WHEN the English and the French were at war with each other in the Spanish Peninsula there was an English general who wished to make an attack upon the enemy, and he ordered the officer whose duty it was to provide the troops with food to have the rations ready at a certain place at twelve o'clock on the following day. It was sometimes no easy matter to provide sufficient supplies; and the officer replied that the rations could not be at the place on such short notice. "I cannot march my men without food," said the general; “and I say that the rations must be there at twelve o'clock to-morrow." " But I say it's impossible to do it," replied the officer." Well," said the general," remember this, if the rations are not there at twelve o'clock to-morrow I'll hang you." The officer departed in a rage, saying to himself:" How dare he talk to me in that style? Hang me I hang me! We shall soon see all about that!”
The Duke of Wellington was then Commander-in-Chief of the British armies, and to him the officer went at once to complain of the general. The Duke listened in silence. Presently he inquired: "Did the general really say he'd hang you if the rations were not there by twelve o'clock?" "Yes, your Grace," replied the officer. "Are you sure he said he would hang you?" "He did, indeed, your Grace," replied the officer, thinking that a severe rebuke was in store for his superior. "Well," said the Duke, "I know the general very well, and I know that he is a man of his word. If I were in your place I should take care to have the rations there." The officer went away, and the rations were there punctually at twelve o'clock.
When it is a question of life or death a man generally takes good care to put himself on the right side, even if it cost him a world of pains to do so. Whether for good or for evil, we can believe the word of a fellow-man. Is God less worthy of credit? We can be fully persuaded that a man will keep to his word; do we imagine that God will not keep to His? "All have sinned," says God. Do we believe this? "The soul that sinneth it shall die," says God. Do we believe this? "The wicked shall be cast into hell," says God. Do we believe this?
Yet God truly delights in mercy, and therefore it is that we read: "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life (John 3:1616For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16))." For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved (John 3:1717For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. (John 3:17)). It was to save sinners, not to send them to hell, that the Son of God hungered and thirsted and toiled upon this earth, and finally poured out His blood for them upon the Cross. Was He a stern and a hard God who sent His Son into the world to make atonement for His lost creation? Was He a cold and pitiless Savior who so freely gave up His life for those who despised and hated Him? No, no. The very fact of His dying proves the fullness of His love? W. C. S.