The Gospel in the Dales.
“O that Thy Name might be sounded
Afar over earth and sea;
Till the dead awaken and praise Thee,
And the dumb lips sing to Thee!
With might would I sound it and sing it,
Wherever man’s foot hath trod;
The despised, the derided message,
The foolishness of God.
Jesus, dishonored and dying,
A felon on either side―
Jesus the song of the drunkards,
Jesus the Crucified!
Jesus the Lamb accepted;
Jesus the Priest on His throne,
Jesus the King who is coming,
Jesus, Thy Name alone.”
AND to others Richard would talk, whose temptations were very different from those of the lady of the castle, for there were some who had lived in sin and worldly pleasures; and when they had been awakened to repentance, they were in despair, and believed that they must be condemned eternally.
And to them Richard would say, “Look back to the Cross of Jesus and hear the voice of Christ in His Passion. For when He hung on the cross and said, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani,’ that is, ‘My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?’ He showed that this psalm is written of Him, and it was our sins that caused Him to suffer this hard pain. ‘For through My Passion,’ saith He, ‘the sins of sinners shall be put away.’
“He calls our sins His, for He made them His—not to have them, but to do them away, so that He made His righteousness ours. And through this shedding of His Blood the sinner is cleansed of the leprosy of sin, and made secure and safe for endless years. Through Christ, God bringeth us from wrath to mercy, and from ill to good, and from sorrow to gladness. His way is in the sanctuary―who is so great a God as our God!
“For Christ is the way, and into the Holy of Holies hath He entered, to be the way whereby we may come to God. And He is the God that doeth wonders, and who hath with His Arm redeemed His people. His Arm is His Son, Jesus Christ made known to men―the Son who bought us with His Blood.
“He is the Rock which God slave in the wilderness — Jesus, pierced for us on the cross, in the bare wilderness, forsaken of God—and from Him flows the fullness of God’s grace to men out of the mickle depths.
“And therefore death is but safe rest and sweet, which He giveth to His beloved, and after death the glorious, hope, even the meed of Christ. For the friends of God have then the heritage and the meed of Christ.”
Such was the Gospel preached by him in his many wanderings, for “though,” he says, “I was wont to seek for quiet, it is no bad thing for hermits to go forth at times from their cells for reasonable causes.” And this gave occasion to some to speak evil of him, and reproach him; “but I did not,” he says, “cease from what was useful to my soul for their words.”
Great numbers were meanwhile turned to God by his simple preaching, and many were comforted and strengthened in their faith. The sick and dying sent for him, and other recluses and anchorites were refreshed by his visits.
One of these was an anchoress called Margaret Kirkby, who lived in a cell at Anderby. He had at first been her teacher in the love of God, and now that years had passed by, and they were both old, and Margaret was at times ill and feeble, he paid her visits to cheer and comfort her. He found her once lying helpless from paralysis, having been speechless for thirteen days. But when he had prayed for her and with her, for she could join with him in spirit, she was suddenly restored, and he told her the Lord had showed him that during his lifetime she should never have any return of this illness.
For her he wrote his English translation of the Psalms, with a commentary. His preface serves to explain to us the meaning of the expression used by him, that “the heavenly door was opened.” For to those who know not in their own experience the opening of that door into the treasure-house of God, into the secret place of the Most High, the chamber of His Presence, the words of Richard will be as an unknown tongue.
But there are some amongst us whose hearts will respond to the sweet and simple words, because they too have entered in, and are joining in the song of God’s redeemed, of the past ages and the present.
“Soothly this shining book,” he writes, “is a chosen song before God; a lamp lighting our life; the balm of a sick heart, honey to a bitter soul. In these Psalms is so mickle fairness of things made known, and medicine of words, that this book is a garden enclosed, a fountain sealed, a paradise full of all pleasant fruit.
“With wholesome love it brings disturbed and stormy souls to clear and peaceful life, admonishing with tears to cease from sin. The song that delights the heart, and teaches the soul, is a voice of praise and trust.
“O wonderful sweetness, the which waxes never soar, but is eternal in its dignity, and increaseth ever in grace of purest softness. All gladness and delight of earth waneth, and at the last dwindles to naught; but this song, the longer time it has, the sweeter is it, and most of all when death draws near, when love is perfected.
“To a hymn three things are needful, praising of God, rejoicing of heart, and affectionate thinking of God’s love. Song is a great gladness in the thought of eternal things and endless joy; breaking forth in a voice of praise.
“This is well called, therefore, a book of hymns and songs, for it teacheth us to praise God with glad cheer and mirth, and softness of soul, not only in heart, but with a voice of praise; thus teacheth it the ignorant, and conformeth men who fell in Adam, to Christ in newness of life.”
The Bible was a book dear to the heart of Richard, and therefore was his preaching as clear water from a deep well. “The words of the Lord,” he said, “are pure words, as silver tried in a furnace of earth purified seven times. These words are the preaching of Christ, the words of our Lord spoken purely and without corruption. Some speak of God that they may be holden wise and holy, and that men may give them gifts; but Christ’s words are pure, as silver tested in the fire, proved in the fire of tribulation. Among all metals none more sweetly chimes than silver, as among speech none is so sweet to the heart as God’s Word, that is purged sevenfold, through the seven gifts of the Holy Ghost.”
This allusion to the seven gifts is one of the well-known marks which stamp the writings of the “Friends of God “―the Waldensian “Brethren.” So also is the passage in his Psalter, where in the 22nd Psalm he speaks of Christ as “praising His Father in the midst of the Church; that is, in communion of all righteous men, for where God is feared and praised, there is the Church.”
So again we find that in speaking of the death of a believing man, he sees beyond no purgatory, but Heaven alone. “If I dwell,” he writes, “in the midst of this life, that is, the shadow of death, for it is black with murkiness of sin, and it leads to death, I shall not dread ill, for Thou art with me, so that after the shadow of death I shall be with Thee in very life. I shall sleep in peace, in lasting and unchangeable joy; I shall sleep with all softness, hidden from all the noise of the world—I shall die and thenceforth rest in the bed of endless bliss and in the settle of Heaven. And this verily shall be. And I am, certain of this joy, as may be every Christian man.
“How great the multitude of Thy sweetness, Lord, the which Thou hast hidden up for them that fear Thee! the sweetness of joy that Thou hidest, that it may be more desired, till in Heaven it is brought forth and shown, so mickle that no man may tell it. And in this perfect sweetness Thou shalt hide them that hope in Thee, in the hiding-place of Thy Face. They shall see Thee face to face, that Face so hidden that none may see it, save those who are clean as purged gold. How blessed is each one that Thou halt chosen through grace from the mickle number of lost men, and Thou hast taken to the eternal rest for he shall dwell without removing in the halls of Heaven, whither we go singing, coming out of Babylon, and singing, when we are come there.
“For I am a stranger, no dwelling-place have I down here, but Lord I am passing on to Thee, a pilgrim to the city of Heaven.
“How wonderful joy is kept for me to have in Heaven! For Thou, O God, art all the desire of my heart, and my eternal portion. Let others choose whom they will love―I will naught but Jesus Christ. Ill spake they who said, ‘Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?’ No discretion had they in their speech, for the joy and delight of Thy love is a full table to man’s soul in the wilderness of this life, so that we need no other solace.
“He rained manna for to eat, and Bread of Heaven He gave them.’ Through the preachers He rained, that is, that by them he taught men to receive Christ as the food of the soul, and as all manner of delight. He gave them the Bread of Heaven, for He gave Himself. So whilst sorrows are many and bitter, comforting’s are many, and soft and sweet. While we have eternal comfort, we think naught of passing sorrow.
“Here I am in exile. I am not a citizen of Babylon, my heart is in Heaven, if my body be here. None can say this but the righteous, for their heritage is in Heaven, and they are strangers and foreigners here below, travailing, weary, sick, and cold; but He forsakes us not, and the end of all is perfect peace.”
And again we hear the language of the “Friends of God,” when Richard says, “The Lord calls all men priests who offer themselves in love and devotion to Him. For Christ saith, ‘Thine eyes saw my substance, being yet unperfect’―(His redeemed ones, unperfect and stumbling as yet),―and ‘in Thy book are they written,’ that is, ‘in Me are they written, that they perish not, but My chosen shall be formed anew in Me to grace and joy.’
“For holy men are God’s friends, fulfilling His will with all their might, and are made princes of the people of God.”
It is remarkable that Richard adds to this description that by holy men the Lord fills up the vacant place caused by the fall of the angels, and that the saints shall sit with Christ to judge the world.