During the Revolutionary War in 1789 Major Andre, a British officer, was taken prisoner. He was charged with being a spy and was executed as such. He had served his King and country well, but this was not his confidence as he looked ahead into eternity.
What was?
Some verses, which he wrote a few days before he was hanged, will tell their story—
“Hail, Sovereign love, which first began
That scheme to rescue fallen man;
Hail, matchless, free, eternal grace,
Which gave my soul a Hiding Place.
“Against the God who built the sky,
I fought with hands uplifted high;
Despised the mention of His grace,
Too proud to seek a Hiding Place.
“Enwrapt in thick Egyptian night,
And fond of darkness more than light,
Madly I ran the sinful race,
Secure without a Hiding Place.
“And thus the Eternal counsels ran,
‘Almighty love, arrest that man.’
I felt the arrows of distress,
And found I had no Hiding Place.
“Indignant Justice stood in view,
To Sinai’s fiery mount I flew,
But Justice cried, with frowning face,
‘This mountain is no Hiding Place.’
“On Jesus God’s just vengeance fell,
Which would have sunk a world to hell;
He bore it for a sinful race,
And thus became their Hiding Place.
“Should sevenfold storms of thunder roll
And shake this globe from pole to pole,
No thunderbolts shall dart my face,
For Jesus is my Hiding Place.
“A few more setting suns at most
Shall land me on fair Canaan’s coast,
Where I shall sing the song of grace,
And see my glorious Hiding Place.”
Blessed indeed is the soul that finding out his need flees to the Saviour. He is then able to say, with David of old, “Thou art my Hiding Place.” Psa. 32:77Thou art my hiding place; thou shalt preserve me from trouble; thou shalt compass me about with songs of deliverance. Selah. (Psalm 32:7). Is Major Andre’s Saviour yours?