VERY many years ago a young girl was about to be married at the British Consulate in Paris. She knew by hearsay that God welcomes and receives anyone who comes to Him through Jesus Christ; but—
hitherto she had not felt the need of coming.
On the morning of the wedding day, whilst waiting in an adjoining room to be fetched in for the ceremony, she felt so full of happiness that she fell on her knees and prayed:
“O God! Thou hast been so very good to me, I must thank Thee for all Thy kindness; and here and now I give myself to Thee, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
She arose from her knees with a strange sense of calm and joy, which remained for many months, until in India, sailing up the river Ganges in the first steamer that ever ruffled its waters, and in considerable danger, God Himself recalled to her those moments on her wedding day, and gave her to know His Beloved Son as her own personal Saviour, as well as her Friend.
After a time it became necessary for her to quit India for the sake of their child, leaving her husband to advance to the seat of war. To comfort his wife he told her he was going to march to Cabul and glory, and spoke of all that he should gain thereby; adding that for her sake he would promise to read a chapter in the Testament daily till they met again. So they parted, the mother and child going to England, and the father to take part in that memorable Indian campaign.
One night the Captain, after reaching his tent, weary and hot from a long day's march, flung himself on his charpoy; then remembering his promise, he sprang up, and took his Testament, reading John 3, which came in course until he came to verse 3: " Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
At once he saw himself to be lost, ruined and undone. On and on he read, until he reached verse 16: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”
Simply as a child he received the record of God, and at once rejoiced in the possession of Christ and eternal life. He knelt and thanked God for His great gift and His great love, and then proceeded to the tent of a friend, Col. H—, who was a Christian, and read with him in the Book now so dear to them both, and told him the whole story before retiring for a few hours' sleep.
That day was the last on which the Captain ever rode at the head of his troop. He wrote to his wife: " I shall have to finish this business, and then we will go home and live on what we have, and you shall teach me about these things, for what is rank, or wealth, or honor, compared to what we read in John 3?” JOH 3
Fever set in, and this was the last letter his wife ever received from him.
Two months later he was carried on a litter by his faithful soldiers into Cabul. Just outside its walls his friend, Col. H—, said: “Now I have seen you comfortably settled, I will just go and stretch my legs, for I have not had a rest for twenty hours.”
In less than three hours he was brought back into the Captain's tent murdered! He, poor fellow, roused himself, ordered a double coffin to be made, saying, “We will carry it into Cabul, and there we will lie together "; and this took place.
His last day on earth he asked the hour—7:30—remarking, "I shall not go before gunfire now." As 8 o'clock approached the doctor noticed how intently he watched the tent pole, and stooping down, caught the words:
“I shall soon be with Jesus and our Baby in glory," and in one moment he was" with Christ, which is far better “than earth's most dazzling scenes. For evermore he realizes the truth of the words which are written in Isa. 5:8, 98Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth! 9In mine ears said the Lord of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant. (Isaiah 5:8‑9): ISA 5:8-98Woe unto them that join house to house, that lay field to field, till there be no place, that they may be placed alone in the midst of the earth! 9In mine ears said the Lord of hosts, Of a truth many houses shall be desolate, even great and fair, without inhabitant. (Isaiah 5:8‑9)“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”
The wife was found by Christ in the moment of her joy, the husband in his time of sorrow and danger.
The wife passed away recently at a great age, to be with Christ, in whose presence the husband had long been at rest.
February, 1910.