I have been reading again a letter from a soldier friend during the war:—
“I have been very much cast down. We have lost a fine Christian officer, a splendid man, but, praise God, he was ready, and now he is better off. His ambition was to come to France as a missionary; he spoke the language very well; he speaks the perfect language of heaven now.”
I was privileged to hear from his brother then in Palestine, and to send books through Dr. Wreford, and we could not but be cheered by the following testimony, and take courage, that in the midst of sorrow, our brother could say, “Hallelujah.” It made me think of those precious word is, “Thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in Christ” (2 Cor. 11:14).
“As I look back on my brother’s life and especially the last few years of it, his zeal for the Gospel stands out remarkably, and naturally one asks, ‘Why should he be taken?’ and then the reply comes like a voice from heaven, ‘The Lord hath need of him,’ and thinking of him now in the glory with the Master he served so faithfully here, one feels there is nothing to say but “Hallelujah.” My dear mother has been helped through this great trial, and she has done a great deal to cheer me, too. You will be glad to know that we have some happy times here in the place where the Lord spent so much of His time.... All these good things are as nothing in comparison with the short seasons one enjoys in quiet communion with God.... one is able to come away from the rush and strain of active service. I have already sent and passed on some of the booklets you sent me.
Christian greetings to Dr. Wreford and yourself. (1 Cor. 15:58, Psa. 91:2).
A. A. L.