“NOTHING is more sad than the many nameless graves one sees out there,” said a young Colonial. “I was riding up country one day (in New Zealand) far from any dwelling, when suddenly beside the track, if track it could be called, there was a little grave outlined with white stones. Some settlor’s child, I suppose, who had died going up country. On board ship coming home, a man who had been in South Africa told me the same thing. Out there too are hundreds of such graves, and the impression they leave on one is very saddening—scouts who have fallen in small numbers, spies, single soldiers, lie there unknown to anyone.”
To any one, did he say? “He bringeth out their host by number: He calleth them all by names, by the greatness of His might, for that He is strong in power; not one faileth” (Isa. 40:2626Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth. (Isaiah 40:26)). Lift up your eyes to the starry heavens on a clear night; count the stars that your hand may cover if you can. The Saviour-God knows their number, He has a name for each, not one will lessen its light without His fiat.
“The sheep hear His voice: He calleth His own sheep by name.... I am the Good Shepherd, and know My sheep, and am known of Mine” (John 10:3,143To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. (John 10:3)
14I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. (John 10:14)). Look at that flock of sheep: could you number them? Would you know if one were missing? The shepherd arrives—he scans the flock, his eye is acquainted with the face of every sheep—ah! one is missing, only ninety and nine are there. He leaves the ninety and nine safely folded, and forth he goes to seek until he find the one that was lost, and then he carries it home on his shoulders rejoicing.
“For as the Father hath life in Himself; so hath He given to the Son to have life in Himself; and hath given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which ALL that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life: and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation” (John 5). There are multitudes of nameless graves all over this sorrow-stricken earth. Who shall say where lies Abel, the first martyr of the Old Testament—Stephen, the first of the New Testament, and the countless thousands that have been buried between and since then? Where are their graves? Who has recorded their names? By-and-by—very soon—they will hear the voice of the Son of God—to each one it will be audible—and they will come forth from their tombs, known and unknown of every clime.
“Rejoice, because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:2020Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven. (Luke 10:20)). The saints who are sleeping in those “nameless graves” — and by a saint is meant one who has heard while on earth the voice of the Son of God and lived, or who looked forward in faith like Abel to His atoning sacrifice—these saints have had their names recorded in God’s register. Not one is forgotten by Him. Moses was buried—there had been none like him—nevertheless he died and occupied a grave, and “no man knoweth of his sepulcher unto this day.” Satan would have rifled its precious contents, but was rebuked for his hardihood before the hosts of heaven. God knows where Moses lies, and He knows where to find every saint who has been bought with the price that the Saviour paid. “The dead in Christ shall rise first.” Those who are alive when He comes will see them rise, and then together they will go to meet the Lord in the air. Then they will know as they are known.
More than this—perchance an unbeliever lies in a “nameless grave” that you wot of. He too will come forth; he will hear the voice of the Son of God—all unbelievers will. Ponder it, reader. If you are now away from God in your sins, think how solemn it will be after you are dead to rejoin your resurrected body as a spirit, and to receive judgment at the hands of the One who might have been your Saviour! Don’t imagine you can hide your head like the ostrich in the sand and be unseen—oh no— “ALL that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth... they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.” No escape will be possible then. Now it is—and now you may turn to God and find Him gracious and full of compassion, a Saviour-God. Then never mind where you lie—in the torpid zone, amid arctic snows, in your bed at home—in any and every case your sleeping-place will be known to God—moreover, your ear will hear the assembling shout and recognize the voice of the Good Shepherd therein. There are no “nameless graves” to Him or to God, for your name has been “written in heaven,” rehearsed too before the angels, and from thence “we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto His glorious body.”
Lord, haste that day! H. L. H.
A FELLOW-LABORER writes: — We still have encouragement at the Hospital and Union. A little while ago I asked an old rag gatherer who was in the Hospital how he was.
“Why, sir,” he said, “I am right internally, externally, and eternally,” and his face was all aglow with joy. He said, “Some people say, All’s well that ends well, but through mercy I can say it is well with me before the end comes.”
E.D.