Page 79 - Neglected Arabia Vol 2

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NEGLECTED ARABIA 7

meeting to ask questions. He has more than once reminded me of the oc­
casion.
Why has he been taken from us? We simply do not know. He is just
one of the casualties of our history. Sixteen years ago we lost Sharon
Thoms as the result of an accident from which he djed in a few hours.
Sharon Thoms, too, left a widow and children. Last summer, my wife and
l listened to a sermon which made a deep impression on us. The text was
“There was silence in Heaven about the space of half un hour.'1 God can­
not always tell us the why and the wherefore, any mure than wc can ex­
plain to a child the reasons for some uction which to that child is little short
of heart-breaking. Wc tell the child that some day he will understand that
we have acted for the best. There are times when God in His inscrutable
wisdom keeps silence. These are the very times when we must trust Him
with the child-like faith he asks of us. Our hearts go out to the widow and
the four dear children and it seems as if we just cannot prevent that
.“Why?” from escaping our lips. Rebellion rises very close to the surface.
We are so blinded by our tears that we cannot see and are in danger of
stumbling and falling. Yet bereavement is one of the oldest experiences in
history. "Joseph is not and Simeon is not and ye will take Benjamin
away.” Can we measure the grief of the mother of our Lord when she
saw His head droop upon His breast and heard His cry, “It is finished.”
How useless and hopeless Christ’s death seemed to the little company that
witnessed the supreme tragedy of Golgotha! Yet, in part, we understand
that sacrifice today. We know now that Christ did not die in vain and by
that same token we may know that Henry Bilkert did not die in vain.
There is infinite comfort in the thought. The corn of wheat has died and
has fallen into the ground; henceforth it abideth not alone but shall bring
forth much fruit. Our one-time colleague is on the roll of honor with
those who by faith obtained a good report, men of glorious action, all of
them, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Gideon, Barak, Japhtha. He is in
the line of the prophets. He shares the fame of Raymond Lull and Henry
Martyn, of Ion Keith Falconer and J. C. Young, of Bishop French and
peter Zwemer, of George Stone and Harry Wiersum, of Sharon Thoms
and Marion Wells Thoms, of Jessie Vail Bennett and Christine Bennett. *, • •
t: » i ;
An exceedingly bright array. And they loved not their lives unto the
* death. Not one of these heroes could see the end from th<», beginning, but
believed as knowing Him who is invisible. The progress of the Church of
Jesus Christ has meant all through the ages the expenditure of noble lives,
but the example of the life laid down is still the most potent factor for good
in the hearts of men. When a man has given his life, he has given his all,
and as long as the world endures, men will be moved to their deepest
depths at the thought of a life surrendered in all the glory of youth, to the
call of a great ideal. “Greater love hath no man than4this, that a man- lay
down his life for his friends.” For the time being we-are perplexed but
we are not in despair. In the providence of God there can be no waste.
Our grief may be heavier than the sands of the sea but it will not over­
whelm us for God is with us even as we walk through the valley of the
shadow of death. The death of Henry Bilkert will be like some wondrou* • !
ray passing unseen across the earth but irresistibly finding sensitive human *
souls, transforming them for time and eternity. His name liveth for
evermore. • 1 .