True Words for Brave Men
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Charles Kingsley >> True Words for Brave Men
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"_What_, _with all this guilty conscience_, _this load of sins against
myself_, _my neighbours_, _my children_, _my masters_, _my servants_, _on
my back_!"
Yes, bring them all, and say in the words of the Communion Service: "I do
earnestly repent, and am heartily sorry for these, my misdoings; the
remembrance of them is grievous unto me; the burden of them is
intolerable." Why, for whom were these words written, but for you who
feel that the burden of your sins is intolerable. They are there, not
for those who feel no burden of sin, but for you--for you, and for those
like you who feel the burden of your sins unbearable.
"_But how shall I dare to come to the Lord's table before I am sure that
my sins are forgiven_?"
Come and you will hear your minister pray God to pardon and deliver you
from all for Christ's sake. You will hear him read God's promises of
free grace and mercy through Jesus Christ to all who truly repent.
"_But I cannot trust your prayers or words_, _or any man's_. _I want a
sign that I have a share in Christ's death and merits_."
Then, that bread and wine is a sign. Jesus Himself ordained them for a
sign. He Himself, with His dying voice declared that that bread was His
body, that cup the new covenant in His blood. St. Paul declares that it
is the communion, the sharing of Christ's body, that cup the sharing of
His blood. What more sign do you want? Come and claim your share in
Christ, and see if He disappoints you.
"_Ah_! _I believe_," _says the poor man_, "_I believe_, _but I am
afraid_, _afraid of partaking unworthily_, _and so provoking God_, _as
the Prayer-book says to plague me with divers diseases and sundry kinds
of death_."
My Friend, if God was the devil, you might be afraid indeed. But He is
the loving, righteous Father, who knows your weakness, and remembers that
you are but dust. Can you not trust Him to pardon your mistakes about
the Sacrament, which you do not wilfully intend to commit, when He has
borne with, and pardoned all the sins from your youth up until now, which
you have wilfully committed? Surely, you may trust Him in such a thing
as this,--He who has had long-suffering enough to keep you alive, with a
chance of salvation all this time? and as for sundry diseases, _have_ you
avoided them? You have certainly not avoided them, at least, by staying
away from the Sacrament, and breaking Christ's command to take it? If
you are so afraid of God's anger, are you more likely to provoke Him by
disobeying His strict commands, or by obeying them? It needs no
philosopher, my friend, to find out that.
"_But I shall have to make good resolutions_," _says the sinner_, "_and I
am afraid of breaking them_."
Well, if you break them, you can but make them again. You would call him
a fool who determined never to walk, because he was afraid of falling.
But you are to claim in that Sacrament your share of Christ's Spirit,
Christ's life, and Christ's strength, which is just what you want to
enable you to keep your good resolutions. You will be no stronger, no
more righteous of yourself after the Sacrament than before. Your spirit
will still be a poor weak sinful spirit, but you will have claimed your
share in God's strength, God's righteousness, God's Spirit, and _they_
will make you love the good you hated, and hate the evil you loved. They
will make you strong to do God's will whatever it may cost you. Oh
believe the good news, and show that you believe by coming to Christ. He,
the Blessed One, died for you. For you He was born and walked this
earth, a poor suffering, tempted, sorrow-stricken man. For you He hung
upon the shameful cross. For you He ascended up on high. For you He
sent down His Spirit. For you He sits at the right hand of God, praying
for you at this moment. For you He gave the signs of His body and His
blood, that you might believe, and fall on your knees and cry, "In spite
of all, I am forgiven. In spite of all, God cares for me. In spite of
all, I have a Father and a Saviour who will never leave me, nor forsake
me, wretch as I have been, till they make a man of me again, in this
world, and for ever!" Oh! come, my dear, dear friends. I would give my
right hand this moment, if I could but see each and every one of you
shewing the truth of your repentance by coming to Holy Communion. Let
this be a day of repentance, and shew it thus, and say, "We do not come
to this, Thy table, O Lord, trusting in our own righteousness, but in Thy
manifold and great mercy. We are not worthy to gather up the crumbs
under Thy table, but Thou art the same Lord whose property is always to
have mercy."
Let this be a day of thanksgiving, too, and shew your thankfulness by
coming to Holy Communion, and lifting up your voices, once for all, at
that table, and saying:--
"We bless Thee, we praise Thee, we glorify Thee, we give thanks to Thee
for Thy great glory." These are the words for you this day. Oh! do not
turn away. All your distress, all your sorrows have come from your not
having faith in God. Break at once the accursed charm with which the
devil has enchanted you. Have faith enough to come to God's holy table,
and see if God does not reward you by giving you faith enough to conquer
yourselves, and lead new lives like redeemed men in the sunshine of His
smile, henceforth and forever!
My friends, what more can I say, except once and again, Come ye who
labour and are heavy laden, and Christ will give you rest!
Ay, and He will. I speak only what I know--what I have felt. But before
He will give you rest, be you rich or poor, young or old, you must learn
to say those simple words (they are the best and only preparation for
it), "God be merciful to me a sinner." Say them then from your heart,
and so come to the Lord's Supper.
A PRAYER.
"O God and Saviour, Thou hast blest me, and I have cursed myself. Thou
didst die to deliver me from the curse of sin, and I have brought it back
on myself by my own folly. Thou livest for ever to make me _good_, and
I, ungrateful and foolish, have made myself _bad_. In spite of my
ingratitude, in spite of my folly, take me back into Thy service. I
trust utterly in Thy unchangeable goodness and mercy. I trust that Thy
blood will still wash away the past, that Thy spirit will still give me a
clean heart and a right spirit. I believe that though I have cursed
myself, yet Thou wilt still bless me; for Thou wiliest nought but the
good of every creature Thou hast made. God be merciful to me a sinner!"
Amen.
PART II.
I. BRAVE WORDS FOR BRAVE SOLDIERS AND SAILORS. {199}
My friends,--I speak to you simply as brave men. I speak alike to Roman
Catholic and Protestant. I speak alike to godly men and ungodly. I
speak alike to soldiers and sailors. . . . If you are _brave_, read these
words. I call these _brave_ words. They are not my _own_ words, or my
own message, but the message to you of the bravest man who ever lived, or
who ever will live, and if you will read them and think over them, He
will not _make_ you brave (for that, thank God, you are already), but
_keep_ you brave, come victory or defeat. I speak to the brave men who
have now fought three bloody battles, and fought them like heroes. All
England has blessed you, and admired you; all England has felt for you in
a way that would do your hearts good to see. For you know as well as I,
that nothing is so comforting, nothing so endearing, as sympathy, as _to
know that people feel for one_. If one knows that, one can dare and do
anything. If one feels that nobody cares for one's suffering or one's
success, one is ready to lie down and die. It is so with a horse or a
dog even. If there is any noble spirit in them, a word of encouragement
will make them go till they drop. How much more will the spirit of a
_man_? I can well believe that the Queen's beautiful letter put more
heart into you, than the hope of all the prize money in the world would
have done; and that with the words of that letter ringing in your ears,
you will prove true to the last, to the words of the grand old song--
"Hearts of oak are our ships, hearts of oak are our men,
And we'll fight, and we'll conquer again, and again."
But, my friends, you know as well as I, that there are times when neither
that letter, nor the feeling of duty, nor of honour, nor of glory, can
keep your hearts from sinking. Not in battle! No. Only cowards' hearts
fail them there; and there are no cowards among you. But even a brave
man's heart may fail him at whiles, when, instead of the enemy's balls
and bayonets, he has to face delay, and disappointment, and fatigue, and
sickness, and hunger, and cold, and nakedness; as you have, my brave
brothers, and faced them as well as man ever did on earth. Ah! it must
be fearful work to _sit still_, and shiver and starve in a foreign land,
and to think of those who are in comfort and plenty at home; and worse,
to think of those, who, even if they are in plenty, cannot be in comfort,
because their hearts are breaking for your sake; to think of brother and
sister, wife and child, while you are pacing up and down those dreary
trenches, waiting for your turn of sickness, perhaps of death. It must
be bitter and disheartening at times; you would not be men, if it was
not. One minute, perhaps, you remember that those whom you have left at
home, love you and pray for you; and that cheers you; then you remember
that all England loves you, and prays for you in every church throughout
the land; and that cheers you; but even that is not enough, you feel
ready to say, "What is the use of my going through all this misery? Why
am I not at home ploughing the ground, or keeping a shop, anything rather
than throwing away my life by inches thus. My people at home feel for
me, but they cannot know, they never will know, the half of what I have
gone through. The nation will provide for me if I am crippled, but they
cannot make up to me for losing the best years of my life in such work as
this; and, if I am killed, can they make up to me for that? Who can make
up to me for my life?"
Have you not had such thoughts, my friends, and sadder thoughts still
lately? You need not be ashamed of them if you have. For hard work you
have had, and it must have told at times on your spirits as heavily as it
has on your bodies.
But, my friends, there is an answer for these sad thoughts. There are
brave words for you, and a noble message from God, which will cheer you
when nothing else can cheer you. If your own people cannot know all that
you go through, there is One who can and does; if your own wives and
mothers cannot feel enough for you, there is One above who does, and He
is the Lord Jesus Christ. You have hungered; so has He. You have been
weary; so has He. You have felt cold and nakedness; so has He. You have
been houseless and sleepless, so has He. While the foxes had holes, and
the birds of the air had nests, He, the maker of them all, had not where
to lay His head. You have felt the misery of loneliness and desolation;
but never so much as did He, when not only every earthly friend forsook
Him and fled, but He cried out in His very death pangs, "My God, my God,
why hast Thou forsaken me?"
Above all, you have felt how difficult it was to die, not fighting sword
in hand, but slowly and idly, and helplessly, by cholera or fever, hunger
or cold. Terrible it is; but the Lord Jesus Christ has felt that too.
For three years He looked death in the face--a death of shame and misery
such as you can never die--and faced it, and gave Himself up to it of His
own free will; and though He had the most horrible fear of it to the very
last, He determined to submit to it, in spite of His own fear of it; and
He did submit to it, and died, and so _showed_, _even in His very fear_,
_the most perfect and glorious courage_. So if any one of you has ever
felt for a single moment _afraid_; even in _that_, the Lord Jesus Christ
can feel for you; for He, too, has gone through the agony of fear, when
His sweat was as great drops of blood falling to the ground, that He
might be able to help you, and every man that is tempted, because He can
be touched with the feeling of your infirmities, having gone through
every temptation which flesh is heir to, and conquered them all.
This, then, is one half (and only one half) of my good news; that you
have a Friend in heaven who feels for every trouble of yours, better than
your own mothers can feel for you, because He has been through it all
already; you have a Friend in heaven who is praying for you day and
night, more earnestly, lovingly, wisely, than your own wives and children
are praying for you. But that is not all. God forbid! You have a
Friend in heaven, for whose sake God will forgive you all your sins and
weaknesses, as often as you heartily confess them to Him, and trust in
Him for a full and free pardon. You have a Friend in heaven who will
help you day by day, where you most need help, in your hearts and
spirits; who will give you, if you ask Him, _His Spirit_, the same spirit
of duty, courage, endurance, love, self-sacrifice, which made Him brave
to endure ten thousand times more than any soldier or sailor can endure,
for the sake of doing His Father's will, and saving a ruined world.
Oh! open your hearts to Him, my brave men, in your lonely
night-watches--on your sick beds; ay, in the very roar of battle itself,
ask Him to make you true and good, patient, calm, prudent, honourable,
obedient, gentle, even in the hottest of the fight. Commit to Him your
own lives and fortunes, and the lives and fortunes of those who have been
left at home, and be sure that He, your Unseen Friend of friends, is able
and willing to help to the uttermost all that you put into His charge.
But, again, my men, if the nation cannot reward you for sacrificing your
life in a just war, there is One above who can, and who will, too; for He
is as just as He is loving, and as loving as He is just, and that is the
same of whom I have spoken already, the Lord Jesus Christ.
I think some of you will fancy this almost too good news to be true, and
yet the very news which you want to hear. I think some of you have been
saying as you read this, "All this is blessed and comforting news for
poor fellows lying wounded in a hospital, or fretting their souls away
about the wives and children they have left behind; blessed and
comforting news; but we want something more than that even. We have to
fight and to kill; we want to be sure that God's blessing is on our
fighting and our killing; we have to go into battle; and we want to know
that there, too, we are doing God's work, and to be sure that God is on
our side."
Well, my brave men, _Be sure of it then_! Be sure that God's blessing is
as much upon you; be sure that you are doing God's work, as much when you
are handling a musket or laying a gun in your country's battles, as when
you are bearing frost and hunger in the trenches, and pain and weakness
on a sick bed.
For the Lord Jesus Christ is not only the _Prince of Peace_; He is the
_Prince of War_ too. He is the Lord of Hosts, the God of armies; and
whosoever fights in a just war, against tyrants and oppressors, he is
fighting on Christ's side, and Christ is fighting on his side; Christ is
his Captain and his Leader, and he can be in no better service. Be sure
of it; for the Bible tells you so. The old wars of Abraham against the
robber-kings; of Joshua against the Canaanites; of David against the
Philistines; of Hezekiah against the Assyrians; of the Maccabees against
the Greeks--all tell the soldier the same brave news, that he is doing
God's work, and that God's blessing is on him, when he fights in a just
cause. And you are fighting in a just cause, if you are fighting for
freedom and law. If to you God gives the noble work of fighting for the
liberty of Europe, God will reward you according as you do that work like
men. You will be fighting in that everlasting war which is in heaven; in
God's everlasting war against all injustice and wrong, the Captain and
Leader whereof is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. Believe that--for the
Bible tells it you. You must think of the Lord Jesus Christ, not merely
as a sufferer, but as a warrior; not merely as the Man of Sorrows
(blessed as that thought is), but as the Lord of Hosts--the God of
armies--the King who executes justice and judgment in the earth, who has
sworn vengeance against all unrighteousness and wrong, and will destroy
the wicked with the breath of His mouth. You must think of Him as the
God of the fatherless and the widow; but you must think of Him, too, as
the God of the sailor and the soldier, the God of duty, the God of
justice, the God of vengeance, the God to whom _your colours were
solemnly offered_, and _His blessing on them prayed for_, when they were
given to your regiment.
I know that you would follow those colours into the mouth of the pit,
that you would die twice over sooner than let them be taken. Good! but
remember, too, that those colours are a sign to you that Christ is with
you, ready to give you courage, coolness, and right judgment, in the
charge and in the death grapple, just as much as He is with those
ministering angels who will nurse and tend your wounds in hospital. God's
blessing is on them; but do you never forget that your colours are a sign
to you that Christ's blessing is on _you_. If they do not mean that to
you, what was the use of blessing them with prayer? It must have been a
lie and a sham. But it is no lie, brave men, and no sham; it is a
glorious truth, of which those noble rags, inscribed with noble names of
victory, should remind you every day and every hour, that he who fights
for Queen and country in a just cause, is fighting not only in the
Queen's army, but in Christ's army, and that he shall in no wise lose his
reward.
Are not these brave words for brave soldiers? Well: they are not mine;
they are the Bible's. The book of Revelation tells us how St. John saw a
vision of the Lord Jesus Christ, and of His everlasting war against
wrong, of which I spoke just now. And what did the Lord appear like?
"_And I saw heaven opened_, _and behold a white horse_; _and he that sat
upon him is called Faithful and True_, _and in righteousness He doth
judge and make war_. _And His eyes were as a flame of fire_; _and He was
clothed in a garment dipped in blood_; _and His name is called the Word
of God_. _And the armies in heaven followed Him_, _riding upon white
horses_, _clothed in fine linen_, _white and clean_. _And out of His
mouth goeth a sharp sword_, _that He should smite the nations_; _and He
shall rule them with a rod of iron_; _and He treadeth the winepress of
the fierceness and of the wrath of almighty God_" (Rev. xix. 11).
Are not these brave words, my friends? Are not these soldier-like words?
Is not this a general worth following? Is not this a charge of cavalry
worth sharing in? Then believe that that general, the Lord Jesus Christ,
is your general. Believe that you are sharing in that everlasting
charge, to which the glorious charge of Balaclava was as nothing; the
everlasting war which the Lord Jesus wages against all sin, and cruelty,
and wrong--in which He will never draw bridle-rein, or sheath His sword,
till He has put all enemies under His feet, and swept all oppression,
injustice, and wickedness off the face of the earth which God has given
Him.
Therefore I can say to you other brave words, my friends (and not my own,
but the words of the same Lord Jesus Christ):--"Fear not them that can
kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will
forewarn you whom you shall fear; fear him who after he has killed has
power to destroy both body and soul in hell."
Now all England knows already that you do not fear those who can kill the
body; but I sometimes fear that some of you are not enough afraid of that
enemy worst of all, who can kill the soul too. And who is that? St.
Paul tells us. He is "the devil, who has the power of death," who lies
in ambuscade to destroy your body and soul in hell; and will and can do
it; _but only if you let him_. Now who is the devil? It is worth your
while to know; for many a man may be, as you are, in the ranks of God's
army, and yet doing the devil's work all the while. Many a man may fancy
himself a good soldier, and forget that a soldier is a man, and something
more; and that therefore, before you can be a good soldier, you must
first be more or less of a good man. Do you think not? Look then, and
see whether the most upright and god-fearing men in your ranks are not in
the long run the best soldiers. I don't mean merely the best
_fighters_--the bravest men in battle. There goes more than mere bull-
dog pluck to the making of a soldier; and to make a good soldier, I hold
that a man, though he be afraid of nothing else, must be horribly afraid
of the devil, and _that the better and braver soldier he is_, _the more
afraid of the devil he will be_.
Of course that depends upon who the devil is. I will tell you. He is
what his name means, _the accuser and the divider_--the evil spirit who
sets men against each other--men against officers, and officers against
men; who sets men grumbling, puts hard suspicious thoughts into their
minds; makes them selfish and forgetful of their duty, tempts them to
care only for themselves, and help themselves. You must see that if
those tempers once got head in an army, there would be an end of all
discipline--of all obedience; and what is more, of all courage; for if
the devil could completely persuade every man to care only for himself,
the plain thing for every man to do, would be to turn round and run for
his life. That you will never do; but you may give way to the devil in
lesser matters, and so do God's work ill, and lose your own reward from
God. All grumbling, and hard speeches, and tale-bearing is doing the
devil's work. All disorder and laziness is doing the devil's work. All
cruelty and brutality is doing the devil's work.
Now as to cruelty and brutality, some soldiers fancy when towns are taken
in war, that they may do things for which (to speak the truth) _they
ought to be hanged_. I mean in plain English, ravishing the women, and
ill-treating unarmed men, to make them give up their money. _Whosoever
does these things_, _God's curse is on him_, and his sin will surely find
him out. No excuse of being in hot blood will avail him. No excuse of
having fought well beforehand will avail him. Such cant will no more
excuse him with God than it will with truly noble-minded men. He may
have been brave enough before, but he is doing a coward's deed then; he
is doing the devil's work, _and the devil_, _and not God_, _will pay him
his wages_, _to the uttermost farthing_. But though I tell you to fear
the devil, it is only to fear his getting the command over you. The
devil is a liar, and a liar is always a coward. Be brave in God's
service. "Resist the devil and he will flee from you."
One word more. If any of you are maddened by hearing of the enemy
murdering some of your wounded--recollect that _revenge_ is one of the
devil's works, of which the brave men cannot be too much afraid. God
forbid that you should ever be maddened into imitating such cruelty.
Fight the enemy in God's name--and strike home; but never have on your
conscience the thought that you struck _an unnecessary blow_. _You are
to kill for the sake of victory_, _but never to kill for the sake of
killing_. You know who it was who prayed for and excused His own
murderers as He hung upon the cross. "Father, forgive them, for they
know not what they do." That was the same Lord Jesus who, as I told you,
is the great Warrior against all wrong. If He was not ashamed to
forgive, do you not be ashamed either. You cannot be more brave than He
is; try, at least, to be merciful like Him. Overcome evil with good; by
returning good for evil you will not only help England's cause by
softening the hearts of your enemies, but you will preach Christ's gospel
to them--and in nowise lose your reward.
Remember then, always, our Lord Jesus Christ is the pattern of a perfect
warrior, whether by land or sea; and if you be like Him, and fighting
_not only on His side_, _but as He likes to see you fight_, that is,
righteously and mercifully against the tyrants of the earth--what harm
can happen to you? Be sure that whether you live, you will live to Him;
or whether you die, you die to Him; that living or dying you will be His;
and that He is merciful (the Bible says) in this, that He rewards every
man according to his work. Do you your work like men, and be sure that
the Lord Jesus Christ will see that you are right well paid, if not in
this life, still in that life to come, to which may He bring you and all
brave men, who will strive to do their duty in that station of life to
which God has called them.
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