Catherine Marsh

“ It rejoices my heart to hear that you enjoyed so much of the presence of the Lord Jesus. When sickness is thus blessed, how earnestly can we say with David, 'It is good for me to have been afflicted;' I love the Lord for having brought me closer to Himself. God grant that when you are restored to health you may never forget the love of that blessed Saviour who was with you in the long hours of pain and weariness, when no earthly friend could help you. ”

“ The men who stormed the heights of Alma — who, in the dreadful fight of Inkermann, conquered again amidst fogs and darkness—who at Balaklava, "charged a whole army, while all the world wondered;"—such men had proved their steel. Yet there is a limit to human endurance; and when men of this mould have been seen to weep [1] as on night after night, succeeding days of starvation and toil, they were ordered to their work in the freezing trenches, who can estimate the exhausting misery they had first endured? ”

“ And, trusting in the same kind and loving Saviour, '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 ”

“ It is painful, often heartrending, to witness agony we cannot alleviate; to see the distorted face and hear the cry of anguish of friends and comrades. But it is sweet to be the bearer to them of glad tidings of joy and peace through the great Redeemer's atonement and love; and to see some of them gently falling asleep murmuring the life-restoring name of Jesus. I have seen these, and I cannot find words to tell the delight of hope which has then filled my breast. * * * The weather, which has been for three or four days fine and frosty, is now again damp and rainy ”

“ As we cleared the way, we passed a poor fellow of the 77th Regiment, lying on the bank, wounded in the shoulder, and soon after we encountered a sharp fire of musketry, and a spent bullet struck me in the left side, but without doing me the slightest harm, thank God. I offered up a short prayer of gratitude and praise to my Heavenly Father who had thus preserved me. We lined the trench without any casualty, but the weather was so bleak and cold that we were obliged to walk about to keep ourselves warm, regardless of the bullets which kept flying about our ears like bees. ”

“ Thank God, darling Georgie, to your dying day, that you have been early brought to the 'feet of Jesus.' I am fully convinced that none have ever sinned more than I have against the God and Saviour who died to redeem me ”

“ I feel it indeed a pleasure and privilege to talk to my sick comrades and fellow-sinners of Jesus; and I am sure that they who never visit the suffering and dying, deprive themselves of the deepest happiness this life affords. ”

“ I am so longing that every soldier, before he dies, should be told of Jesus, made acquainted with all He has done for him; for many, I fear, are grossly ignorant of the way of salvation. There are very few chaplains left in the Crimea now; even if they all returned in health, it would be impossible for them to reach half the spiritual wants of the army. A staff of Scripture readers would be invaluable to them — men who would devote themselves to their work night and day. ”

“ But this soldier-like letter does not close without an expression of his deeper feelings; "If, even now," he writes, after alluding to the distractions of the scenes around him, "when sin clings to us hour by hour, and the world with its passing interests so often obscures the pardoning cross from our eyes, we yet love the very name of Jesus, how much more in leaven shall our renewed natures rejoice when we behold the Lord of glory, and sit down in the mansions He has prepared for us! ”

“ They were so earnest to be read and talked to about Jesus Christ, and delighted in hearing of free pardon and salvation through the blood of His cross.
"Forty have just been sent to Balaklava Hospital, out of our tents; but we shall soon have their places filled, it this weather continues. I never saw the men of my regiment so eager for religious instruction as they are now. God grant them to be numbered among His saints in glory everlasting.
"How glad shall I be to see the Soldiers' Missionary, Duncan Matheson! It will refresh and cheer my soul. ”

“ 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 make it pure and fit, through the power of the Holy Ghost, to dwell hereafter with Christ, and to enjoy the holy pleasures of heaven. ”

“ I am for the trenches to-morrow morning at three o'clock (I shall be relieved at six o'clock in the evening.) I think more of the pouring rain, and standing in thick mud all the time, than of Russian grape and bullets; but, you see we must be content to have both! You will be sorry to hear that sickness is still prevalent; and I am afraid that this rain, which began again yesterday, after three days of fine weather, will fill the hospitals. Two officers and forty poor fellows were sent down to Balaklava yesterday for the recovery of their health. ”

“ The men of all the British regiments are dying in numbers every day, and many are buried without any funeral service. We are now, to mend matters, placed on half rations; but I never was much of an epicure, so I am quite contented with what they give me. Indeed, I have no patience with fellows who are always grumbling. Our hardships certainly are very great, but as soldiers we ought to bear them without a murmur. Many officers, I hear, are now resigning their commissions. ”

“ Through our telescopes we could see the Russians moving about like bees. Our lines are very extensive, and naturally strong, all the country around being hilly. I took a stroll into the country, and enjoyed the First Epistle to the Thessalonians, sitting in the dry bed of a mountain torrent. From the top of a mountain range covered with brushwood, I had a fine view of the cavalry encampment.
"In the afternoon I walked into Balaklava, a miserable place, the streets indescribably dirty. Many British, French, Turkish, and Tartar soldiers were moving about in all directions. ”

“ All his letters were written in the highest spirits on first landing in the Crimea. The "escape from a winter of being quietly shelved in the Piræus," as he expressed it, to the centre of the scene of action, the necessity for constant activity, and the calling forth to the uttermost of his early love of adventure, "dearer for danger" all combined to increase his buoyant tone. "It is no use doing things by halves," he wrote on the 22d. of December, "we must go at it hammer and tongs! The men are dispirited, naturally enough, by losing so many of their comrades from cholera. ”

“ 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. ”

“ I am sure drinking spirits is a bad plan, and, besides being injurious, makes a man colder than ever an hour afterwards. Each officer and man is allowed a gill of rum daily, but I never drink even the half of mine, often none at all. I went on picquet this morning at half-past four o'clock with fifty men; it rained hard for about an hour, the remainder of the night being fine. I kept up a jolly fire all through, and endeavoured to write a letter to darling mother, whilst seated opposite its blaze, but I could only get fitful gleams, bright enough to see to write, so I had soon to give up. ”

“ I was afterwards told that the Russians think nothing of firing shell and round-shot when they see even one of our fellows. This seems to me like a sportsman going out to shoot snipe with a rifle. The weather has been very stormy, and our poor men are dying fast from cholera, brought on by exposure and want of warm clothing. We have already buried about twenty-two in four days, and a great number are in hospital.
"The duty has been very severe in the trenches, distant about three miles from our camp. ”

“ I do not care in the least for fatigue and hardship myself, but it is sad and painful to lose one's comrades every day. Owing to the weather, we were unable to have Divine service to-day with the division, but several of us met together in the tent, and we shall again this evening, please God.
"On my return from the trenches last night, I found great comfort in reading the first chapter of the first Epistle of Peter, although as soon as I had finished it, I went off to sleep like a top! The other night the Russians made a sortie on the French advanced batteries ”

“ Indeed (though I say it, that should not) , I know they like me, and would do anything for me; and all officers who treat soldiers like men with the same feelings as their own, and take an interest in their welfare, find they do not see much insubordination nor want many courts-martial. ”

“ The selfish became more tenaciously selfish than before, whilst those who were capable of rising to the heights of self-denial, lived a life of daily heroism.
The reader will be prepared to hear that Hedley Vicars ranked amongst the last. ”