"Fellow-men, a price is on my head. Well wist I that even at this
moment the Archbishop's men are awaiting until I come into their power
to clap me into Maidstone gaol."
A threatening murmur ran through the crowd, and many a man fingered his
bow, and such as had them, clapped hand to sword or studied the points
of their daggers fondly.
"Yea, that wist I--there be but little time left me to talk to you, so
I must hasten. The men of Kent have sent for me, and I am on my way
to them, although I doubt if I can have speech with them before the
gaolers have me in irons. Yet the men have need of me, and I go. I
am not the first preacher of God's word to be hunted by tyrants. Was
not our dear Lord, Jesus Christ, summoned again and again to appear
before the authorities to defend Himself on the charge of disturbing
the public peace? Was not likewise the Apostle Paul persecuted? And
there were others, but it is not of them that I came to speak to you
to-day. I come to tell ye wherein I am a disturber of the public peace,
wherein I am justly dubbed a 'pestilent fellow,' as Ananias the high
priest dubbed Paul. Yea, verily, I am a pestilent fellow of the sect
of the Nazarenes, going about the land sowing the seeds of discontent
and rebellion. And I take glory unto myself for the name. For surely
if ye bide content with such a lot as yours--if ye remain satisfied
with homes of wattled reeds and mud, and do not rebel that oxen and
horses should be better cared for than such as were made in the image
of God,--then would ye not deserve the name of Men. The people are
growing tired of calling upon the high priests of the Church to reform
themselves. My brethren, the time hath come when Reform must come from
below and not above, must come from the people and no Pope. The people
are not schismatic, the people are not over-luxurious."
A sardonic grin swept over many faces, and some broke out into loud
guffaws at this sally.
"The people are not covetous, nor greedy, nor lustful, nor ever
grasping for new powers. Nay, verily, I ask you to listen to the words
of the Apostle Paul, and tell me who come nearer to the ideal held up
therein--the priests or the people?
"'And behold, we live; as chastened and not killed; as poor, yet
making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.'"
"The people, the people," they shouted lustily.
"Ha!" cried one fellow to another, "of the priests we may well
say--they live, as unchaste and lively; as rich, yet making others
poor; as having everything, and yet wishing more."
"In truth!" answered his companion; "but stay, he begins again."
"The people," went on Ball, "seek Christ, but they are a-weary of
seeing Religion walk in the market-place, a buyer among buyers, a
ruler among rulers, a tyrant among tyrants."
"That's true as Holy Writ," shouted one great fellow, enthusiastically,
and many took up the cry:--
"As true as Holy Writ!"
"The people desire priests who will come among them and work among
them, even as did the Apostles. Why am I put beyond the pale of the
Church save that, instead of concerning myself with unravelling the
tangles of canonical lore, I seek to unravel the tangles of life? Sure
all that is needed to do priestly service is to love much, for hath not
St. John said:--
"'He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none
occasion of stumbling in him'?
"And what is love, I ask ye, but good-fellowship? Ah, cherish that
word fellowship, my brethren, for without fellowship be assured Christ
cannot enter among you: for without fellowship every one standeth
for his own lusts, and the strong wax yet stronger, and the weak are
pressed to the wall and grow yet weaker and die. But where fellowship
entereth among you there entereth Christ also--the strong shares his
strength with the weak, and the oppressed arise and lift up their
heads. We are told much, fellow-men, of the states of heaven and hell,
we are told of the blessings of heaven and the horrors of hell; but
lay it well to heart what I tell you,--friendship is heaven and lack
of fellowship is hell--fellowship is life, and lack of fellowship is
death. In hell, one shall cry on his fellow to help him, and shall
find that therein is no help because there is no fellowship, but every
man for himself. Therefore I tell you that the proud, despiteous rich
man, though he knoweth it not, is in hell already, because he hath no
fellow."
And his voice sank solemnly away and the people brooded in silence over
what they had heard. And perhaps there came over the speaker a sudden
thought of the cold, dark dungeon where he would soon lie chained, away
from his people whom he so dearly loved, away from the open air and the
sunlight and the shadows of clouds sweeping over the fields. And his
head sank for an instant upon his breast, and as he spoke again there
was a slight tremble in his voice, though he tried hard to throw it
off:--
"Had I but kept my tongue between my teeth I might have been some
personage, if but a parson of a town, and men would have spoken well
of me; and all this I have lost for the lack of a word here and there
to some great man, and a little winking of the eyes amidst murder and
wrong and unruth. Now it is too late, the hemp for me is sown and grown
and heckled and spun."
"Nay, nay," a strong voice cried, "we shall march upon the gaol and
demand you of the Archbishop himself. We shall come fifty thousand
strong, and we shall burst down the gaol if he refuse us."
"His head shall yet decorate a post and you shall live to see it,"
shouted another daring soul. His remark was greeted with cheers.
Ball held up one hand for silence, a great light of love irradiating
his face.
"Ay, fear not that I have wrought all these years in vain. For while
the great tread down the little, and strong beat down the weak, and
cruel men fear not, and kind men dare not, and wise men can not, the
saints in heaven bid me not forbear. I wot well because of fellowship
it will not fail, though I seem to fail when the Archbishop lays his
hands on me. But in the days hereafter shall I and my work yet be
alive, and men be holpen by them to strive again and yet again."
And with his voice and demeanor grown solemn once more with the thought
of the long wait which must be endured before they could come together
again, he uttered over them the same beautiful benediction which had
arisen centuries before on the lips of Paul:--
"Now I beseech you, brethren, through the name of our Lord Jesus
Christ, that there be no divisions among you. Watch ye, stand fast in
the faith, quit you like men, be strong. Let all that ye do be done in
love."
Strong men were bowed in grief, and their broad shoulders shook with
sobs. The women and children straggling about the outer edge of the
throng wept openly and long. But Robert Annys rushed forward and,
making his way to the foot of the cross, flung himself there on his
knees and cried out passionately:--
"Nay, nay, John Ball, beloved master, fear not, neither shall your work
fail now, nor shall it seem to fail. For from this moment I give myself
to it, body and soul. And I pledge myself to stand in your place and do
whatsoever you would have me do while you are gone from us."
An astonished silence greeted these words, for it had been pretty
freely rumored that the archdeaconate of Ely had been offered to the
young poor priest, and that he would never be able to withstand the
temptation to throw off the russet sacking and don the albe and stole.
When it was realized that the bribe of high office had not caused him
to desert the cause of the people, the enthusiasm knew no bounds; men
wrung their neighbors' hands, and tears of joy ran down bronzed cheeks.
John Ball knew well that Robert Annys was a man of great power and
eloquence, and he smiled gladly when he heard his earnest words. He
raised the young priest to his feet, and clasped his hands warmly, and
gazed long and earnestly into his face. And the people there assembled
looked up at those two strong souls standing united before the cross.
And because of that sight, they bade farewell to their leader less
sorrowfully than if they had none other to look to for help and
guidance.