,
Guiding the hours, as they roll by,
Bright’ning with beams the morning pale,
And burning in the mid-day sky,
Quench Thou the fires of hate and strife,
The wasting fever of the heart;
From perils guard our feeble life,
And to our souls Thy peace impart.
Grant this, O Father, Only Son,
And Holy Spirit, God of grace,
To whom all glory, Three in One,
Be given in every time and place.
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