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DR. NEALE AND ST. MARGARET'S. 207 |
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neighbours, always having some literary work on hand. It was while here that he received the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Hartford College, Connecticut. Those still living can well remember the bitter opposition which his earlier efforts aroused, nor are the riots in East Grinstead and Lewes forgotten, while we still occasionally get vague echoes of the vituperation which poured upon him through the Press of Sussex. But quietly, lovingly, this great scholar and earnest worker plodded on, until he lived down all opposition and won for himself and his work a love and a reverence which is intensified as the years roll on.
It is impossible to exaggerate the great value of his contributions to our national literature. The hymns composed or translated by him are sung in every country where the Christian faith is known, and the popularity will never fade of such beautiful lines as " Brief life is here our portion," " To thee, 0 dear, dear country," " Art thou weary ?" " Jerusalem the golden " and " The day is past and over." About one-twelfth of "Hymns Ancient and Modern " are from his pen. He won the Seatonian prize for poetry about a dozen times in all; he was for three years leader writer for The Morning Chronicle; he published works in many different languages —he was a master of about twenty; and the British Museum Library catalogue contains a list of something like 140 books written by him. Everything he undertook he did thoroughly and he was wont to say, " What is possible may be done; what is impossible must be done." The keynote of his life is beautifully expressed by his own words in his Seatonian poem on Egypt:—
Go forward ! Forward, when all seems lost, when the cause looks utterly hopeless ; Forward, when brave hearts fail, and to yield is the rede of the
coward; Forward, when friends fall off, and enemies gather around thee; Thou, though alone with thy God, though alone in thy courage, go
forward!
So much for the man; now for the work. Of the reasons which led to the founding of St. Margaret's, no better account can be given than that written by Dr. |
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