VERY few brave men would not be willing to admit that they have known what it is to be afraid. It has been related of one of our soldiers who was sent out with his regiment to South Africa, that during his first engagement—a terrible one—seeing his comrades falling around him, and knowing that at any moment a bullet might find its billet in him, he threw himself on his face and called aloud on God, “O God, cover my head in the day of battle!” Yet this man was a true Christian, and the “after death” had no terrors for him. God heard him, and made his act the means of bringing other men to fear God; and he will never forget, “Thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.”
An American officer was on board an ocean liner. Hearing singing one Sunday he went below and found a man seated at the piano with a few gathered round him, singing―
“Jesus, Lover of my soul,
Let me to Thy bosom fly,
While the nearer waters roll,
While the tempest still is high!
Hide me, O my Saviour, hide,
Till the storm of life is past,
Safe into the haven guide;
O receive my soul at last.”
Ah, those lovely words! But the voice that man’s grand voice—where had he heard it before?
“Other refuge have I none,
Hangs my helpless soul on Thee!
Leave, ah! leave me not alone,
Still support and comfort me!
All my trust on Thee is stayed,
All my help from Thee I bring;
Cover my defenseless head
With the shadow of Thy wing.”
The last two lines brought back the memory. Waiting till the hymn was finished, he accosted the singer. “Pardon me, sir, but were you on sentry duty during the war?” he asked, mentioning the time and place. “Yes.” Then the questioner related that he too had been in the American War, but on the other side, and he told how on a certain night he had been on duty scouting. In the darkness he and his men had got suddenly into the vicinity of a sentry, and had even seen his figure outlined against the sky. “We watched you,” he said, “and just as we were about to fire, we heard singing, and paused. You sang the first verse of ‘Jesus, Lover of my soul,’ then the second verse—but when you came to ‘Cover my defenseless head,’ I could stand it no longer. Guns down, boys; we’ll go home,’ I said. Do you remember it?” “Yes;” and then it was the turn of the astonished singer to relate how on that evening a feeling of darkness and horror had come over him at the thought of his possible danger, and so he had expressed his feelings to God, and prayed in the words of the hymn he had sung, though with no knowledge that any one heard him but God. And now this same God had brought these two Christians together to make one of them still more aware that we have to do with One who hears and answers prayer; and probably to make both increasingly value the covering granted to every saved sinner—a covering such as the prodigal found awaiting him in the “best robe,” for there is a worse danger that we need to hide from than death of the body. Adam and Eve learned this when as sinners they were afraid to meet God, and so they hid themselves, or tried to do so.
Many years ago a school girl lay on her bed one night. A revival had been going on, and many of her companions had been saved and sheltered by the blood. This one was not sure whether she was or not; at all events she was very unhappy and felt that God’s eye was upon her, and that He could see her many sins. She could not hide them from Him, and she knew that she could not enter His holy presence if they were upon her.
“Where is the robe to cover,
And hide my sin from Thine eyes?”
A teacher came and sat beside her, and inquired what ailed her. When she found out, she gently whispered, “He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness” (Isa. 61:1010I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:10)). This was enough; the school girl saw (though perhaps we should not now choose that verse to teach it) that Christ was her righteousness, and that her many sins were covered up from God’s eye by Him—they are really, we know, blotted out, gone. When Christ, the Son of God, was on the cross, God laid our sins on Him (Isa. 53:66All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)), and He put them away forever, and then rose from the dead and went up into heaven without them. That night the girl knew that instead of seeing her sins, God saw Jesus, and she felt as if the garments of salvation were all around her.
“Then from the house of His treasures
God brought a robe most fair,
Such raiment of glory and beauty
No angel in heaven might wear.”
Yes, only sinners, sinners like the prodigal, can be covered with the “best robe,” and if you, dear reader, are weary and burdened with sins, you may now have the “garments,” the “robe” (Isa. 61:1010I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. (Isaiah 61:10)), which the Saviour died to purchase for you, and which will endure and hide you when others will be calling to rocks and mountains to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb. Oh, beware of putting it off.
“Plenteous grace with Thee is found,
Grace to cover all my sin;
Let the healing streams abound,
Make and keep me pure within.
Thou of life the Fountain art,
Freely let me take of Thee;
Spring Thou up within my heart,
Rise to all eternity.”
H. L. H.