17. Review At Aldershot

Review at Aldershot

"Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth."—Psalms 60:4.

"Terrible as an army with banners "—Song of Solomon 6:4. The "Daily News" of May 14, in its report of the Review at Aldershot before the Queen, mentions—"The 49th, whose colour-party bore the tattered green flag that floated on the heights of Alma and over the trenches in front of Sebastopol, and served as a rallying point amid the mists of Inkernian; and the gallant 52nd, whose history has been untarnished from the first campaign in Hindostan, through all the Peninsular wars, beginning at Yimiera and ending at Waterloo, down to the conquest of Delhi." Soldiers appear to have an almost religious attachment to the colours of the regiment, and the more tattered they become the more they value them; and well they may, for they are in fact the materialised history of the host. They tell of the cruel rain of shot and shell, the dust and smoke of the conflict, and the battle, "with confused noise, and garments rolled in blood,"—terrible records truly, but as long as there are warriors, and courage in fight is valued, banners and standards must always be prized. The sacramental host of God's elect bears the standard of the truth, and has borne it these thousands of years, and the truth has become endeared to every soldier of the cross by all the conflicts through which we have borne it. Heresies and scepticisms have raged around the banner, but from the first campaign even until now it has gone on from victory to victory. The very thought of it stirs enthusiasm in the hearts of the warriors of Christ. Shall we ever desert it? Shall we suffer it to be trailed in the mire? God forbid. We will uplift it, and display it in the face of the enemy until the last great battle shall be fought, and we shall hear the triumphant shout, " Hallelujah! hallelujah! the Lord God omnipotent reigneth."

It has of late been proposed that the army of Christ should march without its banner, or that all the banners of philosophic sceptics should be stitched together and uplifted in its place. To this we solemnly demur. We will march under the old ensign; of the new ones we know nothing, except that they will lead us to defeat. Faith has won all her victories under the standard of revelation, and she expects to win all her future glory under the same unaltered and unalterable flag. Let others do as they will; as for us, the old, old gospel shall be our rallying point amid the mists of modern thought, and we hope to bear it from land to land throughout the whole campaign of this dispensation, till we shall see it borne; aloft at the coronation festival of our triumphant Lord.

"Stand up, stand up for Jesus, Ye soldiers of the cross;

Lift high his royal banner, It must not suffer loss. From victory unto victory His army shall he lead, Till every foe is vanquish'd, And Christ is Lord indeed."