“NO, thank you, I do not want that rubbish,” said a young private to me in the barrack-room as he refused some gospel literature I offered. He continued: “I used to believe it once, but am now a free-thinker. I’ve seen what a sham the whole thing is, and the failure of your professors of religion to live decent lives.”
Turning to the sergeant by my side I said, “Now, sergeant, tell me, if I were to dress up in your clothes, would that make a sergeant of me?”
“Certainly not,” he replied.
“Just so,” I continued. “It is not the dress that makes the sergeant, any more than the mere profession makes the Christian. You men would discover my ignorance of military law and discipline the moment I opened my mouth, and I should not only become liable to prosecution for degrading the King’s uniform, but should deserve punishment. To become a sergeant I must enlist, submit to the King’s regulations, and by theory and practice qualify for that position. So a Christian is not merely a professor, but one who accepts Christ as Saviour, Lord, and Master, who shall control the whole of his life and being. And just as a man who degrades the King’s uniform will be punished, so ‘the hypocrite’s hope shall perish,’ and he will suffer the penalty of God’s violated law.
“To show you that it is not all sham,” I said, “I should like to read you an extract of a, letter written from the Front by a chaplain there. He says:—
“ ‘The war is unspeakable in its horror.... Tell soldiers at home they must know God before they come out, if they are to face adequately the work that lies before them. A corporal, who was laughed at and jeered at for saying his prayers in barracks, has proved himself in this war one of the finest soldiers, and the men of his regiment are now asking him how to pray. Men who were ashamed to pray before are praying now. After an address on prayer a soldier said, “You need not rub it in, sir; all pray at the front. There are no atheists here.” Seek to get our soldiers to fear God, and to pray before they leave home. It is too pitiful to have a dying man, with only a few hours to live, saying, “Tell me about religion, sir”.
There is no sham about this letter. The writer has been brought face to face with the truth of Hebrews 9:27, 28: “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation.”
A preacher speaking from those words said: “We have here four striking facts. First, Death— ‘It is appointed unto men once to die.’ Second, Judgment― ‘And after death the Judgment.’ Third, Atonement― ‘So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.’ Fourth, The Lord’s Return― And unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time.’ The first all believe. Many do not like the second. Some believe the third, and others believe the whole four!”
Someone has said we take 25,000-30,000 breaths in a day. That may be true or not; I cannot say. But of one thing I am certain; there is a time when we shall take our last breath, and happy is the man, who can say, as General Taylor, one of the heroes of Waterloo, said, as he passed away: ―
“In peace let me resign my breath,
And Thy salvation see;
My sins deserve eternal death,
But Jesus died for me.”
W. J. P.