Views from Pendle

A recent climb up Pendle Hill rewarded my small party with particularly fine views. This is not frequently the case: a hazy day will shorten the eye’s reach; a cloudy day will make all invisible but the few yards of path ahead. On the one hand we espied Blackpool Tower rising above the Irish Sea to the west, on the other we saw the transmitting aerials on Emley Moor near Huddersfield. To the north, we beheld the Yorkshire Dales, to the south the Pennine Moors leading to Manchester. There are few vantage points from where one can see West Yorkshire, North Yorkshire, the Fylde and Greater Manchester by just moving one’s neck. Although not the highest of hills, Pendle is blessed by having few immediate neighbours, which enhances its range.

The Bible is a wonderful book for those determined enough to study it. It allows us to look back at the world’s beginning, while also looking forward to its concluding. We may briefly look down to the depths of hell, while also looking up to the delectable beauties of heaven. For this, we need not visit; merely turning a page and reading a section will suffice. We Christians are slighted in our time for being ignorant fellows, attached to antiquated ideas and holding to ancient texts. Yet the truths found in those pages give us greater knowledge of things past than that possessed by any historian, and sharper anticipation of things to come than any seer. Furthermore, like Moses atop Nebo, we now see things far off which shall one day be enjoyed. Feeling down, crushed or perplexed? Read the final chapters of Revelation. See where you’re heading, even if right now you are in the depths of despair. Look not down in the gutter, but lift up your eyes unto the hills.