The History of Richard Raynal, SolitaryBenson, Robert Hugh
History
The History of Richard Raynal, Solitary
Benson, Robert Hugh
Great Britain -- History -- Henry VI, 1422-1461 -- Fiction; Hermits -- Fiction; Historical fiction
It is marvellous how our Lord sets His seal upon all that we do, if we
will but attend to His working, and not think too highly upon what we do
ourselves. He had caused Master Richard to wear His five wounds until he
loved them, and to set his meat, too, in their order, and then He had
bidden His servant tell him that he did not need the piece of linen, for
that he should bear the wounds upon his body. And this He fulfilled;
for, as Master Blytchett told me, there were neither more nor less than
five wounds upon the young man's body, which he had received from the
crowd that set on him, besides the bruises and the stripes. He had
caused Master Richard, too, to be haled from judge to judge, as Himself
was haled; to be deemed Master by some, and named fool by others; to be
borne in a boat by one who loved him; to be arrayed in a white robe to
be judged without justice; to be dumb _sicut ovis ad occisionem ... et
quasi agnus coram tondente se_ ["as a sheep to the slaughter ... as a
lamb before his shearer" (Is. liii. 7.)], with many other points and
marks, besides that which fell afterwards, when a rich man, like him of
Arimathy, cared for his burying, and strewed herbs and bay leaves and
myrtle upon his body.
There was the matter, too, of the bees that I had seen. [Sir John lays
great stress upon the bees; I cannot understand why. He says that they
betokened great wealth and happiness.]....
* * * * *
And again there was the matter of the seven days that Master Richard
fulfilled from the time of his setting out from his house, to the time
that he entered into his heavenly mansion. Seven days are the time of
perfection; it was in seven days that God Almighty made the world and
all that is in it; there were seven years of famine in Egypt in which
Joseph gathered store, and seven years of plenty. [I cannot bring myself
to follow Sir John through the whole of the Old and New Testaments.]....
And it was in seven days that Master Richard Raynal completed his course,
from the sowing of the wheat and wine on Corpus Xti, to his joyful
harvest in heaven....}
* * * * *
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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