Page:Memorials of Capt. Hedley Vicars, Ninety-seventh Regiment by Marsh, Catherine, 1818-1912.djvu/87

Rh was read by those to whom the name of Hedley Vicars had become so dear, may well be imagined. As his friends had been under the impression that he might be retained at Gibraltar, until he joined his regiment there, on his way to the East, it was an indescribable relief to them to find that he was again in England, and that they should see his face once more.

The following letters were written shortly after his return:

" — Thank you very much for your valued letter, which allected me not a little. We are as far as men can judge, on the eve of war; and I shall soon, perhaps, be engaged in all the horrors of battle. But even then, believe me, I shall ever remember with deepest gratitude the friend who has so often cheered and comforted my too cold and wavering heart.

"But there are some things in your letter which grieve me. Your heart is sorrowful. I have felt more than once that peculiar bitterness which your soul has so lately experienced, and I can therefore fully sympathize with you. When we have, as we fondly hoped, been blessed by God in bringing a fellow-sinner into the fold of Christ, and when that often prayed-for and yearned-over one has given many proofs which both to ourselves and to the world in which he moves, appear decisive, it goes to the heart's quick to see or hear of such turning his back on an over-looking and long-suffering Saviour, and going once more hand in hand with his bitterest enemy. It is not so much, perhaps, fear for the souls of those poor erring men which causes us that sickness and weariness of heart; for we know that when a man sins 'he has an advocate with the Father, even Jesus Christ the righteous; and do you not think that in praying for the backslider, we seem to