Said a Christian soldier recently: “It is an honor to wear khaki” ... . The same good young soldier remarked: “They tell me that all who die for their king and country on the battlefield go straight to glory. But, he added solemnly, “khaki is not the robe of Christ’s righteousness.” This is the popular sentiment of the present day―one, sees it in the newspapers, one hears it in the drawing-room, that all dying, solders will receive a crown of glory. Dear readers, it is an awful delusion. A heavenly inheritance cannot be won by any, earthly performance of duty; eternal life cannot be gained by a soldier’s death. This is one of Satan’s modern ways of getting men to deny the power of the atonement. “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish,” is written for all who wear khaki. No human act of heroism can reconcile a sinner to God; no good work of devotion or sacrifice can gain admission to heaven. There is only one way of salvation―the way of Calvary. There at the foot of the cross may those in khaki, as well as ordinary folk, seek and find mercy-in God’s appointed way. There God’s love and justice-meet. There repentance and forgiveness of sins are joined together.
Dear readers, keep to old-fashioned truths; walk in the old paths; give no heed to lying fables. Living or dying, we all need to pray the prayers of the soldier-king: “Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow,” “Create in me a dean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” S. E. L.