Incidents of the War
WE are told that more than two thousand soldiers have confessed Christ on Salisbury Plain. Thank God! Thank God!
One engaged in giving away Testaments at the barracks writes: “Some of the lads thanked me with tears in their eyes, and one lad said to me, ‘It was my mother’s book, sir, and I will put my trust in her God.’ Another lad said, ‘I thank you, sir, for your kindness. I can assure you it will be read, as it is the book my mother loves.”’
A soldier spoken to in a hospital seemed unwilling to engage in conversation. When asked if he wished that someone should write to his friends, he replied that he had none. Desirous of helping the poor fellow, the kind-hearted nurse inquired if she could do anything for him. Unable to restrain the overpowering emotions that struggled for expression, he exclaimed, “CAN YOU UNDO?” He was told that the past could not be recalled, but that God was willing to pardon. The dying soldier exclaimed, “I would not pardon myself if I could; I don’t deserve it. There was a boy in my tent who used to pray. I loved the boy, and I swore in his ears until he ceased praying and learned to swear. I saw the lad shot down in battle, and he fell with one of my oaths on his lips. He went with that oath into the presence of God. Oh, that I could undo!”
Although the dying man was assured that God was waiting to be gracious, and willing to pardon his innumerable transgressions, he refused to accept of His proffered mercy, and to all entreaties replied, “CAN YOU UNDO?”
We are told that the Irish Guards were ordered to take an exposed German position. Before advancing they knelt for a moment in silent prayer. Then springing to their feet, they fixed their bayonets and charged the position. Brave fellows! they were not ashamed of God nor afraid of man.
A young soldier preaching on the battlefield cries out:
“PREPARE TO MEET THY GOD!”
And as he rang the words out, the rolling thunder of the guns was heard. He spoke of Christ amid the din of war. He begged his hearers to prepare for eternity, and the voice of the big guns far away seemed to say, “Amen.” His eyes were bright, his face was flushed as he said, “I have come to tell you about a General whose armies hold the city of eternal life. Throw down your rifles and surrender. No rebels can enter that city. You cannot storm the walls nor take the gates at the point of the bayonet, for the ramparts are guarded and the sentries never sleep. When the bugle sounds the last reveille you will ever hear, and the colonel whose name is death gives the order to march, you’ll have nothing to fear if your bandoliers are full of faith.” Thus did he plead. “Be ready to meet God” was the burden of his message. Are you ready?
A corporal in the North Staffordshire Regiment wrote and told his wife that he was converted, and she wrote back to him the following touching answer: — “Dear husband, —I cannot tell you how happy you have made me by telling me you have given your heart to God. I shall pray for you, and ask God to help you and guard you wherever you may be. It is lovely for you to have that beautiful Testament. I feel sure your life is happier now than it has ever been; mine is the same. I feel ever so proud of you to know that my three darlings have got a daddy who is going to do good and be one of God’s workers.... I dreaded your going to the front, but now you have given your heart to Christ I don’t mind.”
This letter was shown to Mr. Lane on Salisbury Plain, and may its simple pathos make many a soldier think of Christ.
At an intercession service held at Totnes Parish Church, the Vicar (the Rev. W. J. Wellacott) read an extract from a letter received from a friend which sent a thrill of horror through the one congregation. It was as follows: ―
“I have today had dreadful news from a sweet old lady, that her only son has come back to her from the Battle of the Aisne dreadfully wounded, and with both eyes dug out by the Germans. She wants me to call and see her on my way through London, and she ends up her letter thus: ― ‘I think my heart has just shriveled up inside me, and I feel his pitiable plight engraven on my soul. Yet how much more should I feel it when I think of the terrible torture and agony of our Lord. Now I know what the Virgin Mary endured when she saw Him hanging on the cross. It is a sad, but beautiful sight, this dear fellow’s lovely trust in God. He lies all day with his little Bible in his hand, the little Bible which he will never look at again, and the place at which he always opens it is, “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”
Pray, dear friends, for our meetings at the Palladium. We are getting the soldiers in to hear the word of God. They take the Testaments very willingly, and I feel sure they will read them. We give every soldier a Testament and other books as well. If some kind friend would present us with five hundred or one thousand copies of the “Message from God” each month, we should be very grateful, and God, I am sure, will bless the gift and the giver.
When this number comes into your hands it will be the last month of 1914. How needful is prayer and humiliation before God in these evil days. We have indeed, as a nation, sinned against the Lord. Many feel that what we need most now is a day of humiliation before God and confession of sin. Confession of sin saved Nineveh; confession of sin will save England. Unless as a nation we humiliate ourselves before God we may be humiliated before man.
BY GOD AND NOT BY MAN WE STAND OR FALL.
In thousands of the pulpits in our land the divinity of the Son of God has been denied. In our great seats of learning the inspiration of the word of God has been publicly denied. The word that God says is “established in heaven” many have sought to undermine on earth. The great fundamental truths of the fall of man and the punishment of sin, either in the person of the sinner or his Substitute, has been denounced, and in this we have sinned as a nation against the Lord.
We have desecrated the Lord’s Day. Our national sin in this respect has been open and unashamed. We have forgotten the sanctity of holy things. Let us as Christians pray that the King and Queen may lead the nation to the feet of God in humiliation and confession of sin. Let us forget for awhile our mighty fleets and world armies, and the great earthly names in which we trust, AND LET US REMEMBER GOD.
May every Christian pray for this. “Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people.”