By the Editor
The Presence of Christ
NOT long after the War commenced, I was preaching in a theater at Southall one Sunday evening. We had a large audience, and towards the end of a solemn service, I saw a gentleman rise from his seat and leave the theater. In a short time he came back again, leaving only when the meeting ended. He left the following note written in pencil on the seat he had occupied: “God bless you, Dr. Wreford. I have been brought into the presence of Christ tonight, God bless you.” I have never, seen him since, but I trust. I shall one day meet him with Christ forever.
We can never be saved unless we are brought into the presence of Christ. Every saved sinner has had to do individually with Christ. We can never come to the Father but by Christ. “No man cometh unto the, Father but by Me.”
The following letter shows what the presence of Jesus means to a soldier at the Front: ―
THE PRESENCE OF JESUS
Sergeant-Major Mode tells about a lad brought up in a Sunday school. He had had the best mother in the world, he said, but she was dead. He was sure she was gone to heaven. “Four days ago,” says the Sergeant-Major, “his home call came. Inside his pay-book was found an envelope from his wife, and he had written, the following while in the trenches: ―
“Jesus! the name that charms my fears,
That bids my sorrows cease;
‘Tis music in the sinner’s ears,
‘Tis life, and health and peace.
“He breaks the power of canceled sin,
He sets the prisoners free;
His blood can make the foulest clean,
His blood avails for me.”
That was the last he was known to write.
And this is the record of the triumph of the saintly Bellett as he neared the presence of Christ in heaven: ―
“MY PRECIOUS LORD JESUS”
Clasping his thin hands together, while tears flowed down his face, he said “My precious Lord Jesus, Thou knowest how frilly I can say, with Paul, ‘To depart and to be with Thee, which is far better.’ Oh! how far better! I do long for it! They come and talk to me of a crown of glory. I bid them cease. Of the glories of heaven! I bid them stop. I am not wanting crowns; I have Himself, Himself! I am, going to be with Himself! Ah! with the Man of Sychar: with Him Who stayed to call Zaccheus; with the Man of the eighth of. John; with the Man Who hung upon the cross; with the Man Who died! I am going to be with Him forever! I am going to exchange this sad, sad scene which cast, Him out, for His presence!”