Corporal Chappell speaks of a lad during the battle of the Aisne, who was close to him, saying to him:
“Chappell, I have a sort of feeling I shall not reach home again. I cannot help thinking of my wife and children.”
“Have you thought of your own soul?” asked, Chappell. “There is no time for that,” was the reply.
“Oh, yes. There is a minute, at any rate. Pray, lad, pray! Your wife and children are in God’s hands. Pray for pardon now.”
And so they two went forward praying. A few minutes, and a shell almost annihilated the company, and among the rest the lad who had just been pleading “God be merciful to me a sinner,” was killed. Thank God no one ever prays that prayer in vain.
“The Lord Jesus is very near those who seek Him in the trenches.”