Part 21 (1/2)
In 1831, when Simeon was seventy-two years old, he preached his last sermon before the university The place was crowded The heads of houses, the doctors, the raduates, the towns on his words and listened with the deepest reverence
His closing days were singularly bright and happy Three weeks before his death a friend, seeing him look more than usually cal of
”I don't think now,” he answered brightly; ”I enjoy”
At another tiathered round him
”You want to see,” he re scene That I abhor I wish to be alone withthose watching beside hi been closed for some hours But suddenly he reo and look in the first chapter of Ephesians from the third to the fourteenth verse; there you will see what I a now”
On Sunday, 13th Noveether the worshi+ppers to service he passed away He had accepted an invitation to preach a course of four sermons, and would have delivered the second of the course on that very afternoon I am permitted, by the kindness of the Rev HCG Moule, fro sketch has been coe froht I should behold such a day as this?”
wrote Simeon ”My parish sweetly har in twenty-one volue of seventy-three But I love the valley of humiliation”
In that last sentence, perhaps, lies the secret of theinfluence
A SOLDIER MISSIONARY
THE STORY OF HEDLEY VICARS
It was the 22nd March, 1855, just outside Sebastopol The night was dark and gusty Close to the Russian entrenchments was an advanced post of the British forces, commanded by Captain Hedley Vicars
Fifteen thousand Russians under cover of the gloom had come out from Sebastopol and driven our French allies out of their advanced trenches Then a portion of this force stealthily advanced, seeking to take the British by surprise
The first to discover the presence of the enement he made his men lie down till the Russians ithin twenty paces Then, springing to his feet, he shouted:--
”Now, 97th, on your pins and charge!”
His force was about 200, that of the enemy nearly 2000! Wounded in the breast at the first onset, he still led the charge ”Men of the 97th, followthe parapet of the entrenched the enemy down the ravine
”This way, 97th!” was his last command--still at the head of his men His sword had already dealt with two of the foe, and was again uplifted, when a musket shot, fired at close quarters, severed an artery; and the work on earth of this gallant man was over
Hedley Vicars was a true soldier and earnest Christian The last words he wrote, penned the night before he died, were: ”I spent the evening with Cay I read Isaiah, xli; and he prayed We walked together during the day, and exchanged our thoughts about Jesus”
He spent a busy ti plenty of hard work in the trenches; and when off duty engaged in hospital visiting, tract and book distributing, attending prayer , and always endeavouring to do good to others
Here is an entry from his diary on the 4th March, 1855: ”Sunday Had Divine service in caether in a tent All present Then sat on a regimental board, after which I went to the Guards' camp for Cay; and we then went, laden with tracts, books and prayers, to the re hospitals of the Second Division, where we distributed all we had Had service in our hospital tent on my return, and prayed with one of the sick, particularly, who asked me to do so I spoke to him of and directed hiain in the eveningOh, what a happy day this has been! I et ready for the trenches”
[Illustration: HEDLEY VICARS LEADING THE 97TH]
On 12th January he wrote: ”I have just returned fro co 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 oflike it in this world”