A Missionary Monk of the Dark Ages
By W. A. S.
AMONG the hymns that last because of the life wrought into them, none are fuller of the fervent evangelical spirit than those beginning, “Jesus, thou joy of loving hearts,” and, “Jesus, the very thought of thee;” and they were written by a monk, Bernard of Clairvaux, amidst the heavy gloom of the Dark Ages. Bernard died in 1153. As we sing these precious gifts of his to the Christian church, it is worth while remembering that the hymns were the expression and fruit of a missionary life. The monk of Clairvaux, while the papal world was all astir over crusading into the holy land with mace and battle-ax, turned his thoughts to the unevangelized masses of northern Europe. He was the organizer and director of missionary enterprises which planted schools in Britain, Germany, and the Scandinavian countries. Far beyond his age in his grasp of Christian doctrine, he undoubtedly sowed much seed that sprang up when later the Reformers were sent of God to break the power of darkness. It suggests a helpful thought to remember that it was a monk who sang,— “Thy truth unchanged has ever stood;
Thou savest those that on thee call;
To them that seek thee, thou art good,
To them that find thee, all in all.” Even the Catholic priest or monk of our day is not beyond the reach of this truth that God has given us. We are to pass by none in our efforts and our6prayers. The monk Luther, who was toiling up the sacred stairs at Rome on his knees, was the same little monk that later shook the papal world,—the same, only taken possession of by the glorious truth of justification by faith, and made acquainted with the personal Saviour. It was this same truth that made Bernard the missionary monk. He declared: “Christ is called not only righteous, but righteousness itself, our justifying righteousness. Let the soul, penitent for its sins, hungering and thirsting after righteousness, believe on him who justifies the ungodly through faith, and it shall have peace with God.” So, out of his own experience of thirst for the infilling righteousness, he cried,— “We taste thee, O thou Living Bread,
And long to feast upon thee still;
We drink of thee, the Fountain-head,
And thirst our souls from thee to fill!” The spirit of missionary service held the monk of Clairvaux close to a living Saviour. In no other way than the way of service can any of us keep warm and fervent our love for the personal Jesus, that hope of every contrite heart, the joy of all the meek. We can live truly only as we are in personal touch with sinners needing help, to be used of God as channels through which he may pour his saving grace. It was from the heart of the missionary, soul-winning Bernard that these songs came, which will continue to cheer loving hearts until Jesus shall indeed chase the dark night of sin away, and shed o’er the world his holy light.