Page:Memorials of Capt. Hedley Vicars, Ninety-seventh Regiment by Marsh, Catherine, 1818-1912.djvu/176

Rh viour, 'mighty to save,' you too, dearest Georgie, can draw near with confidence, for 'the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin,' and an answer of peace you must and shall receive, for 'The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him.' Your prayers may appear at times to be no prayer at all, and at other seasons you may be tormented with vain and wandering thoughts; your faith weak and wavering; but, dearest sister, what then? Every Christian has to endure trials of this kind; the promise is sure, 'He giveth power to the faint.' 'They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.' In times of trouble, when everything seemed to be going against me, I have yet found the cross of Jesus a sure refuge. What think you is it that sustains and supports me now, in the midst of all I have to endure, and with the knowledge that at any moment I may be summoned into the presence of God? Surely nothing but faith in a living Saviour. 'I know that Jesus died and rose again,' and that He has made, what I never could have done myself, full atonement and satisfaction for sins. What then have I to fear?

"When I take mine eyes from the crucified Saviour, I tremble, and am without hope. Any other stay will prove but a bruised reed. I have had to endure something of the reproach of the cross, as in short, all must and will, who follow the Lord Jesus Christ. But I feel sure this moment, whilst I write, if I had not been given a firm persuasion in my heart and mind of the sufferings once endured by Jesus on Calvary, and by Divine grace been led to behold Him as the Lamb of God, the Saviour of sinners, and therefore of myself, I should long ere this have been the same, if not worse than in former years.

"Your outward forms of religion, whether in the shape of Popery or Tractarianism, may change the visible conduct of a man, but only a dying Saviour received into the heart can ever change the soul, and