ONE of the incidents of the storming of the Great Redoubt in the Crimean War I rewrite for my readers now.
The British soldiers had won their way by hard and victorious fighting to the sloping side of the Redoubt, and were winning their way upwards in the face of a terrific fire of cannon shot and musketry. Volley after volley thinned the ranks of our undaunted soldiers, when suddenly the enemy’s firing ceased, and the smoke wreath around the brow of the Redoubt cleared away. Then our troops, seeing that the foe were carrying off their guns, began to cheer and press on to victory.
Starting from the British ranks, with the Queen’s color of the Royal Welsh in his hand, a young lad ran forward towards the summit. He was fleet of foot, and kept far in advance of all the rest. At last he gains the top of the Redoubt, and digging the butt end of the flagstaff into the parapet, he stands with proud exulting race, grasping the standard tightly, and panting for breath. As he stands there flushed with the pride of his daring, a rifle bullet strikes him, and he falls dead — but even as he falls, he holds the standard tightly, and it goes with him, and rests upon him, covering him with its folds. His name lives in history, for the heroic deed he performed, but death seized him at the proudest moment of his life, and the battle shouts of victory were stilled for him in the silence of the grave. He lived long enough to win the height, and that was all; he never shared in the fruits of the victory he had so nobly helped to win.
When I read this, I thought of Christ pressing onward to the crest of Calvary with the standard of salvation in His hand — the standard of the “King of kings, and Lord of lords.”
The battle hosts of hell were arrayed against Him, and the strife went on in darkness and in storm.
But at last the Conqueror’s voice was heard crying, “It is finished,” and the victory was won. On the heights of redemption the standard of salvation waved, and the Son of God became the Saviour of the world. His hour of victory was His hour of death, but when, He died, not one foe was left to encounter, the battlefield was cleared of every enemy. He fought alone, and the victory was His—
“Alone He bare the Cross,
Alone its grief snstain’d;
His was the shame and loss,
And He the victory gain’d.”
His death gives the believer in Him life — for “he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life.”
I could never have won heaven had not Christ won it for me. None but Christ could have cleared away the opposing host that lay between me, a poor, lost sinner, and the presence of a holy God, The blood of Jesus was shed for me; yes, my Saviour’s precious blood has made my title sure, and I follow Him, and above me waves the standard of redemption. My sins were like mountains all around me, but the blood shed on Calvary has cleared them all away. I stand upon the resurrection heights with Jesus now, for Tie who was dead is alive again, and liveth for evermore. I triumph in His triumphs. His victories are mine, for I follow Him.
Reader! do you know aught of these things? Do pan know what it is to share the victories of Jesus? Satan and his legions surround you, my unsaved friend, on every hand. You cannot see them, but they are there — they are between you and the heaven where Jesus is.
The heights of redemption are above you, and the banner of salvation floats in the breeze of heaven there. You may win these glorious heights of happiness and peace today, if you will follow Jesus. Follow Him, believing that Ho is your Saviour. Follow Him, resting upon His finished work. Follow Him, as the lost one follows his guide, as the sinner his Saviour. You could never have won the heights of heaven without Jesus, but believing in Him, and being washed from all your sins in His precious blood, you “are seated in heavenly places in Christ.” God be praised for such a Saviour, the Conqueror over sin, and death, and the power of death — God be praised for the victory Christ has won.
“Bless, bless, the Conqueror slain,
Slain in His victory;
Who lived, Who died, Who lives again,
For thee, His Church, for thee!”