Last Sunday
I was unable to leave my tent, but I had happy communion with Jesus
in my solitude, and derived much pleasure from the fourteenth and
fifteenth of St. John. How true is the peace of mind that cleaving to
Christ brings to a man! There is nothing like it in this world."
Such was Hedley Vicars--a bright, loving, faithful Christian. He knew
what it was to be without peace; for having got into debt when he was
first in the army, and knowing the distress it caused his family at
home, his mind was so troubled that he wrote to his mother: "Oh, what
agony I have endured! What sleepless nights I have passed since the
perusal of that letter! The review of my past life, especially the
retrospect of the last two years, has at last quite startled me, and
at the same time disgusted me." And again: "Oh, that I had the last
two years allotted to me to live over again!"
His mother's letters stirred him to sorrow for past faults and desires
to live a new life. The sudden death of his fellow-officer, Lieut.
Bindon, made him realise the uncertainty of earthly things.
In November, 1851, whilst at Halifax, Nova Scotia, he was awaiting the
return of a brother-officer to his room, and idly turning over the
leaves of a Bible that was upon the table.
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