 Richard Bernard was born in Epsworth, Lincolnshire (where Samuel Wesley pastored later, and where John Wesley was born) in 1568 and received his M. A. from Christ's College, Cambridge in 1598. When he was a small boy, two prominent ladies took notice of him and paid for his schooling. He mentioned their kindnesses to him in several of the dedicatory epistles in his books. He ministered as a vicar in Worksop, Nottinghamshire until 1613, when he was called to Batcombe in Somersetshire, where he ministered the remainder of his days.
Bernard was a Puritan in doctrine and a non-conformist in practice. He was involved with the movement known as "separatism" for a time, but, seeing its divisive effects on the body of Christ, withdrew from them after a time. With regard to extreme separation, Bernard wrote, "It grieveth me much to see this breach made amongst us; loss it is to the Church, gain to the enemy, and then what true good to ourselves?" With all the Puritans, the idea of "separation" was a terror as well as a sorrow. Richard Bernard died in 1641, and was succeeded by the great Richard Alleine.
Only one of Bernard's books was ever reprinted in a modern format, and that was in 1865, when the editorial committee of the [James] Nichol group published Bernard's sermons on the book of Ruth entitled Ruth's Recompense; but it has not been reprinted since that time. Bernard's most pastoral work, The Faithful Shepherd, was said to rival Richard Baxter's The Reformed Pastor as a model for the pastoral ministry. Unfortunately, it has never been reprinted. |
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