p. 8 (312) | Devotion to a Cause

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · May 20, 1913

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 40, No. 20.

Devotion to a Cause

THERE has been but little said for weeks about the difficulty in the Balkans. We suppose after the red-tape, diplomatic way, peace will be brought about and patched up. There is one little kingdom, however, that arouses the natural sympathy of the human heart, the one which began the war, and evidently the one which is getting the worst of it, and that is little Montenegro. She has been determined if possible to take the city of Scutari (taken after this note was written), and her army has manifested unsurpassed physical courage in the attempt. The city has been defended by brave Turks. In order that the top of the Tarabosh Hill, where is one of the strong fortresses, might be held, it was surrounded by a network of barbed wire. In order that that fort might be taken, those barbed wires must be cut at whatever cost of life. Volunteers were called for, and 300 men, representing every regiment, stepped forward to do and to die, because it meant nothing else than death. They had no armor or guns with them, no shield to defend them. The ascent was difficult, the hill steep. They could only take the implements of the ordinary workman, and must lay aside the musket and the

bayonet. And they did it, and against raking, fearful fire, unprotected, they climbed that hill, reached the wires, cut and pulled, and opened the way for the army that followed; but not a single one of them entered the breach and shared in the joy of the victory. All fell dead. They expected it; they knew it might and probably would come, when, selected out of those who volunteered, they stepped forward and offered their lives for the awful sacrifice.

When men will do and dare for a mere earthly cause, Christians ought to be willing to do it for a King and cause that are eternal. How few there are, tho, that are willing even to deny themselves the common, ordinary luxuries of life for the sake of the Master!