“Pour Elle! Pour Elle!” (For Her.)
IT was a tedious, weary journey four of us took inside a stuffy old coach; for fifty years ago the beautiful city of Derry was not connected by rail with the busy town (now city with its Lord Mayor) of Belfast. So we jogged along, trying to pass the time till we reached our journey’s end with chat and chaff, wondering whom we should meet, and what sort of fun, when we got to it—forgetting that in a few hours we should be on our way back, tired and weary, and not over cheerful, as people done up with so-called pleasure often are.
Of the four, two of us are still alive. One died in his sleep some three years ago, a General officer: the other a long time since, a Major, of consumption; and dear fellow, he was quite annoyed with me for trying to put the Gospel before him in a letter. The result I must leave. The one still alive besides myself is a full Colonel; and I—a poor sinner, saved by grace.
As I said before, we spoke of all sorts of anticipations as to the pleasure we should find at the end of the tedious, tiresome journey of nearly one hundred miles. Dear reader, have you ever considered WHAT the end of YOUR present journey will be? I don’t ask when that will be—but what will it be? Will it be “absent from the body and present with the Lord?” or—what? I know you hope it will be all right: but hoping will not do: make sure it will be “for ever with the Lord.” That is a wonderful word in the 29th chapter of Jeremiah, verse 11: “I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord—thoughts of peace, and not of evil—TO GIVE YOU AN EXPECTED END.” So it is. God’s thought and desire for you are love, peace, grace, mercy. He is longing for you to be saved, and we beseech you to be reconciled to Him (2 Cor. 5).
The cause of our taking this journey was an invitation from the officers of the regiment quartered in Belfast to an entertainment they were about to give in honor of a noble lady and her husband whose fine estate lay near the town, and who had shown great kindness and hospitality to the regiment all the time it had been in that center of the linen trade of Ulster.
In due course we arrived, and having donned our uniform—the elegant, if useless, coatee and epaulettes of the early fifties—presented ourselves at the barracks, to meet with a very warm reception from the gallant Argyleshire fellows. Presently the Marquis and Marchioness of D— arrived, in whose honor this grand entertainment was being held—a small mark of appreciation for their unbounded hospitality: a small mark, I say: for what was one party compared to the many of all sorts given by Lord and Lady D—? And this brings to my mind the verse:
“What glad return can I impart
For favours so divine?
Oh, take me all, and fill my heart,
And make it WHOLLY Thine.”
Yes, indeed! what return can one make who in any way realizes his indebtedness to the God of all grace for saving him? On the arrival of the honored guests, they were conducted to chairs of state—the lady, of course, having the most conspicuous place. All the officers of the regiment and those invited were introduced, and bowing, passed by to the ballroom. On looking about, one could not but notice and admire the taste displayed in the decorations: and conspicuous wherever you gazed were the two short but significant words: “POUR ELLE” — “For her.” On the walls— in colored chalk upon the floors—met your eyes “Pour Elle.” “Pour Elle” everywhere. And when we were ushered into the supper room, there again one saw on everything “POUR ELLE” —on hams, tongues, jellies, tarts, impressed and colored letters, “Pour Elle.” I may say one ate and drank those significant words, telling for whom this elegant entertainment was organized, and pretty compliment paid—for she was considered worthy.
How often since one knew THE LORD has one thought of those words, and longed that “FOR HIM” had been stamped on every thought, word, and deed. “For HE IS WORTHY” Who gives the desire to make “some glad return” for all His love and His sufferings for such a sinner.
The case of the dear Scotchwoman comes before me: a shy, retiring soul, who had been blessed under one of Scotland’s famous preachers of that day, and who desired to “join the Church,” that she might remember the Lord in His death, in partaking of the bread and wine. The minister and elders met to examine the dear old body as to her faith and experience, but no answer could she give to their many, and perhaps puzzling, questions. At length they said they were afraid she was not ready yet, and had better wait a “wee.” Upon this the dear soul burst into tears, and exclaimed: “If I canna speak a word FOR Him, I could dee (die) FOR Him!” That was sufficient. I should think so! Perhaps, though you “canna speak for Him,” He knows the desire of your heart to show your appreciation of what He has done for you.
You see, my reader, the gallant 91St did not give this grand entertainment to induce Lord and Lady D— to be civil to them and show kindness, but because they had done this all the time the regiment lay in Belfast. So with the believer. His desire to render some “glad return” is because God has loved him, and Christ HAS died for him—the Holy Spirit bearing witness with his spirit that he is a child of God. Oh, that it may be so indeed and “FOR HIM!” mark every act of one’s life, the little while one is left down here after pardon and peace have come home to the soul.
“Jesus, my soul adoring bends
To love so full, so free.
Thy Word declares that love extends
In saving power to me.
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Oh, fix my earnest gaze
So wholly, Lord, on Thee,
That with THY beauty occupied,
I elsewhere none may see.”
S. V. H.
MAN’S time is Tomorrow, yet man knows not from moment to moment the end of his life. God’s time is Today, and God is from everlasting to everlasting. Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever: nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken from it: and God doeth it that men shall fear Him (Ecc. 3:14.)