It depends what you mean by a "holy message." Clearly,
these two poems are both very religious in their theme and nature, and express an
intimate relationship between the speaker and his God. However, if I were to pick one
that has a "holier" message, I would pick "A Hymn to God the Father." This is because
this poem is all about the speaker's journey towards accepting his own sinful state in
front of a pure and holy God, in spite of the way that he has sinned, continues to sin
and has led others to sin:
Wilt Thou forgive that sin which I have
won
Others to sin, and made my sin their door?
Wilt Thou forgive
that sin which I did shun
A year or two, but wallowed in a
score?
The series of
rhetorical questions that the speaker addresses to his God about his sinful state and
God's acceptance and forgiveness of him result in the final stanza's confirmation of the
power of Christ's sacrifice and resurrection for sinners such as the speaker, and the
way that thanks to the death of Christ, the speaker may "fear no more" about death or
about his many sins. Christ's blood is sufficient. This is a much more traditional
doctrinal Christian message concerning grace.
In "A Hymn to
God the Father, at the Author's Last Going into Germany," the speaker commits himself
into the hands of God as he travels, and also asks God to look after those he leaves
behind. Whilst there is clear evidence here of a Christian relationship between the
speaker and God, the theme of the poem is not based on a major doctrinal cornerstone of
the Christian faith in the same way that the other poem is.
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