By the Editor
“Playing with the Souls of Men”
OUR duty this year, as Christians, must be to seek to counteract the fearful doctrines that are being spread abroad “that death in battle saves the soul.” Everywhere this doctrine is gaining ground. I had a letter from a Christian worker, who tells me that after giving a Testament to a soldier the question was asked him, “Are you sure of going to heaven?” His ready answer was, “Yes, because I am fighting for my country.” He had been taught that his self-sacrifice would save his soul. And Christ need never have died for him.
I had a most solemn letter from the Front from a very earnest Christian soldier to whom I had sent a parcel. He says: ― “What opportunities there are out here, and yet some of the preachers are telling the men twaddle, simply playing with the, souls of men. What a state of things! Tens of thousands of men here, and scarcely any one to tell them the real true gospel. Surely God will require the blood of these men at the preachers’ hands!” Yes, the day of requisition will come, for God is not mocked.
Another writes me: ― “Your tract, ‘The Sin against the Soldier and the Saviour,’ is very necessary. At the beginning of the year I spent two months among the men at Boulogne, and heard this doctrine frequently. It seemed an awful thing to hear these dear fellows simply and innocently, it would seem, putting themselves on a level with our crucified Lord.”
Another dear soldier from the Front writes me, speaking about these terrible errors: ―
“It is enough to make one sad when one thinks of it all-how grand to look away from the mere speculations of men to our blessed Lord, and find in Him all our resources. May our blessed Lord deliver these brave men out here from being deceived and deluded by the devil. May the continued supply of Testaments come along, so that all the brave boys may have a Testament of their own. I need your prayers mat amid the false hopes which the devil is spreading abroad in the Army, there may be raised up servants who will be faithful and loyal to Him... to declare the gospel of Christ to the lost and perishing amongst our brave men. I am so thankful to the Lord that I have your prayers. Eternity alone will reveal what those prayers have done, when we are in His blessed presence.... Surely the midnight cry has gone forth, ‘Go ye out to meet Him.’ Things may be looking very dark, but it is the Lord Himself we are looking for, who will change our vile bodies and fashion them like unto His glorious body. May the blessed Lord cause His glorious name to be heard during the closing moments of this day of grace, that multitudes upon multitudes may be gathered into the gospel net ere the Lord comes. I have just received another parcel of yours. Praise the Lord. May He bless you and encourage you greatly in your service for Him.”
Thank God for these faithful men who are standing for the truth of God.
I wonder that fire and brimstone does not come down from heaven upon the nation for the deep dishonor done to the Son of God in our midst. Everywhere His atoning work is being set aside, and His precious blood trampled under the feet of men. Some of the very men who are supposed to lead us in intercession to God now, on behalf of our country, are heading a crusade against Christ. Honoring God (?) and dishonoring His Son.
One of these religious leaders says: ―
“He” [Christ Jesus] “stood for all time; He stands still, as an ideal at the head of the race; but whether Jesus the carpenter had any more right to speak about the mysteries of the universe than I or you have, who can tell? We cannot be sure.... What think you of the ideal Christ? Mark, it may be an illusion.”
And again he says: ―
“But it might startle the questioners to be told that even if the Jesus of Bethlehem had been born at some other time, or if His advent had taken some other form, the Christ would still have preceded Him. We might, by a reverent play upon His own words, say, Before Jesus was Christ is.... What name shall we give to this soul of good?... He called Himself the Christ, well knowing that the Christ indwelt every soul of man... The being of Christ was greater far than the body of Jesus could contain... and now the body of Jesus is no more, the spirit of Jesus, which is the spirit of the Christ, still indwells the souls of men. Humanity is the body of Christ; the human Christ and the divine are the same. There is no point at which humanity leaves off and divinity begins, or at which divinity leaves off and humanity begins.... Those who would see Jesus as He once was must learn to read Him in the Christ that shines through every noble deed and every holy life. For there, indeed, He is.”
And the man who has said these awful things about our blessed Lord, the man whose mind is permeated with these unholy thoughts, has been, we are told, admitted to “holy orders.” And yet we expect God to bless us when our prayers are led by men like this! Over and over again these men tell us that death in battle saves the soul. They take for their text those beautiful words, “Greater love hath no MAN than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” This is the soldier’s passport to heaven, they say. Like the Mohammedan leaders, they tell them that the gates of heaven are under the banners of war. You may be an infidel, an idolater, an agnostic, a skeptic, a blasphemer, a unitarian—no matter—if you die in battle heaven’s gates are open for you. Your love for your fellow man shall be more potent than the blood of Christ to save your soul. You shall scale the heights of heaven with your sword in your hands.
The pulpits of England are ringing with this “sentimental blasphemy.” This is bad enough; but what shall we say of men who face thousands of soldiers, going to death many of them, and who deliberately do their best to take away all chance of salvation from them, by telling them they can save themselves. In eternity God will require the blood of these men at the hands of these false teachers, and woe betide those false guides who have led poor sinners down to hell instead of bringing them to Christ, the sinner’s Friend.
A man may be saved upon the battlefield in his dying moments, and thousands have been, we believe, but to tell a man he is saved because the bullet takes his life instead of disease at home is as wicked as it is illogical. Is the whole plan of redemption to be set aside, and God’s eternal purposes of love to man in Christ to be nullified to please the sickly sentimentality of God-dishonoring men? There is a greater love than the love of man, even if shown in death for his friends―it is the love of the God-man, who died for His enemies, praying as He died, “Father, forgive them, they know not what they do.” We can say: ―
“Thou for Thine enemies wast slain,
What love with Thine can vie?”
No human love can vie with that unparalleled love that led the Son of God to come from heaven to die for us.
A writer says: ― “Never was there such a time when men were so eager to have a copy of the Scriptures to carry in their pocket.”
What Do the Christian Soldiers Say?
One writes and says: ― “I often think it is the work behind the scenes that God looks upon with His smile.”
Another writes: ― “I feel more and more that the Lord’s work out here is being done by the Lord’s own in the ranks.”
A dear worker says: ― “The little tract, ‘The Sin against the Soldier and the Saviour,’ has been very useful in refuting the damnable heresy preached by enemies of the Cross who would dare to suggest a salvation some other way. They attempt to ‘juggle’ with such a profound fact as the atonement, and in doing so belittle the grand work of redemption on Calvary. May God’s richest blessing rest upon your efforts during the coming months.”
A writer says: ― “The soldier dying in the trenches has no more merit than the engine driver killed in the collision, or the mother dying of heart disease brought on by years of strain. These things do not remit sins, nor win salvation. One death alone avails for these, and in none other is there salvation.”
Another tells us when he was a young soldier, in deep soul trouble, the words of the hymn:
“In my hand no price I bring,
Simply to Thy cross I cling,”
carried a ray of light to his soul. “I sought no other sacrifice,” he tells us, “nor needed one. That sufficed. And further, when I heard that ‘he that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life,’ my every question was settled for time and for eternity.”
A friend writes to me and asks me if I have seen in any shop a very large “In Memoriam” card, about fourteen inches square, intended to be sold to people who have lost relatives at the Front. There is a space on the card for the insertion of the soldier’s name, and underneath is printed these words: ―
“His Country has written his name upon her Roil of Honor because He died for her and God has written his name in the ‘Book of Life’ because he died for Him.”
“It is the most terrible thing we can imagine, and is a most insidious device of the devil to belittle the atonement of our Lord.”
What is the remedy for all this? What can save our dear, brave soldiers from falling into this delusion of the devil? We must give them the Word of God to read themselves. They are wiser than their so-called teachers; they know they need a Saviour.
The Antidote―the Word of God
More and more is it pressed home upon me the need of the Word of God for men today. A dear sergeant writes me from the Front saying: ― “Thank you very much for the box of Gospel literature I received today. It is always a joy to receive it.... I have had some wonderful times. Two men not long ago came out for the Lord. As they were going to the trenches in a few days we met together before they went. It was a cold, frosty night, but we went into a plowed field and had prayer together before parting... I am sending you a photo of myself and my little house under the apple tree, called ‘Ebenezer Villa.’ You will notice in the doorway a box containing some of the Gospels, Testaments, and literature you send me from time to time. I put it there so that the men passing by may take one. I must now close, thanking you very much for the parcels. How the soldiers love to have them! God bless all who help you in sending to us.”
Is not this encouragement, dear friends, for you to continue sending? We had a splendid response from our Christmas readers. More than six hundred parcels given. I asked for a thousand. Thank God for what He sent; the others will come in January. Two evenings ago our dear workers were here until twelve o’clock at night, and one hundred and ninety-one parcels were got ready for the post. Evenings like this are often necessary to supply the parcels needed. We are all in earnest, dear friends, as to our desire to send out the Word of God.
Another Splendid Gift
In January “Message” I told you of a splendid gift of a thousand khaki Testaments. I have had another splendid gift, this time from “The Association for the Free Distribution of the Scriptures.” A grant has been given me enough to send two thousand khaki Testaments to the Front. The Hon. Sec., Mrs. Pridham, who wrote on behalf of the Society, said: ― “As you are so urgently in need of Scriptures for the soldiers we are sending you a larger grant for you to expend in Gospels or Testaments as you think most desirable.” This is only one of many gifts. I have had from this good society. May God bless them.
God will give us the thirty thousand Testaments soon.
The Widow’s Mite
A widow who has just had one of her sons killed at the Dardanelles whilst carrying help to the wounded, has given two shillings and sixpence to buy Testaments to be given to the soldiers. God bless her!
A Colonel writes: — “May I ask you to send me out another parcel of Testaments, ‘A Message from God,’ and ‘How Can I Be Saved?’ They tell me these are quite the best sort for the men.”
3,600 Testaments
This is the gift of a dear friend. All these Testaments have gone to the soldiers and the sailors, and more are urgently needed. Our dear friend says in her letter: ―
“When I read in November ‘Message’ that men had to be sent to the trenches without the Word of God, it touched me to the quick. I felt what an awful, solemn reality it was, and I cannot withhold this money from the Lord (the money to buy the 3,600 Testaments) when the need is so great. I know God will use it for His glory. It was so remarkable that after I had sent the withdrawal form to the Bank, the text on my daily text calendar the next morning was as follows: ‘Whoso hath this world’s goods, and beholdeth his brother in need, and shutteth up his compassion from him, how doth the love of God’ abide in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither with the tongue; but indeed and truth’ (1 John 3:17,1817But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? 18My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:17‑18)).
“And this morning the text is: ―
“‘Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom. Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heaven that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. For where your treasure is there will your heart be also’ (Luke 12:32-3432Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. 33Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief approacheth, neither moth corrupteth. 34For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Luke 12:32‑34)). So it gives me very great pleasure in sending to you to enable you to send out to the Front, and I feel I am only doing what it is my duty to do. I experience great happiness in sending. Never in my whole life has anything given me greater happiness, and I thank God from the bottom of my heart that I am able to send to help those souls in deep need.”
Read carefully the last page of “Message,” and please help me to send as many boxes as you can.