“IT seems kind," writes the vicar of Bradwell in a letter to his parishioners,” to believe that the circumstances of a soldier's or sailor's death might redeem his soul at the last moment, even if his life had been ungodly and wicked. It is natural for us to think that the utter self-sacrifice which they offer for their country should win for them eternal peace.
That God accepts and credits to every man, who falls in battle, The noble sacrifice he makes is beyond all doubt.”
If the thoughts to which the vicar gives expression are indeed true "beyond all doubt,” he should have based them on a more solid foundation than what "seems kind" and what “is natural for us to think." For things are not always what they seem. Do we not read of “a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death"? (Prov. 14:12.)
Now it is the writer's earnest desire, not to say things that merely seem kind, but to do a real kindness to any that may have been deceived by the vicar's words, to which wide publicity has been given in the columns of the Manchester Daily Dispatch. It is not an act of true kindness to conceal danger from those exposed thereto, or to prophesy smooth things merely to give pleasure to those concerned.
The vicar suggests that the soul, even of an ungodly and wicked man, may be redeemed by the circumstances of a soldier's or sailor's death. Not so do the Holy Scriptures teach. A death of self-sacrifice is referred to in 1 Cor. 13:33And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:3), where we read: "Though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing." According to the vicar's "kind" doctrine, a brutal German, turning from his deeds of violence and outrage to face a British or French attack, may win the redemption of his soul by being transfixed with a bayonet thrust! Or a British soldier or sailor dying in battle finds thereby a sure passport to heaven. Is this true?
We may ask, if any sacrifice on our part were adequate to procure our redemption, why should God have given up His Son to sacrifice Himself on our behalf? If the lesser sacrifice were sufficient, what need of the greater? If "eternal peace" can be gained by a life offered for one's country, where was the necessity for Christ to have “made peace by the blood of His cross"? (Col. 1:20.)
The truth is that sin is of such infinite seriousness, and the soul of man of such exceeding value, that no sacrifice but that of Christ, no blood but the precious blood that He shed for sinners, has atoning efficacy. As a well-known hymn puts it:
“Thy death, not mine, O Christ,
Has paid the ransom due;
Ten thousand deaths like mine
Would have been all too few.”
It is not true kindness to let brave men go to the battle front with the idea that if death overtakes them there they will, as a result, gain eternal peace. It is far kinder to warn them that they need Christ for their Savior, and that He is ready to save them even though, as the vicar says, their lives have been ungodly and wicked. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself said that He had not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Never yet has a sinner, turning to Him in faith and repentance, been repulsed. Never!
You dear men in the barrack-rooms, battleships, trenches, hospitals, and other places where this magazine is distributed, let me assure you that, whether in the vigor of life or in the hour of death, Christ stands ready to pardon and save you. His blood avails to cleanse away your sin. His sacrifice will be accepted by God as a full discharge for your indebtedness. In Him is your only hope. Do not be deluded with the idea that God will accept anything that you can do or suffer as an atonement for your soul.
The vicar of Bradwell may affirm, and say it is "beyond all doubt," that God will do this. But the vicar is only a fallible man, deceived and deceiving. Listen not to his voice, but to the words of God Himself. He tells us in the clearest language the way in which our souls may be redeemed:
“In Whom [namely, Christ] we have redemption TH ROUGH HIS BLOOD.” (Eph. 1:7.)
“The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin." (1 John 1:7.)
Since the present war began, thank God, many a man upon the blood-stained battlefields of France and Flanders has found in Christ the way of life and peace. Many a one can face death now with a courage unknown before, a courage born of the assurance that all is well with his soul because he has put his trust in Christ as his own personal Savior, and that his sins have been answered for by the blood that He shed at Calvary, and that God remembers them no more. (See Heb. 10:1717And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. (Hebrews 10:17).)
“Can you tell me something about God?" asked a dying soldier, after one of the fiercest attacks on the German trenches. His comrade, less severely wounded, pulled from his pocket a small Testament, bound in khaki, and read the golden words:
“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 3:16.)
It was enough. The dying man's face lit up with a satisfied smile. All was well with Him for eternity, not because he was dying the death of a hero in the service of his country, but because He trusted the Savior, who had died for him! H. P. B.