We walked in a strange, calm silence to the widow's cottage, and then as we parted she turned to me a face filled with heavenly peace—"My dear boy lives," she said.
III. MAIMED OR PERFECTED?
"Now no chastening for the present seemeth
to be joyous but grievous: nevertheless, afterward,
it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness
unto them which are exercised thereby."
—HEBREWS xii:11.
"Six months passed within the danger zone, produces a subtle but marked change. Bright lads become men, who bear all the marks of having passed through a solemn purification by fire. And the subtle influence, as thus depicted, is communicated to us.... To say that the horrors of war have subdued and overawed them is but part of the explanation. It seems nearer to the truth to add, that these harrowing experiences, whatever they may have been, have only helped to make our young men susceptible to spiritual influences of the highest quality. In fine, they have been following in the footsteps of Him who is The Great Sacrifice, and even amid the bursting shells have caught a glimpse of wounds that transform and consecrate their own."
—The Great Sacrifices, JOHN ADAMS.
MAIMED OR PERFECTED?
My heart grew bitter in me when the news came of Harry's operation. I had been half relieved when I heard that he was wounded, and that the wound was not dangerous. For the grim alternative was seldom out of my thoughts, and at least his dear life was safe. Now I was crushed by the brave, pathetic letter in which he told me that his right leg had been amputated, and that he was lucky to get off so easily. That made me rebellious and very, very bitter. And it was against God that I felt worst—God who had allowed this unthinkable thing to be.