“If I am killed I will go to hell with my load of sins, but I don’t want to be converted today and backslide tomorrow.”
So writes a private from the Front. I want you to pray for him, that God will bless him and save his soul. The one who sent me the words says, “Oh! that he may be won for Christ.” He must be.
This mourning card of a French soldier was sent to me by Monsieur Somerville, Madame Le Coat’s nephew. It was his second son who was killed. Pray for them in their sorrow.
His mother writes to me about his death. She says: ―
“In our grief we have the privilege of knowing that our dear boy was spared long sufferings. He was wounded by a bomb in-a first line trench, taken to an ambulance, but only lived a few moments. He had four wounds in the back and a fractured leg. We have the great consolation to know that his only desire was to do God’s will, and his only hope was in Him, so we know he is not lost, but one day we shall meet in that happy land where there are no partings.”
“Someday fresh grass will creep along the Belgian lanes,
Someday the flowers will open to the May;
And on the grave of my brave soldier-boy the grass will grow,
But not today.”
Saved ‘Mid the Shot and Shell
A Christian soldier writes from the Front: ―
“What opportunities we have for serving God, if we are only vessels meet for the Master’s use. How glad I am to know that God is working in men’s souls, through this war. The men are quite eager to receive the Testaments, etc., but what is that even to the desire of the One Who waits to receive them? We have been having a very sharp time. When we were attacking M― our Company was in the front line, and I lost my officer, who was killed there. We advanced a few yards at a time by short, sharp rushes. The enemy were only a few hundred yards away. We took cover in a bit of a ditch, and while waiting the order to charge a soldier crawled next to me. Be seemed quite frightened, as it was the first time he had been under fire. The bullets were whistling over our heads. I asked him if he was ready if the worst did happen. ‘No,’ he replied. ‘Whose fault is it?’ I said; ‘Christ has died for you, and God is satisfied with what lie has done.’ I asked him to pray with me. He did so, just a short, simple prayer seeking God’s forgiveness; and God answered with peace and assurance in the dear lad’s heart. I asked him if he was ready now. He answered ‘Yes.’ I asked him how. He clasped my hand and said, ‘Through trusting in Christ.’ (Praise God!) He said, ‘I am not afraid now, whatever happens.’ I never saw him again alive, but I know with certainty his soul is with the One he trusted that awful afternoon It will comfort the hearts of his parents if I write and tell them about their son, and it may be the means of eternal blessing to them.”― LETTERS FROM THE FRONT.
A soldier in the Royal Fusiliers sends me a pound to send four boxes to the Front. One box of French New Testaments. One box of Russian New Testaments. One box of Serbian New Testaments. One box of Belgian New Testaments. I can send the French and Belgian, but I have not the Russian or the Serbian. Perhaps some friend can send me some. Our dear friend adds in his letter: “If you haven’t these in print use the money for the Lord’s work in any way you like. I am sending it as a thank offering to my Lord Jesus Christ. John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16). God bless you in your work of faith and labor of love.”
Another writes: ― “Please find enclosed, the tenth part of my yearly salary, as a New Year’s offering to the Lord, for the blessed though arduous work you are engaged in for Him and His glory.”
“My sins deserve eternal death,
But Jesus died for ME.”
How Testaments are Needed
From the Front a worker writes to me saying that he met a whole convoy; not one of the men in it had ever had a Testament given to him from any source. From another friend I hear that at the Front there was only one Testament among some men, and they divided it in pieces, so that each one should have some portion of the Word of God.
Another writes me from the Front, saying: ―
“I have nothing but heartfelt thanks for all the parcels you so kindly sent, and yet I am looking and praying for more—more and more are needed. Tell the Christian people in England to cease buying two and three guinea Bibles, while the men out here can’t even get the crumbs that fall from the table. As for fighting for Testaments, in a sense, why that is an everyday occurrence with me. When I visit men with Testaments, they are almost snapped from me, and I have to say to the disappointed men, ‘I am sorry I have no more.’ If there ever was a time when it was possible to leave the stamp of, eternity on these men’s lives it is now. If the opportunity is lost now, it is lost forever. Your little paper, ‘A Message from God,’ is greatly valued. I could distribute thousands of them to men who would read them earnestly and prayerfully.”
Departure of the Trench Train From Victoria Station
What a pathetic picture we have for our cover this month! The Station at Victoria is crowded with soldiers about to return to the Front in France and Flanders, and crowds of friends and relatives are there to wish them farewell. Look at the widowed mother on the left of the picture, holding her son, and gazing in his face with the rapt mother-look that he will carry with him to the trenches. How tenderly he meets her loving gaze! Heart speaks to heart in the solemn moments of farewell. And close by a British Tommy holds his baby in his arms while his wife holds his rifle in her hand. Will he ever see his child and wife again? God only knows. And in the center of the picture the old father is saying parting words to his manly son, while the mother’s face is close to the shoulder of her boy. And in the front, on the right of the picture, a man and maiden stand-newly wedded husband and wife may be. The sadness of farewell is on their faces, and the shadow will be there until they meet again. But he may never come back to lift the shadow from her. Oh! the pathos of it all. Fathers, mothers, husbands, lovers, wives, the burden falls on all alike; the cruel, awful burden of remorseless war.
But as I gaze upon this parting scene that brings the tears to my eyes by its terrible human pathos, I think of another parting that the world will know some day—it may be today. I speak of the parting that will be caused by the Second Corning of Christ. Then in a moment there will be eternal separations. Those who are saved, who can call Christ their Saviour, will be taken from earth to heaven in a moment, and the unbelieving friends and relatives will be left behind. In the trenches the soldiers who are saved will leave the warfare all behind them. Oh! sinner, mind you are not one day too late for Christ. You may as well be a year too late as one minute. If you refuse Christ’s salvation now, and He comes this evening, you will be too late. You may say, “I’ll think about it.” Christ may come while you are thinking about it, and then you’ll have to do your thinking down in hell. How beautiful for the son and the mother to be together in heaven, and the father, the mother and the child, and the fine young soldier with his father and mother to spend eternity together, and the husband and the wife to gaze together on the face of Christ in glory. If it gives pain to part on earth, what will the sorrow of heart be for those who are left on earth for judgment, while their loved ones are with Christ? God bless you, and make you ready for the coming of His Son.
Thank God, I say, as I close my message for this month, for the khaki Testaments you enable us to send; thank God for the word of cheer today. “My dear brother, ―Enclosed £5 for one thousand khaki Testaments towards the thirty you need. Praise the Lord, He has put this work upon your heart.” And praise God for the loving hearts that help us. The sowing is glorious, but what will the reaping be! I am sure God will send us many thousand Testaments this month.