“An old preacher once said, ‘Many Christians know how to talk, but few know how to walk.’”―F.S.W.
“IT’S A LONG WAY TO TIPPERARY”
This is a favorite marching song of the soldiers, and it has been sung all over the world. W.E. says: “It may be’ a long way to go’ to any place or thing on earth; but to the place where all hope to go, it is not a long way.”
There are only three steps to heaven.
The first step is “out of self.”
The second step is “into Christ.”
The third step is “into heaven.”
Think of it, dear friend. “It is not a long way to Jesus Christ.” He is close to you as you read these words, and if you call upon Him He will hear you, and if you ask Him to save you, you will be saved.
One dear fellow about this time last year gave his heart to God, and became a bold witness for Him amongst the men who had known him in his sinful life. He went to the Front in August of last year. In the great advance on September 25th he was killed. “We heard from him,” a friend says, “on the 22nd of September. In this letter he said: ‘If I fall, it will be to go straight to glory, where there is no more war.’ We praise God for his bright testimonies, and for what others say of his life lived before them.”
The Verse that Saved Him
This morning’s post brings me a letter from Cairo. The writer says:— “Many, many thanks for your parcel. I was much encouraged the other week when a man to whom I was speaking told me that he was converted in the trenches through the reading of a Testament that had been given to him. That well-known verse, ‘He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.’ Those words arrested him, and he there and then believed and now is glad with the knowledge that his sins are forgiven. So we will pray that the Holy Spirit will follow the distribution of the Testaments and tracts that you have so kindly sent.”
The Hymn After the Battle
I heard from a dear Christian soldier at the Front an incident that moved me very much. He had been telling me in his letter how good it was to be able to tell the men of Jesus and His love, and how eager they were to hear and to have a copy of the Testament. He said, “I shall never forget once when we were under shell fire for some hours. When the fight was over all the men began to sing on the battlefield:
“ ‘O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home!
“ ‘Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.’”
“Within Five Minutes of Heaven”
The extract from the following letter will interest readers of this number of the “Message,” containing the true story, “Within Five Minutes of Heaven.” The writer says: ― “I heard an interesting story tonight about one of ‘Jimmy Wallace’s Tracts,’ as the men call them. A man got shot on Tuesday, and in his breast pocket was a tract entitled, ‘Within Five Minutes of Heaven.’ Little did I think when I gave it to him that it would cause such a lot of talk. It was covered all over with his life’s blood, and the Quartermaster said he would send it to his mother. I know that many of the tracts found on the bodies of the dead soldiers have been sent home with the men’s belongings, and there is no telling what blessing they will bring. Poor B ―, he was a nice lad, and was to have been married shortly. Well, whatever our circumstances, our tomorrow is in loving hands―the hands that uphold the universe.”
Our dear friend, Miss Leakey, has issued some thousands of leaflets with the following words upon them, so deeply does she feel the dishonor brought to Christ by the false teaching that a man’s self-sacrifice makes him sure of heaven: ―
DYING for your COUNTRY in BATTLE will NOT save your soul but LOOKING unto JESUS CHRIST WILL save your soul.
How a Soldier Appreciates Prayer
“You will go on praying for him every day,” so said his father to me as we talked about him in Martin’s Lane. He, a clergyman, had told me how this young Exeter officer was in Gallipoli. He had written home and said how the knowledge that his parents and friends were praying for him cheered his heart and strengthened his courage in facing death. His commanding officer had been killed by his side, and he had been spared. “Yes,” said I, “I am constantly praying the Lord to shadow him with His wings, as He has promised those who trust in Him.” (Psa. 91:44He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. (Psalm 91:4)).
Oh, you, dear soldiers, whether in the Front or elsewhere, trust in the living God, He will cover you as He did this young man. Trust and fear not. Trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, the only Saviour for poor sinners, as we all are.
Emily P. Leakey
We Must Have Testaments
Friends! I am besieged with requests for Testaments. I must have them, or refuse those who ask, and that I should grieve to do. A letter, this moment come, says: — “Many thanks for your parcel, which I received safely. Could you kindly give me some more of the following:—
200 khaki Testaments (small)
200 ‘How Can I Be Saved?’
Any number of ‘Message from God’.”
Another writes for 300 khaki Testaments. Day after day. I get many requests for parcels at home and abroad. Pray with me that the Lord’s stewards may open their hearts and respond to this urgent need. We plead for the souls of men—the never dying souls of dying men.
I look toward the trenches, and I see thousands of men there without the Word of God. I see their appealing hands cut-stretched, and I seem to hear them say, “We have the soul hunger, and the soul thirst. Oh, for the Bread of Life and the Water of Life! We want the Word of God.” My heart is sad, and my eyes fill with tears as I think of this terrible imminent need. My soul cries out to them, “I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls.” And then the solemn apostolic injunction and warning sounds in my ears, as I bow before God in prayer: “But whoso hath this world’s goods, and seeth his brother hath need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue, but in deed and in truth.”
Dear friends, I am sure of your help.
A Night Service at the Front
What a solemn scene is depicted in the illustration on our cover this month! A drum-head service held in the night. The moon shining through the trees, and shedding its silver radiance on the faces and forms of brave and earnest men. The preacher, with uplifted hand, praying to God, his face illumined by the light of the lantern held at his side. What message has he given to these men, close to death many of them? He stands there between the living and the dead, and God have mercy upon him if he has “shunned to declare unto them all the counsel of God.” May God grant that he may be able to say, “Wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men.”
What a responsibility is his, and others like him, who have the opportunity of standing before tens of thousands of soldiers, and giving them oftentimes the last message they hear about God this side the grave. When the “last post” sounds for these men, will they be able to say to God in eternity,” He was faithful to his trust; he told us we were sinners and that we needed a Saviour. He told us to Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.’ He prayed to God that we might repent of our sins, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved. “Or will the record be,” He told us that if we died in battle we should be sure to go to heaven, that our self-sacrifice would be accepted by God in place of the sacrifice of Christ; that the cross of our dying for our country would be placed beside His who died for all. He led us to believe that our love for our country and our king was on a level with the love of the Redeemer of the world. He told us this and we believed him, and now we find we have believed a lie, and that the truth is that Christ is the only Saviour, and the only way to heaven; that all are lost for all eternity who have not come to Him for salvation.”
O God, send all these dear fellows Thy holy Word that they may read about Thee for themselves. Let us send the New Testament to them so that in the trenches, or in their dug-outs, they may find the Saviour in the Scriptures that testify of Him.
Dear friends, the more help you send me, the more Testaments I can send. A great many have responded, and are responding, to my appeal as to the boxes to be sent to the Front, but as we had to go to press early in December, there has been but little time yet for the great want to be made known. One lady has given fifty boxes, and orders for others are coming with every post. Please read last page of “Message.”