Caroline Maria Noel (1817-77) "The Name of Jesus" & Other Poems: Transcriptions from a copy of a posthumous Memorial Edition, 1878, on loan from the British Library (ILL).
[Title page, 1878/9]
AND APPENDIX.
Sixteenth Thousand
LONDON:
HATCHARDS, PICCADILLY.
1879
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- Then fear we not to trust His Word,
- And cherish Love's increase;
- Since e'en its sharpest throes must pass
- Into Eternal Peace.
Easter, 1868.
[ Memorial Introduction . Footnotes in the original are indicated there by an asterisk, which here is followed by a numbered link.]
The present Edition of these poems, as well as any that may hereafter be called for, must needs differ in one respect from any that have preceded it. In previous editions, fresh poems were added by the Author from time to time. Now, the volume is complete; and the present Edition is sent forth in loving memory of one whose earthly work is finished.
Many into whose hands this volume may fall, and those especially to whom the prayer that it might be employed in the "Ministry of Consolation" has been answered, may find it helpful, as well as interesting, to learn somewhat of the circumstances which gave its special character to this work.
A sickness prolonged for more than twenty years, with seasons of extreme suffering and weakness, so extreme at times, that the end seemed imminent; a peculiar sensitiveness of nerve and brain, which could seldom bear the presence of earthly friends; long nights and days of throbbing sleeplessness: - such was the school in which were taught and learned those lessons of "submission," of willing acceptance of "the yoke," of "patient hope," of trust and of glorying in "the Name of Jesus" and "the Cross of Jesus," and in which were won the peculiar depth and power of sympathy which breathe throughout these pages.
These were doubtless the advanced and ripened fruits; but they were developed from a natural character of more than ordinary breadth and beauty. All who knew the Author in outwardly brighter days were conscious of rich and varied powers of mind, of a delicate refinement, of a singular playfulness of thought, and a love of all that is beautiful in nature and in art, together with an ever-deepening humility, which were among her early as well as her latest characteristics.
There are a few who will not allow how natural it is, in prolonged sickness, to make its very loneliness into a home from which the sighs and sorrows of the outer world are gradually excluded; but here it will be observed, that in all the later poems the sympathies take an even wider range, and are especially with the bereaved. Is a mother mourning for a little child called away on the voyage homeward from a distant land? - are the family joys of Christmas mellowed by an unlooked-for loss? - does the Church mourn the sudden removal of a Chief Pastor,, whose ministrations the Author herself had known and prized in her father's* [Note1] house? - To these and all such mourners her loving and earnest sympathies were extended; while every record of a "course fulfilled," of a "heart that throbbed with suffering," now "bathed in endless calm," was hailed with deepest thankfulness.
Amid the many lights that were graciously permitted to fall across this shadowed life, and that gave so cheering and joyous a brightness to this sick room, must be mentioned the pleasure derived from the "unusual acceptance" given to this volume. Often was her heart gladdened by the testimonies received,from varied and quite unexpected quarters, to the encouragement, consolation, or help, which its perusal had afforded; while the knowledge that some of its verses* [Note2]were to be heard in the Church's public services, from which the Author had been so long witheld, was an additional source of gladness.
It was but a short time before the present Edition was needed, that the long looked-for summons came. A few days of acute suffering were followed by some hours of unconsciousness; and then, without a sigh, she passed into the Sunshine of His Blessed Presence.
- "O life fulfilled -
- In rapture stilled -
- With Him, Who led her by the road
- Of suffering, to be crowned of God!"
These verses were printed in their rough unfinished state, just as they were written down at the dictation of one, who is incapacitated by weakness for the task of revision and correction. As they have met with unusual acceptance from many of those for whom they were intended, they are again published, with considerable additions.
May He, Who was anointed that He might "comfort all that mourn," vouchsafe to give them some further employment in His Ministry of Consolation!
- One Name alone in all this death-struck earth,
- One Name alone come down from highest heaven,
- Whence healing and salvation we receive,
- To sinful man is given.
- Name brought by Gabriel from the heart of God,
- And laid like flower-seed in the adoring breast
- Of her, in whom the mystery was wrought,
- And God made manifest:
- O Name of Jesus! - of that lowly Babe
- That on the sunny slopes of Nazareth strayed,
- Or, calm and silent on the cottage floor,
- With wild flowers played:
- Name of the wondrous Child, that in the temple stood,
- With brow all meekness, and with eye all light,
- Who to the blinded teachers of the Law
- Would have given sight:
- Name of the Prophet, Healer, Master, Friend,
- Death's mighty Vanquisher, and sorrow's Cure,
- The Fountain of new innocence for man,
- That ever shall endure:
- The secret, the unutterable Name,
- From the world's earlier ages hid so long,
- Now in time's fulness given at length to be
- The new creation's song:
- And yet it was the scorn of Jewish lips,
- And written by unholy heathen pen,
- Then nailed aloft upon the awful Cross,
- Signal to God and men;
- But never written in the dust of death,
- Nor cut upon the portals of the grave,
- So quickly He that threshold has recrossed,
- Triumphantly to save.
- It dropped from heaven like gently falling plume,
- Just when the shadow of the white cloud fell
- Upon the Apostles' upward-turnèd brows:
- "O wherefore dwell,
- Ye Galilaeans, gazing up so long
- Into the clear blue depths ye search in vain?
- Lo! this same Jesus, rising to His Throne,
- Shall so return again."
- Once more Heaven sent it down upon the earth,
- When from Love's central Fount the accents came,
- And on the persecuting Saul poured down,
- In glory and in flame.
- O Name of value infinite! and yet
- Thou mov'st our spirits with a deeper thrill,
- For the dear lips that have Thy music breathed,
- And then grown still.
- For Thou the last gift art our lost ones leave,
- To be our comfort on our onward way:
- "Love Jesus," "Jesus is our only hope,"
- Adoringly they say.
- As shipwrecked sailors grasp an oar, and launch
- Upon the billows of a midnight sea,
- These fearless souls, embracing "Jesus," plunge
- Into Eternity:
- Then, safely floated to the Home of peace,
- Where the bright plumèd angels throng the shore,
- Still, still the Name of Jesus those glad hosts
- In anthems pour.
- Name that the ransomed souls for ever wear,
- Gemmed with pure lustre on each perfect brow,
- Be Thou the radiance of our earthly lives;
- Transform us even now.
- O Name above all names the most beloved!
- Fullest of memories, and of untold peace,
- Earnest of all unutterable joys! -
- Yet, fond heart, cease,
- For Jesus is the Name of the High God:
- Hushed be thy thoughts, and silently adore!
- When thou shalt come to see Him as He is,
- Thou shalt know more.
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