Lewis was clearly inspired to this parody by the hymn "Lead Us, Heavenly Father, Lead Us," well known to Episcopalians (Hymnal 1982, #559) and Anglicans in England. The original hymn was composed by James Edmeston (1791-1967), and the traditional tune (which I was humming in my head before I realized what the words are) is "Dulce Carmen" (1788), harmonized by William Henry Monk (1823-1889). I can imagine that my dear Anglo-Catholic brother in Christ and in the Church had sung it many times.
Grace and peace,
Bob Schneider
----- Original Message -----
From: Lawrence Johnston
To: asa@calvin.edu
Sent: Friday, March 22, 2002 3:11 PM
Subject: C. S. Lewis Hymn for Evolution
Thanks to Jack Haas for giving us the reference to that hymn from C S Lewis
Evolutionary Hymn
by C.S. Lewis
Lead us, Evolution, lead us
Up the future's endless stair;
Chop us, change us, prod us, weed us.
For stagnation is despair:
Groping, guessing, yet progressing,
Lead us nobody knows where.
Wrong or justice in the present,
Joy or sorrow, what are they
While there's always jam to-morrow,
While we tread the onward way?
Never knowing where we're going,
We can never go astray.
To whatever variation
Our posterity may turn
Hairy, squashy, or crustacean,
Bulbous-eyed or square of stern,
Tusked or toothless, mild or ruthless,
Towards that unknown god we yearn.
Ask not if it's god or devil,
Brethren, lest your words imply
Static norms of good and evil
(As in Plato) throned on high;
Such scholastic, inelastic,
Abstract yardsticks we deny.
Far too long have sages vainly
Glossed great Nature's simple text;
He who runs can read it plainly,
'Goodness=what comes next.'
By evolving, Life is solving
All the questions we perplexed.
On then! Value means survival-
Value. If our progeny
Spreads and spawns and licks each rival,
That will prove its deity
(Far from pleasant, by our present
Standards, though it well may be).
From: The Cambridge Review 79 (November 30, 1957): 227; reprinted in C.S.
Lewis,
Poems, ed. Walter Hooper (London: Geoffrey Bles, 1964), pp. 55-56.
An article: "C. S. Lewis on Creation and Evolution: The Acworth Letters
1944-1960,"
"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set
eternity in the hearts of men" - - Ecclesiastes 3:11, NIV trans
================================================
Lawrence H. Johnston home:917 E. 8th st.
professor of physics, emeritus Moscow, Id 83843
University of Idaho (208) 882-2765
Fellow of the American Physical Society
http://www.uidaho.edu/~johnston/ =====================
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