This is an incident on the road to a battery position in Southern Flanders. The soldier’s horse is dying, and few things upset a gunner as much as that. He has unharnessed the dying horse, and is taking his last farewell, ignoring the shouts of his impatient companions. “Good bye, old man,” He says as the eyes of his loved and faithful steed are glazing in death. What a lesson for us. Do we care as much for the man’s soul as he does for the animal he has learned to love? Are we withholding from him the loving service that we ought to render? He may want the Word of God. Shall we send it to him? Shall we show less devotion to these men than they do to their horses? God forbid! We will send them the Word of God and pray that God may save their souls.
Testaments and Puddings
Two of the daily papers are raising £60,000 to send puddings to the troops at Christmas. They raised £1,100 in one day. We are glad this Christmas fare should be sent to the dear fellows at the Front. But surely it should be possible to secure from our readers all we want in the way of parcels and Testaments to feed their immortal souls!
There are two things I want you to do for me, for Christ’s sake, this Christmas.
1. I want means to send 1,000 parcels. One costs 5/-.
2. I want 100,000 Testaments. £5 will buy 1,000.
December 31St
Three young men were seated together the last night of the year. Two were saved and one was not. The two Christians were pleading with their companion to come to Christ. He listened impatiently for a while, and then said, “I don’t want to be saved, and if there is a hell I am willing to go to it.” There was silence for a while, and then one of his companions took his watch from his pocket and said, “Do you decide here, in the presence of God, on this last night of December at fifteen minutes past eleven, to reject Christ as your Saviour, and to choose hell as your eternal portion?” He answered, “I do.”
What is your decision? Will you end the old year with Christ as your Saviour, or reject Him?”
Goodbye for 1916
Remember each of us is individually responsible to God for our service. We can each say, “I am only one, but I am one. I cannot do everything, but I can do something. What I can do, I ought to do; and by the grace of God I will do.”