03. FORE WORD

FORE WORD THE readers of these memoirs of the life of the saintly character known as Praying Hyde ’, one of God’s choicest gifts to His Church in India, will naturally be interested to learn the reason for their publication in their present form.

These reasons are not far to seek, they are threefold ; firstly, that God may be magnified in these fresh testimonies to His faithfulness, as the Prayer answering God ; secondly, that His people may be edified thereby, and encou­raged to enter into a fuller and more expectant Prayer-life ; and lastly, as a loving tribute and memorial to one who was greatly beloved in the land of his adoption, for whose people he lived and laboured on behalf of his Master, and for whom he literally laid down his life. Truly may it be said of him that He being dead yet speaketh ’, for his Christ-like life is still revered by the many whose lives he touched in India, and especially in the Punjab, the scene of most of his labours, where his name is treasured not as a memory only, but much more as au influence.

These Reminiscences are written by two of the late Mr. Hyde’s intimate friends, the first series by the Rev. J. Pengwern Jones of the Welsh Presbyterian Mission, the second and shorter series by the Rev. R. McCheyne Paterson of the Punjab. They were first issued month by month in the Remem-brancer, the prayer circular of the Bengal and Assam Prayer Union, of which Mr. Pengwern Jones is the editor. From their first appearance these memoirs have attracted an ever-deepening interest, both from the regular readers of the Remem-brancer, and also from those Christian friends to whom the issues containing them have been passed on. The results of their perusal have been so marked, so fraught with definite blessing and spiritual uplift, in convicting God’s people of the sin of Prayerlessness, in stimulating them to lay hold of His Prayer-promises with renewed faith and persevering courage, and in revealing to them the inmost secrets of intimate communion to which our Heavenly Father invites the fully-surrendered intercessor, that it was felt that such fruitful treasures were well worthy of a wider field, and that God would have them spread abroad for the benefit of His whole Church. With this purpose in view and in response to the many appeals which have reached him, Mr. Pengwern Jones has been led to decide upon the publication of the Reminiscences in a small volume, and to the writer was delegated their arrangement into a continuous and com­pact whole. Our chief merit for the task lay mainly in the fact that we had the necessary leisure to devote to it, which others more fitted for it lacked. Our duties have not proved onerous so far as the actual editing was concerned. No attempt has been made to rewrite the articles, they are given practically word for word as they originally appeared, in the form in which it has pleased God to bless them, and in which we believe He will continue to use them for His glory. The only work has been the arranging of the articles in chapters with such headings as seemed useful and suit­able. We felt that we were treading on holy ground, and that he of whom these pages speak lived upon a spiritual plane, to which few in this or indeed any generation have attained. To our own soul there has come—consequent upon the necessary reading and re-reading of these precious records in their arrangement for the Press—many valued thoughts and searching lessons, but, from among them all, one out­standing feature predominates and remains, please God never to depart, and probably it will be shared by all who read these pages. It is this :—that such a ’life with such results emanating from it, such effects due to so clearly set forth a cause, comes as a definite challenge, convincing and convicting, each of us, to pray more, yea to pray without ceasing’ ; for truly herein is God’s law of exchange shown to be effectual to the uttermost, give and it shall be given unto you ’.

Then how comforting it is ever to remember, that He who in His wondrous loving kindness designed that we should be the objects upon which He should lavish His love, also designed prayer as the means by which He could con­tinually have us in the attitude and the place for the reception of that love ; hath He not said, the prayer of the upright is His delight’? How blessed it is to feel that each time we come to Him whether in the sanctuary or in the street, that we are giving joy to our Father which is in Heaven, and are treading in the path of Him who suffered for us, leaving us an example that we should follow His steps ’. With the prayer that God may abundantly own this inspiring testimony to a fully-surren­dered life, it is sent forth upon what we trust will prove a true mission of Blessing and Spiritual Refreshment to all who read these pages. THE EDITOR.