WE read that when one of the most famous of the victors of the great Indian Mutiny―Sir Henry Havelock―was felled by an attack of malignant cholera, and was told that he could not survive, he calmly replied: “I have prepared for this for forty years.”
Wise man he!
In early days of health, strength, vigor, and opportunity, he did what every man, soldier, sailor, or civilian, should do. He did not wait till he had reached the fag-end of life, or the dull, feeble, powerless evening of his days, to achieve, by the grace of God, the one all-important act of existence.
He turned to God!
Yes, and so genuine was the turn that the long period of forty full years of constant and severe testing, in the awkward conditions of army life, witnessed no cowardly retreat, nor disavowal of his Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.
He died as he lived, in triumph!
Here, then, is one well-known witness to the saving power and grace of God; one, but there are thousands on all hands, not confined to civilians who may retire into the shelter of their sweet family circle, and thus escape the banter and scorn of the godless, but who could face the storm of opposition, and keep the flag of faith flying right on to the end. Let this fact be noted.
None dare say, with these witnesses on all hands, that such a life is impossible. It is not impossible. It is incumbent!
True, we need strength beyond our own, but He who saves can surely keep. He never fails those who trust in Him―never.
Suppose this paper, as it reaches the “Front,” or the “Man of War,” should fall into the hands of a young fellow of twenty years of age. He kindly reads it over―he thinks―he feels that he should get right with God―he fears―he is overwhelmed by the prospect of forty years, and, alas! he hesitates.
But he is gambling his soul for eternity―an eternal hell or heaven. The stake is too great. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:3131It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 10:31)) ―fearful indeed!
When I was a young soldier of hardly twenty I asked my soul this question: “Soul! shall it be forty years of sin and an eternal hell, or forty years of salvation and an eternal heaven?”
Answer I must―definitely and finally.
Well, which? There I stood before God, a sinner in need of pardon, faced by eternal consequences of weal or woe, unable to save myself by any act of mine, however meritorious, the only question being would, could God save me?
All I can say, and that to His praise, is that He could and did.
Call this my preparation for death and eternity if you like. Anyhow, more than fifty years can witness, amid all their changes, that the blessed God can pardon, reconcile, and keep any and every man who only turns in faith and repentance to Him.
Let me (as I surely may) recommend to you, my reader, this glorious salvation―to be secured now so freely, but on the other side of death to be obtained not by the price of ten thousand worlds, and then when most wanted!
Then trusting the Lord Jesus as your personal Saviour,
“All your sins shall be forgiven,
Oh! how He loves!
Backward shall your foes be driven,
Oh! how He loves!
Best of blessings He’ll provide you,
Naught but good shall e’er betide you,
Safe to glory He will guide you,
Oh! how He loves!”
J.W. S,