Settle's Plague Stone

Submitted by RR on Wed, 12/06/2019 - 22:41

Bubonic plague reached Europe from Asia during the 14^th Century, carried by the fleas of black rats aboard merchant ships. The Black Death swept through Europe between 1346 and 1350, causing the deaths of countless thousands of people. It is estimated that England may have lost as much as half its population. In 1665 the Great Plague of London carried off at least 70,000 victims. In the three hundred years between these dreadful events there were numerous other outbreaks of plague. One of these started in London in 1592, lasting there until 1599 and spreading throughout the country, reaching the Yorkshire Dales in 1597.

Fearfully contagious and frequently fatal, efforts were made to contain these outbreaks wherever they occurred. Quarantine areas were set up, often following existing boundaries. Along these quarantine lines provisions could be left on designated stones, and payment made in the same way.

Some stones, like the one near Settle, had hollows in them which contained water or vinegar as a sort of disinfectant. It is thought that this particular one – which can be found by the side of the road from Settle to Giggleswick station - had originally been a cross, erected in medieval times as a boundary marker; the cross was probably destroyed at the Reformation but the base remained.

Happily it has been many years since an outbreak of Bubonic plague occurred in England. And yet in truth a far worse plague is still with us – indeed we are all born infected by it. I am, of course, referring to the pollution of sin.

The prophet Isaiah puts it this way:

The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faints. From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and bruises and putrefying sores; they have not been closed or bound up, or soothed with ointment.

Isaiah 1:5-6

What a condition! No wonder the Apostle Paul could write to the Christians in Rome, ‘There is none righteous, no, not one.’

Yet the Lord speaking through Isaiah has words of hope for us:

“Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”

Isaiah 1:18

How can that be? God cannot just forget about our sins; His holy justice demands that they be punished. Isaiah gives us the answer, prophesying about the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ:

Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to His own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.- Isaiah 53:4-6

Our wounds, healed by His wounds!

Man of sorrows! What a name

For the Son of God, who came

Ruined sinners to reclaim!

Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

Bearing shame and scoffing rude,

In my place condemned He stood;

Sealed my pardon with His blood:

Hallelujah! What a Saviour!

Guilty, vile, and helpless, we;

Spotless Lamb of God was He:

Full atonement! - can it be?