# LXIX: Hope explained — Verses on Various Occasions

> Chapter companion for Verses on Various Occasions by John Henry Newman.

## What happens

The poem reflects on humanity's renewed hope after Noah's flood, seeing it as a type of Christ's coming and a promise of eventual salvation through the final judgment, where the faithful will ascend to Eden's gate.

## Themes in this chapter

### Faith and Doubt

Faith admires the desolate scene and trusts in the promise of salvation despite the judgment.

### Sin and Redemption

The flood is seen as a baptism and type of Christ's redemption, leading to hope for the faithful.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown

The speaker reflects on the hope of salvation through the flood typology.

### Christ

Referred to as 'Him who was to come' and 'the Lord' who has come and gone.

### Faith

Personified as the virtue that admires the desolate scene and trusts in the promise.

## Key lines

> We are not children of a guilty sire, Since Noe stepp’d from out his wave-toss’d home, And a stern baptism flush’d earth’s faded bloom.

We are not condemned by original sin because Noah's flood was a harsh baptism that renewed the earth.

_The flood is reinterpreted as a cleansing baptism rather than mere punishment._

> The Lord has come and gone; and now we wait The second substance of the deluge type, When our slight ark shall cross a molten surge; So, while the gross earth melts, for judgment ripe, Ne’er with its haughty turrets to emerge, We shall mount up to Eden’s long-lost gate.

Christ has already come, and now we await the final judgment, which is like a second flood of fire; our fragile ark (the Church) will carry us through the molten sea, and while the proud earth is destroyed, we will ascend to the lost paradise.

_The poem uses typology to connect Noah's flood with Christ's coming and the final judgment._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/verses_on_various_occasions_se/chapters/lxix-hope
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/verses_on_various_occasions_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/verses_on_various_occasions_se/chapters