AGNES, Empress of Germany in the middle of the eleventh century, was a woman of spirit and talent, whose lot was cast in dark and troublous times. The feudal lords were unsubmissive; and it was very difficult for her to rule. Besides this, she had a troubled spirit and an uneasy conscience, and her unhappy state led her to go from place to place to offer alms and prayers, or to seek counsel of such as had a reputation for holiness. An extract from one of her letters to a certain convent may suffice as a description of her feelings: “Agnes, Empress and sinner, to the good father Albert, and the brothers assembled in the name of the Lord at Fratari, etc. My conscience terrifies me worse than any specter. Therefore I fly through the places of the saints, seeking where I may hide myself from this terror: and I am not a little desirous to come to you, whose intercession I have found to be a certain relief.”
It is evident from this that she was in an anxious state of soul; but, alas I like many more during the dark ages in which she lived, she had not (at any rate as yet) learned how her anxiety could be truly and permanently relieved, much less the fullness of the great salvation which God in His grace has revealed in His blessed Word. She confessed herself a sinner, and from the tenor of what follows it seems to have been more than a mere form. Her conscience terrified her worse than a specter, though her conduct, coupled with alms deeds and prayers, seems to have been above the average of those in high estate in those very evil times. We trust that she had indeed been awakened by the Spirit of God.
But where does she turn for relief? Where does she seek to hide herself, as she expressed it, from this terror? She vainly flies through the places of those who were esteemed to be saints—the nunneries or monasteries of the day. Her afflicted conscience found some little relief, she said, through the intercession of those whom she addressed at a place called Fratari; but to peace, at that time, she seems to have been a complete stranger.
As one reads the painful story of this poor afflicted soul running to many physicians, how one’s spirit yearns for such! How gladly one would have pointed her in her distress to Christ, and Christ alone, the only One Who could possibly meet her need, and give her guilty conscience peace on the ground of His finished work. He is the true Hiding-place from every specter and terror, real or false, that may afflict the troubled soul. Job in his distress said, “O that Thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that Thou wouldest keep me secret, until Thy wrath be past,” etc. (Job 14;13). And he, after long and deep exercise, ended in discovering his utter vileness, with a stopped mouth, abhorring himself, repenting in dust and ashes, and being accepted of the Lord (40:3-5; 42:6,9).
Later on, Agnes withdrew from her high position as Empress-Mother, and devoted herself to a religious life. And whilst several failed to help her through their own ignorance, a well-known abbot wrote a little book for her use, which, judging from some remains of his manuscript, was more likely to direct her in the way of peace. Let us hope that she may indeed have been assisted thereby to joy and lasting peace through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Judging by what is recorded of her, there is surely good hope, when one thinks of God’s great love in the gift of His Son, of His mercy and compassion towards the ignorant, and of His abundant promises to those who seek Him, that she will be found at that great day to have been amongst His redeemed and blest.
Dear reader, there is not the same excuse for you and me in these lands of printed Bibles and preached gospel, if we run hither and thither on the devil’s false roads to allay our anxiety and our fears. Have you been awakened to a sense of your need? Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils. Wherein is he to be accounted of? Vain indeed is his help. Hear the voice of God’s dear Son bidding you come to Him.
If the monks at Fratari, when they received the letter of the Empress Agnes telling how she sought a hiding-place from the terror of her conscience, had only pointed her to the manuscript of the prophet Isaiah (32:2) she would have found that God had spoken of Christ thus: “A man shall be an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.” Yes, Christ is the true and only hiding-place, the true Rock of Ages. There the vilest sinner can take refuge, and be hidden in safety now and evermore. All the tempests of the holy judgment of God have passed over Him at Calvary. God hath made Him, the Holy One, Him that knew no sin, to be made sin for us. And now the rivers of living water flow from Him, the living Source, to thirsty sinners far and wide. Maybe many of our readers have often sung—
“Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.”
We well understand the comfort even of this to a troubled heart. But why, in the light of the abundant assurances in a thousand and one ways in the living Word of Him Who cannot lie, should you not sing with joy from the heart as many Christians have done—
“Rock of Ages, cleft for sin,
Grace hath hid me safe within”?
The sins of the feeblest believer in the Lord Jesus Christ are forgiven for His Name’s sake (1 John 2:1212I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. (1 John 2:12)). And he that believeth on the Son hath life, and his life is hid with Christ in God, and when Christ, Who is our life, shall appear, he shall appear with Him in glory (Col. 3:3, 43For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 4When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory. (Colossians 3:3‑4)). And meanwhile our souls have the comfort of the intercession of Christ on high, and of the Holy Spirit here below till He come, our once terrified consciences having been purged by the precious blood of Christ. E. H. C.