Page:Memorials of Capt. Hedley Vicars, Ninety-seventh Regiment by Marsh, Catherine, 1818-1912.djvu/199

Rh you and Miss Maitland have sent! Give my love to her; and tell her what pleasure it gives me to give them away. Nearly every officer in the regiment has got one. I thought some would have declined, but they all accepted them most gladly. I went to the hospital and distributed several copies of that beautiful little book, 'Come to Jesus.' I gave one of Ryle's hymn-books to Longley, of the band, and another to Mortimer Lovell; and I am making a tour round the hospitals of other regiments, to carry cards of prayer for each. Thank your beloved sister for her supply of them and for her precious letter, which I hope to answer. And thank dearest Louie for her charming sketch of Beckenham Church and Rectory. How often have I, whilst looking at them, thought of the calm, heavenly hours I have enjoyed there.

Well, the time may soon arrive when I shall enjoy them again; when we shall take sweet counsel together, and walk to the house of God in company, and tell our fellow-sinners of pardon and peace through the atoning blood of a crucified Saviour.

"Oh! that the Lord God would come amongst us with a 'high hand and with a stretched-out arm;' that He would, by the mighty power of the Holy Ghost, change and soften the hard hearts of those who despise the riches of His grace, and who make a mock of sin whilst standing on the verge of eternity; that He would implant the rose of Sharon, in all its freshness and fulness, on the ground of every troubled sin-laden heart! I cannot but believe that many have died in peace and hope, for I have heard from the lips of several, in dying hours, that their only hope was through the mercy of Him who died on the cross. But it grieves me where I look around and see how few, very few, there are amongst the yet strong and healthy (who may, in a moment