Page:Memorials of Capt. Hedley Vicars, Ninety-seventh Regiment by Marsh, Catherine, 1818-1912.djvu/140

Rh Saviour rising above all other love, he could then write —

"Death is dreaded as a fearful thing to go through; but I think, with Jesus very near me, I could welcome it to-morrow. The prospect of meeting in a few hours that glorious Saviour, whose love we can never conceive here in all its magnitude, makes me long 'to depart and be with Christ.'"

By the beginning of September the cholera had disappeared from the Piræus. Only the 103d Psalm now seemed to furnish words warm enough for the language of his grateful heart. For a time he was cheered by the hope that the impression left by this visitation on the minds of a large number of his regiment was deep and effectual; but towards the close of that month, we find him thus writing —

"Whilst I see, and bless God for it, a great and visible change in many yet, alas! in numbers it grieves me to perceive that solemn impressions are vanishing like 'the morning cloud or early dew.' To some of those I have spoken; and if I chance to meet them when alone, they express sorrow and regret for their ingratitude to the God of all their mercies; and I believe they often mean (in a kind of way) what they say; but when several congregate together, each becomes afraid of what his comrade will think of him, until it seems to be the careful endeavour of all to appear as little serious as possible! But whilst I write this, I feel as bad myself; for, oh! what weak gratitude, what cold love have I too often felt, to that great Father who has preserved me through all the dangers which lately surrounded me, even from 'the pestilence that walked in darkness, and the destruction that wasted at noonday.'

"And then again, with regard to his infinitely greater love in sparing not His own Son, to obtain