The highest visible form of Christian life is self-denial for the good of others.
AN AGED PILGRIM'S HISTORY.
An aged pilgrim of seventy-two years, recently made a pensioner of our Society, has lately come under our notice, and as an example of courageous faith, it may interest our readers and others to know something of this poor old man.
Having faithfully served our country for fourteen years as a soldier in the 14th Light Dragoons, and having been severely wounded during the Crimean War, in which he served in all the special engagements, he was paid off as unfit for further service, receiving a pension for only ten years, as he was unable to complete the full term of service (twenty-one years) which would have entitled him to a pension for life.
After leaving the army he worked as a labourer, whenever he could find employment, and was brought to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ about twenty years ago, after which he was soon engaged in carrying heavy loads at Cotton's Wharf, in Tooley Street, London.
After seventeen years of this work, he one day, unhappily, stumbled whilst carrying a load, and fell backwards some distance, the back of his head being split open. This brought about paralysis on the left side, and some two years afterwards it resulted in the loss of his sight. For three years he has been stone blind, and has suffered at times most acutely from pain in the head; but his indomitable energy, and strong faith in his "dear Heavenly Father," have kept him from falling to the level of a pauper; and rather than gravitate to the condition of an inmate of one of our Unions, he has bravely endeavoured to make a living by playing a musical instrument in the streets.
To add to his affliction, his wife, in 1883, was run over in the streets of London, and died in an hospital under amputation of both legs. Thus, left without relation or friend, this poor blind man had to face this cold and unheeding world alone; and yet he is never alone, for his faith is so bright that he goes out, walking long distances, trusting to God to preserve him in his way.