AMID the dark recitals of sufferings and privations which have attended the great war in the Crimea, the Christian will turn to the biography of Captain Vicars as to a shining light in a dark wilderness. Hedley Shafto Johnstone Vicars, was, as we are told by his biographer, born in the Mauritius, on the 7th of December, 1826. His father, who was an officer in the Royal Engineers, lived only to see this son attain the age of twelve years; but in dying left him that precious legacy, a believing father’s prayer, “that he might be a good soldier of Jesus Christ, and so fight manfully under His banner, and glorify His holy name.” His mother, to whom Hedley Vicars owed an everlasting debt of gratitude, a debt which he always touchingly acknowledged, was obliged at an early period of his life to leave the Mauritius and return to England, on account of ill health; and hence to her for many years fell the entire guardianship of her children. Hedley Vicars’ boyhood was characterised by that high-spirited and energetic nature which religion so beautifully modulated in after years; and by that extreme tenderness and sweetness of disposition which, at all periods, so endeared him to his friends. A military life was early his choice; and he was from first to last an ardent lover of his profession, and devoted to his duties. In the spring of 1844 he began his career by joining the 97th regiment in the Isle of Wight; and, in the autumn of the same year, sailed with it to Corfu. At this period of his life he entered into all amusements which offered themselves; and his then reckless disposition led him into scenes and excesses which, though by the grace of God soon abandoned, were afterwards the subject of bitter and humiliating remembrance. In reference to this he writes in 1854:—”You will be spared poignant remorse in after years by remembering your Creator in the days of your youth. I speak from heart-felt experience. I would give worlds if I had them, to undo what I have done.”
The awakening of one whom God intended for a bright example to others was soon to come. In 1848, while the 97th was stationed at Jamaica, he incurred debts which, though not large, were such as he knew must be burdensome to his widowed mother. He writes thus to her:—”Ever since the receipt of your last letter I have been in a dreadful state of mind. I feel that I deserve God’s severest punishment for my undutiful conduct towards the fondest of mothers; but the excruciating thought had never before occurred to me that He might think fit to remove her from me. Oh, what agony I have endured! What sleepless nights I have passed since the perusal of that letter! The review of my past life, especially the retrospect of the last two years, has at last quite startled me, and at the same time disgusted me. You will now see the surest sign of repentance in my future conduct; and believe me, that never, as far as in me lies, shall another moment’s anxiety be caused you by your dutiful and now repentant son.” Five months later he writes:—”Mother, I ask your forgiveness for what has passed. You know not what real anguish some of your letters have caused me; and although I have tried to drown the voice of conscience, after reading them, a still small voice has always been whispering in my ear, and kept me from committing many a sin.”
A year from hence, and his letters show a longing for something higher than he had yet reached—a sense of sin before God, “sin worthy of eternal punishment,” and a desire to “enter on a state of preparedness for death and eternity.” But pardon and peace had not yet obtained, and he entreats his mother’s prayers that the Holy Spirit may be poured out on him. While undergoing many struggles, his regiment was ordered to Canada; and in the month of November, 1851, while awaiting the arrival of a brother officer in his room, and idly turning over the leaves of his Bible, the following words caught his eye: “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.” Closing the book, he said: “If this be true for me, henceforth I will live, by the grace of God, as a man should live who has been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ.” A sleepless but prayerful night passed. God answered those prayers; and in the morning he was enabled to believe that the message of peace was for him. From that time his Christian course was sealed. He writes:—”The past now is blotted out. What I have to do is to go forward. I cannot return to the sins from which My Saviour has cleansed me with His own blood.” That day he bought a large Bible and placed it open on the table of his sitting-room. “It was,” he said, “to speak for me, before I was strong enough to speak for myself.”
His former gay friends fell off, of course, and bitter was the opposition which he had to encounter. There were, however, a few brother officers who were walking with God, and from their society, and from that of Dr. Twining, garrison chaplain at Halifax, he derived great benefit. To the latter he frequently referred, as to his spiritual father; and a letter from Dr. Twining himself well attests the value he set on such a pupil. He grew rapidly in grace and knowledge, and his first labours were teaching Sabbath schools, visiting the sick, and using every opportunity to read and pray with the soldiers of the regiment. Even at this early period . . . . his great spiritual change had not diminished his activity in performing his temporal duties, the adjutancy of the regiment was offered him by his colonel, in the following words:—”Vicars, you are the man I can best trust with responsibility.”
The following letter was written to his brother shortly after this period:—”Let us pray earnestly for the Holy Spirit, and we shall not be sent empty away. Let us ask Him to show us the sinful state of our hearts. I have found comparatively little trouble in giving up external sins; but the innate sin of my heart, oh, how great it is! It is here the real battle must be fought; and the more humbling the sense of our vileness, the more we shall feel the need and value of a Saviour. We all have our temptations, and in scarcely any profession could they more beset the Christian beginner than in the army. But let us remember, whatever be our calling, God has promised that we shall not be tempted above that we are able to bear. Only let us feel that we are unable of ourselves to resist evil, or to do any thing good; let us look to Christ, and trust in him alone, and take up our cross and follow him. We must give up the pleasures of this world, for they unfit us for spiritual meditation; and although they may be hard to part with, as a right eye or right hand, there is no alternative if we wish to grow in grace. You will, perhaps, be surprised, as you read this letter, at the change which has come over me. Yes, I believe and feel that I am a changed man; that I have taken the important step of declaring on whose side I will be. Oh, that I could persuade you to enrol yourself with me on the side of Jesus Christ! As Newton says, ‘I know what the world can do, and what it cannot do. It cannot give or take away that peace of God which passeth all understanding.’ It cannot soothe the wounded conscience, nor enable us to meet death with comfort. I have tried both services. For twenty-four years have I lived under the thraldom of sin, led by the devil. None need despair of being welcomed by the Saviour, when He has pardoned and brought to repentance such a sinner as I have been. The retrospect of my past life is now miserable to me; yet before I was taught by the Spirit of God, I thought and called it a life of pleasure! The very name when applied to sin, now makes my heart sicken. Even then I never could enjoy recalling the occupations of each day; and think you my conscience was quiet? No; though again and again I stifled it, as too many do, bitter experience has taught me that there is no peace to the wicked! Blessed be God, I know that I am now pardoned and reconciled to God, through the death of His Son. How happy is the Christian’s life when he has this assurance! Do not think, dear Edward, that because I write thus, I wish you to think me very religious, or that I consider myself better than you. I do not. But I find more pleasure now in writing on these subjects than on any other; and I want to draw out your thoughts about them. If you have turned entirely to God, take my advice, and if you want to find true happiness, do so at once.”
(To be continued.)