TRINITY XII (J.M. Neale Sunday), Year A: August 10 2008

Preacher: Rev'd Dr Andreas Loewe, Assistant Priest at Great St Mary's, Cambridge, and Chaplain of Michaelhouse

John Mason Neale, whom we remember today, is probably one of the most prolific hymn writers of the nineteenth century. Many of our most popular hymns were either written by him, or were translated by him from traditional Latin texts for use in the vernacular. Most of you will have a favourite JM Neale hymn. It might be the joyful hymn to the Incarnation, A great and mighty wonder, sung to a traditional German Christmas tune, or his translation of 'Vexilla Regis'—The Royal Banners forward go—sung to traditional plainchant, or his Easter hymn, The Day of Resurrection.

Many of Neale's hymns are characterised by their vivid imagery and fine poetry. In hymns such as Come ye faithful, raise the strain, each verse is a poem in itself:

  'tis the spring of souls to-day
  Christ hath burst his prison,
  and from three days' sleep in death
  as a Sun hath risen.

The sunrise of that first Easter Day hails a 'spring of souls', the time when 'all the winter of our sins, long and dark is flying, from his light'. Here, the great mystery of the resurrection is translated from the incomprehensible event that changed the course of human relationships with God forever on that first Easter Day, and is brought closer to the experience of those who would hymn the victor over death on successive Easter Days: bright sunlight chases away the remaining shadows, spring concludes Lent and banishes all memories of winter.

Neale is not afraid to use the language of a theologian in his hymnody, either. In his hymn Stars of the morning, so gloriously bright, he paints an image of the heavenly court, with angels hymning the Trinity with their ceaseless song—Holy, Holy, Holy:

  Filled with celestial resplendence and light,
  these that, where night never followeth day
  raise the Trisagion ever and ay.

Or, in his Advent hymn Come thou, redeemer of the earth, as he sets forth in words of poetry the mystery of the Word-made-flesh:

  Begotten of no human will,
  but of the Spirit, though art still
  the Word of God, in flesh arrayed
  the Saviour, now to man displayed.

The enduring popularity of Neale's hymns surely derives from this skill to bridge the world of theological thought, of often intricate abstract concepts, such as the Incarnation or the real presence, with the world of human experience. In order to achieve this, Neale draws on a large repertoire of traditional Christian hymns—most of them derive from early Latin writings, such as the compline hymn Before the ending of the day. Many are medieval, such as his translation of Abelard's 'O quanta qualia'—O what their joys and their glory must be, Bernard of Cluny's 'Urbs Sion aurea'—the delightful Jerusalem the Golden, or Thomas Aquinas' 'Tantum ergo Sacramentum'—Therefore we before him bending. Other Latin hymns he translates had been written more recently—in the eighteenth century—by continental writers, such as the French hymnodist Charles Coffin.

All of these Neale skilfully renders into the vernacular, not only anglicizes them but, some might say, 'Anglicanizes' them: the seventh-century Latin hymn 'Angularis fundamentum', sung to austere modal plainchant, is a very different hymn from Neale's Christ is made the sure foundation when sung to the stately tune Westminster Abbey. Neale's rendering of ageless theological truth in a very Anglican garb made him a natural choice for the editors of the English Hymnal; indeed, in the recent revision of the New English Hymnal, Neale is matched in number of hymns only by Charles Wesley.

In this morning's epistle [Romans 10.5-15]] St Paul asks how those who are still far off in the life of faith 'are to call on one in whom they have not believed?' How are people 'to believe in one of whom they have never heard?' Indeed, 'how are they to hear without someone to proclaim Christ?'(Romans 10.14-15). Neale, surely must be numbered among those evangelists who seek to bring the truth of the gospel close to us by the words of his hymns—'How beautiful are the feet of those who bring Good News'—Paul concludes today's epistle reading, citing Isaiah (Romans 10.15). How beautiful are those who bring Good News—and few caused us to sing of the good news of our salvation more beautifully than Neale.

How can we come to know Christ, and how can we come to a closer relationship with him, Paul asks in our epistle, and provides himself the answer: 'If you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your hearts that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved' (Romans 10.9). Earlier in the same chapter, he spoke of how his heart's desire is for all to be saved, to be called to come close to Christ (Romans 10.1-5). And in the light of this fervent desire, he considers the role of those who proclaim good news, who bring the word of God close to us, so that all can proclaim: 'the word is near you, on your lips and in your hearts' (Romans 10.8).

Neale shares this desire to expound the gospel, in his own days, and does so most lastingly through his hymns (though he also wrote countless ballads and popular songs, some on key aspects of the faith, such as the role of Scripture, others on the danger of dissenters, or more mundane aspects of church life, such as the social and theological dangers of 'pues'—'join in my ditty, and out with the pews!'—is Neale's commendation to the socially concerned Anglo-Catholic. Indeed, 'whoe'er loves old customs can never refuse/To vote in the vestry for outing the pews!').

It was St Augustine who famously asserted that 'he who sings, prays twice'. Neale's skill with pen and words enabled him to add instruction in the Christian faith to St Augustine's doubly sung prayers. 'How can they believe in one of whom they have never heard?', Paul asked (Romans 10.14). Throughout his life Neale sought to bring the faith he had inherited to the people around him. His motivation to do so was to bring the faith of the universal church to the people of England, where they were, in words and music they understood.

A wordsmith himself, Neale puts the coming of the Word of God in human flesh at the centre of his hymnody. But equally important to him was the fact that this divine Word can come so close to us that it can truly be said to dwell in us, that it can sustain us, in body and soul, in the bread of the Eucharist:

  Word-made-flesh, by word he maketh
  bread his very flesh to be,
  man in wine Christ's blood partaketh
  and if senses fail to see
  faith alone the true heart waketh
  to behold the mystery,

Neale expounds the true presence of Christ among us in the Eucharist in his translation of Thomas Aquinas' office hymn for Corpus Christi, 'Pange lingua gloriosi corporis mysterium'.

'The word of God is near you', Paul knew, if it is brought to us by evangelists who make known the Good News (Romans 10.8). The word is so near that it is on our lips and in our hearts, Paul explained. The Word of God dwelt among us not only as the incarnate Christ, who walked this earth, but dwells with us in us today, comes close to each one of us, as we come to receive him on our lips in the sacrament we are gathered to receive, in order to render our hearts to him.

By right, the final words ought to belong to the poet and priest we celebrate today:

  No tongue of mortals can express
  no letters write its blessedness
  alone who hath thee in his heart
  knows, Love of Jesus, what thou art.

It is my prayer for you and me, that we may come to know Christ in our hearts, by receiving him in the gifts of bread and wine he bestowed on his church. It is my prayer that, filled with his presence we, too, might come to share in the work of making him known with all the skills and gifts God has given us, translating again the faith of old to a new generation longing, like Paul's and JM Neale's contemporaries, for someone to proclaim to them Good News.

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.