CHAPTER VIII: DANIEL DDU--NICANDER--IEUAN GLAN GEIRIONYDD.

DANIEL DDU--NICANDER--IEUAN GLAN GEIRIONYDD.

THE REV. DANIEL EVANS (Daniel Ddu) was born at Llanfihangel-Ystrad, in the county of Cardigan, in the year 1792. He studied at Oxford, and afterwards became a Fellow of Jesus College. He used to spend much of his time between the terms in the neighbourhood of his birth, where he was half worshipped by the peasantry. They held some strange notions with regard to Oxford; and nothing could put out of their heads the belief that its ancient colleges were the favourite haunts of a motley crew of ghosts of a very doubtful character. He himself was considered an expert in 'raising spirits'; and as to his familiarity with the 'black art'--how could there be a doubt of it, when he could speak Latin as well as Mephistopheles himself? If he never abused his power to do them ill, it was only another proof of his good nature. In the latter part of his life he was much troubled with melancholy, and died when he was fifty-four years of age. He wrote some very successful Eisteddvodic poetry; but nothing that he has written is so well known as the following hymn-poem on the Prodigal Son, with its effective arrangement of light and shade. Its dramatic cast stands in the way of its being used as a whole; but some of the verses are extensively known. __________________________________________________________________

Daniel Evans (Daniel Ddu)
Who is yonder weary pilgrim
From the desert now appears,
Coming home with cheerless footsteps,
And his cheek bedewed with tears?
Worn and tattered is his garment,
There is famine in his face:
Peace has made a vain endeavour
In his heart to find a place.
Hear him to himself bemoaning--
'Father! in Thy house make me
But a servant!--me, unworthy
Any more Thy son to be!'
What is this--this strain celestial
Now I hear above the sky?
Harps ten thousand times ten thousand
In sweet harmony on high?
Oh! the softly flowing echo
From the instruments of gold:
'Journey on, thou weary pilgrim,
Welcome home from deserts cold!
The inhabitants of Light-land
Now with joy thy spirit greet:
See, the robe is ready for thee--
Soon shalt thou the Father meet.
'Journey on, thou weary pilgrim,
Through the desert journey on;
Though thy face is marked with sorrow,
Song for weeping cometh soon:
Heaven's eyes watch every footstep,
Haste thee on, O sorely tried!
Flow, ye tears, a little longer,
Till at home ye shall be dried.'
Who is He that brings the garment
Beautiful as light of dawn?
Kisses him, the weary lost one,
To His bosom closely drawn?
Loud and louder swells the music
Of each glowing golden string:
Little soul, art thou so precious
In the palace of the King?
Yes, there will be joy in heaven,
If from evil ways thou flee
There is always, always welcome
In the Father's house for thee:
Leave the husks and vanished shadows,
And a world of falsehood spurn:
Thine the fulness and affection,

Thine the home: return! return! __________________________________________________________________

Morris Williams (Nicander)

Two other clergymen of the Established Church in Wales have rendered valued service to the national psalmody. One of these is the Rev. MORRIS WILLIAMS (Nicander), who, in the spirit of the High Church revival, published The Church's Year. He also undertook a new version of the Psalms; but he did not succeed in supplanting the old Psalter of Edmund Prys. Like almost all the hymn-writers of this century, his best work in poetry belongs to the Eisteddvod. From his seventeenth year, when he came into notice through a poetical curiosity--a metrical ode made up entirely of Biblical proper names--from thence up to the close of his life, he made large contributions to native literature. He had come personally under the influence of the Oxford movement; and be worked manfully for the revival of his Church in his native land. His labour, and that of likeminded men, was not in vain: the results of his devotion have reached wide and far.

The Church's Year (Y Flwyddyn Eglwysig) was published in 1843, reflecting in every part the influence of Keble's [56]Christian Year. How far he copied the original, and where he added something of his own, may be judged from a comparison of the following hymn for Quinquagesima Sunday with that of Keble--both being based on the rainbow in Noah's covenant (Gen. ix. 13). __________________________________________________________________

[57]Morris Williams (Nicander)
Noah beheld the wondrous sign
On darksome clouds reclining;
God's peace and covenant benign
Were through its glory shining.
As mounts the lark to yonder sky
Whene'er the rain is ended,
So from the earth again made dry
Their song to God ascended.
The Lord Himself in heaven wrote
His peace in one bright letter:
Expression of a tranquil thought--
Give grace to read it better!
Bow of the covenant of grace,
God's loving-kindness sent it!
The earth it seemeth to embrace--
The hands of God have bent it!
My Father's flaming bow I sing,
Its flame in love was given:
Inwrought with peace and void of string,
No arrow from it driven!
As Jacob's ladder showed erewhile
Heaven and earth in union;
The frowning cloud, the sunny smile,
Are here in calm communion.
Type of the Saviour, God and Man,
The Rainbow o'er us bending;
He made the earth and heaven one
In peace that hath no ending.
How can I bear the sun's strong light?
The rainbowed cloud is dearer:
O Son of God! too far, too bright--

The Son of Man comes nearer. __________________________________________________________________

[58]Morris Williams (Nicander)

This other and simpler hymn is for St. Philip and St. James's Day--'I am the way, the truth, and the life.'

Christ opened on the tree
A way to heaven's door;
And Thou Thyself, O Jesus, art
The Way for evermore.
Truth is the homeward way
These erring feet must wend;
And Thou art still the Perfect Truth,
O Jesu, dearest Friend.
The way is life indeed
To all that walk therein;
And Thou, O Christ, art very Life,
Who savest us from sin.
Give grace to keep the Way,
The paths of Truth made straight:
And follow as Thy flock before,
Until we reach the gate.
Give strength to keep the Way,
Heedless of human sign:
Where Thou hast walked let me be led,

Thy very steps be mine! __________________________________________________________________

Evan Evans (Ieuan Glan Geirionydd)

While the services of Nicander, from their very purpose and form, were largely confined to the psalmody of his own Church, another clergyman--the Rev. EVAN EVANS (Ieuan Glan Geirionydd) has given some choice hymns to the nation at large. He was born at Trefriw, and had his early imagination charmed by the picturesque surroundings of his home. His parents were renowned for their piety, and were the pioneers of Calvinistic Methodism in the neighbourhood. Like most great men, he owed his greatness largely to his mother. He started life as a schoolmaster; but a marked success at an Eisteddvod having brought him into public notice, he was induced to devote himself to the ministry of the Church. He held successively the curacies of Christleton and Ince, in Cheshire. Ill-health compelled him to leave Ince, and he spent some time in retirement among the beloved hills of Trefriw. When he had partially recovered, he was appointed to the curacy of Rhyl. This took place in the month of July, 1854. On the 21st day of the following January death came and led him into rest. __________________________________________________________________

[59]Evan Evans (Ieuan Glan Geirionydd)

Nearly all his hymns are prayers--prayers full of the tenderest appeals, as if his faith trembled in approaching the Golden Gate. The following is given as an instance:

To Him who bends to hear the weak,
I bring my simple plea:
In every pain and sore distress,
Turn not away from me!
Although unworthy to enjoy
Thy presence full and free,
Deserving but to be cast out--
Turn not away from me!
When my acquaintance, one by one,
Leave me in misery;
And friend and comrade stand afar,
Turn not away from me!
For Thy dear cross and precious death
On lonely Calvary,
And for Thine intercession now,
Turn not away from me!
When I must face the stormy flood,
Where many sorrows be;
And through the valley walk alone,
Turn not away from me!
When Thou shalt come the second time,
With awful majesty,
To judge the living and the dead,

Turn not away from me! __________________________________________________________________

[60]Evan Evans (Ieuan Glan Geirionydd)

The technical intricacies of these two verses have not debarred them from the attainment of wide popularity:

My race beneath the sun
Is very nearly run;
Life fades away in sad decay,
Soon shall my day be done:
My fragile tent is sorely rent,
My strength is spent well-nigh;
The hour is near--I must appear
In doubt and fear within the clear
Immortal sphere on high.
Grant, Lord, Thy peace to me,
And Thy dear face to see;
Before my day has passed away,
All sinless may I be!
Thy gracious light in death's dark night
Shall soon my fright dispel:
In Thy right hand on yonder strand,
Where fears disband my soul shall stand--

Sweet land! where all is well! __________________________________________________________________

[61]Evan Evans (Ieuan Glan Geirionydd)

While for years the thought of death was so present to his mind, it was natural for him to sing this wistful:

I linger sadly near
The stormy river;
And long to cross, but fear
Lest none deliver:
Oh I that I might but soar
Above its rush and roar,
And on the other shore
Be safe for ever
From every dismal wave
Come dark foretellings;
I think of all the brave
Lost in its swellings:
O soul of mine, so frail!
What if the flood prevail,
And thou at last should'st fail
To reach those dwellings!
But see! from yonder shore
On high ascended,
My comrades in the war,
Their sorrow ended:
Why should I feel alarm?
They crossed on Jesu's arm,
And I shall know no harm,
By Him befriended.

A version of this hymn, changed so as to be an address to the poet, and beginning

Thou, often wandering near
The stormy river,--

is inscribed over his grave in Trefriw Churchyard, where he lies beside his parents and his wife, under the sombre shadow of 'the twin yew-trees.' __________________________________________________________________