There was the sound of abundance of life in the woods behind him, and
around the boles of the scattered trees in front of him the graceful
little stoats were playing. At his feet were scattered all the wild
flowers of the meadow. Where the earth was brown under the trees,
myriads of fairy bells were hanging in clusters, and in the meadow the
yellow buttercups shone like spangles upon a garment of green velvet.
He was not close enough to the brink of the cliffs to be able to see
the purple and blue and pink of the flowers scattered among the coarse
herbage of the rocks. But the bank of gorse that flowed like a yellow
river through the meadow could not be ignored. In the sunlight it was a
glory to see.
The sky was faintly grey, but the sea was of the brightest azure--the
pure translucent blue of the sapphire, and it was alive with the light
that seemed to burn subtly within the heart of a great jewel. But in the
utter distance it became grey until it mingled imperceptibly with the
sky.
The poet-preacher saw everything that there was to be seen, and his
faith was upheld as it ever was, by the gracious companionship of
nature, and he cried now:
“Oh, that a man could speak to men in the language of the Summer!”
Why could not all eyes of men look forth over that sea to where the
heaven bowed down and mingled with it? Why could not men learn what was
meant by this symbol of the mystic marriage of heaven and earth? Why
should they continue to refuse the love which was offered them from
above?
Everything that he saw was a symbol to him of the love of which he
was the herald--the love which is followed by a peace that passeth all
understanding. He was conscious of this peace leaning over him with
outstretched wings, and he felt that the answer to his prayer had come.
He would make no further attempt to solve the difficulties which had
perplexed him. The voice that breathed the message that soothed him was
the same that Elijah heard, and it said:
“Rest in the Lord, and He shall direct thy ways.”
He remained there for another hour, and then rose and made his way
slowly toward the village.
The meadow track led to a broad gap in the hedge of gorse, and just
as he had passed through, he was aware of the quick pattering of a
galloping horse on the short grass behind him, and before he had time to
turn, the horseman had put his mount to the hedge, making a clear jump
of it.
“What, ho!” cried the man, apparently recognising Wesley before the
horse's feet had reached the ground. “What, ho!” and he pulled the
animal to its haunches.
Wesley saw that he was Parson Rodney, the good-humoured Rector who had
spoken to him when he had been on the road with Nelly six weeks before.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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