679 India: MEEK (R.) MEMORIALS OF ENSIGN 
 CHEEK, 6th Native Bengal 
 murder- 1 " atAllahkbad,' 
 
 12mo, M jg-j 
 
 rtrt ^ - . J? _ /-H ,. lOQ / 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 

 
 THE MARTYR OF ALLAHABAD.
 
 V 
 
 * 
 
 - 
 
 :-
 
 V 
 THE MAETYR OF ALLAHABAD. 
 
 MEMORIALS 
 
 OF 
 
 ENSIGN ARTHUR MARCUS HILL CHEEK, 
 
 MURDERED BY THE SEPOYS AT ALLAHABAD. 
 
 BY 
 
 THE REV. ROBERT JHEEK, M.A., 
 
 KECTOB OP BUTTON BONNINGTON, NOTTS; 
 
 AUTHOR OF " THE MUTUAL RECOGNITION OP OLOEIFIED SAINTS,' 
 
 "HEAVENLY THINGS," ETC., ETC. 
 
 trti f)ousan&. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 JAMES NISBET AND CO., 21, BERNERS-STREET. 
 1857.
 
 MACINTOSH, PRINTER, 
 GREAT NEW-STREET, LONDON.
 
 D3 ' 
 
 C4IMM7 
 
 THE RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 THE LORD ARTHUR MARCUS CECIL HILL, K.T.S., 
 
 HIS GODSON, ARTHUR MARCUS HILL CHEEK, 
 
 (WITH HIS LORDSHIP'S PERMISSION,) 
 
 ARE RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED 
 
 BY 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
 WELLINGTON PARK, 
 
 DURDHAM DOWN, BRISTOL, 
 
 Octobers, 1857.
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Page 
 
 EARLY DAYS DEPASTURE FOR INDIA JOINS THE 
 REGIMENT AT ALLAHABAD ..... 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 THE MUTINY AT ALLAHABAD ...... 12 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 MARCUS CHEEK'S ESCAPE, SUFFERINGS, NOBLE CONFES- 
 SION, AND DEATH ....... 22 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 LETTERS OF SYMPATHY AND CONDOLENCE . . .41 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 CONCLUDING REMARKS , , 67
 
 THE YOUNG MARTYR OF ALLAHABAD. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EARLY DAYS. DEPARTURE FOR INDIA. JOINS 
 THE REGIMENT, ETC. 
 
 THE year 1857 will be long remembered as a time 
 of sore trouble, and of deep and wide-spread afflic- 
 tion, from the fearful outbreaks of mutiny and violence 
 in India. The progress of these mutinies among the 
 native soldiery has from the beginning been marked by 
 fearful massacres and atrocities, unparalleled in the 
 history of ancient or modern times. The accounts ot 
 the massacres of British officers, of the dishonour and 
 cruelty inflicted on their wives and children, have stirred 
 up a deep feeling of sympathy and of just indignation 
 throughout the nation. Numerous are the families 
 who mourn the loss of beloved friends and relatives 
 thus cruelly cut off by the treacherous mutineers. 
 How many once happy wives have been made widows, 
 children made orphans, and parents bereaved of 
 beloved children ! Yet, amidst these appalling, heart- 
 
 B
 
 X THE YOUNG MARTYR OF ALLAHABAD. 
 
 rending calamities, there have been exhibited many 
 shining examples of British heroism, of devotion, and 
 piety, the remembrance of which deserves to be re- 
 corded for the encouragement and instruction of sur- 
 vivors and posterity. 
 
 The design of the following narrative is to supply 
 some particulars of the short life, sufferings, and noble 
 and Christian death of Arthur Marcus Hill Cheek, a 
 young ensign of the 6th Bengal Infantry, who, under 
 the age of seventeen years, when enduring cruel suffer- 
 ings from Mohammedans, exhibited that Christian 
 fidelity and heroism which justly entitle him to the 
 glorious distinction of the young Christian martyr of 
 Allahabad. The first notice of this noble boy appeared 
 in the ' ' Times " newspaper, in an extract from a letter 
 of a British officer in India : 
 
 "When the wretched 6th Regiment mutinied at 
 Allahabad, and murdered their officers, an ensign only 
 sixteen years of age, who was left for dead among the 
 rest, escaped in the darkness to a neighbouring ravine. 
 Here he found a stream, the waters of which sustained 
 his life for four days and nights. Although desperately 
 wounded, he contrived to raise himself into a tree during 
 the night for protection from wild beasts. Poor boy ! 
 he had a high commission to fulfil, before death released 
 him from his sufferings. On the fifth day he was dis- 
 covered, and dragged by the brutal sepoys before one of 
 their leaders, to have the little life left in him extin- 
 guished. There he found another prisoner, a Christian 
 catechist, formerly a Mohammedan, whom the Sepoys
 
 EARLY DAYS. 3 
 
 were endeavouring to torment and terrify into a recan- 
 tation. The firmness of the native was giving way, as 
 he knelt amidst his persecutors, with no human sym- 
 pathy to support him. The boy officer, after anxiously 
 watching him for a short time, cried out, ' Oh, my 
 friend, come what may, do not deny the Lord Jesus 
 Christ ! ' Just at this moment, the alarm of a sudden 
 attack by the gallant Colonel Neile, with his Madras 
 Fusiliers, caused the flight of the murderous fanatics. 
 The catechises life was saved. He turned to bless the 
 boy whose faith had strengthened his faltering spirit, 
 but the young martyr had passed beyond all reach of 
 human cruelty he had entered into his rest ! " 
 
 Thousands in whose hearts this touching, though, 
 in some respects, imperfect story, has awakened 
 admiration, and gratitude to God who strengthened the 
 faith of this gallant youth boldly, in the hour of suffering 
 and death, to confess and glorify Christ, will be inter- 
 ested to receive further particulars respecting him. An 
 opportunity the writer has lately had of converse with 
 the bereaved parents, and the sight of letters received by 
 them from India, and other quarters, will enable him to 
 supply many additional and interesting details. 
 
 Arthur Marcus Hill Cheek, the second son of Oswald 
 Cheek, Esq., the highly-respected town clerk of Evesham, 
 was bom at Evesham, July 31, 1840. He was the god- 
 son of the Right Hon. Lord Arthur Marcus Cecil Hill, 
 formerly M.P. for Evesham, who attended as sponsor at 
 his baptism, and after whom he bore the name of 
 Arthur Marcus Hill. His great-grandfather was Nicholas 
 B 2
 
 4 EARLY DAYS. 
 
 Mosley Cheek, formerly Rector of Rollestone, Stafford- 
 shire, and afterwards founder and first minister of St. Ste- 
 phen's Church, Salford, Manchester, and nephew to the 
 late Sir John Parker Mosley, Bart., of Rollestone. His 
 grandfather is John Mosley Gilbert Cheek, in his 85th 
 year, formerly an eminent solicitor at Evesham, but 
 who for many years has retired from the profession. 
 Our young Christian hero, Marcus, for so he was 
 generally called, was one of a large family, nine of 
 whom, with the afflicted parents, live to mourn his 
 early death. There is but little to record of his early 
 days. His parents speak of him as an affectionate and 
 dutiful son, as remarkably steady and correct in conduct, 
 having and manifesting at all times a conscientious 
 regard to truth ; as most attentive to his religious 
 duties, fond of attending the services of the Church, 
 and serious in his attention when in the house of God, 
 and careful to keep the Sabbath-day holy. He first 
 went to a school, as a child, near Birmingham, kept by 
 a lady; then removed to the Proprietary School at 
 Edgbaston, near Birmingham; thence he went to the 
 Grammar School at Cheltenham, under the care of Dr. 
 Humphries, who speaks of him as a youth of great 
 promise. Here he received several valuable prizes for 
 good conduct and improvement in his studies. He 
 afterwards studied and resided at Brussels for one year 
 tinder the care of the Rev. C. Jenkins, a British Chap- 
 lain in that city. The mother of this gentleman, in a 
 letter of condolence addressed to the parents, thus tes- 
 tifies of Marcus, while under their care :
 
 EARLY DAYS. 5 
 
 " It was with overwhelming sorrow I read his name 
 in the 'Times' yesterday. I cannot resist expressing 
 to you the sincere sympathy I feel for that heavy loss 
 his family have sustained by the death of so promising 
 a youth. Of his good qualities I could give many 
 proofs, but I will not harrow up your feelings, already 
 too sorely tried, and only add, that poor Marcus was a 
 favourite with us all, and deeply his early death is 
 lamented by my son, myself, and his late school- 
 fellows." 
 
 The following extract of a letter to his father, from 
 Brussels, is interesting. In the haste of leaving home 
 Marcus had neglected to pay a small boyish debt he 
 had contracted. His fond father, anxious to impress 
 on the minds of his children a scrupulous regard to 
 honesty and the avoidance of thoughtless expenditure, 
 had kindly remonstrated with him. This will explain 
 the allusion in the following extract : 
 
 " MY DEAR FATHER, I am extremely sorry to hear 
 that Mamma is unwell, but I hope her visit to Brether- 
 ton will do her good. As yet, my dear father, I have 
 never owed more than two or three shillings, which I 
 forgot to pay Mr. H., for fishing tackle, before I left, 
 and which I had intended to pay, but quite forgot : and 
 the other day, having no money to pay for some 
 letters, one of the boys kindly lent me some until I had 
 some chance of paying him. Thus you have the extent 
 of my debts. I can assure you that I have felt very 
 uncomfortable since I posted the letter, thinking that I
 
 6 EARLY DAYS. 
 
 owed a few francs. I think I can safely promise never 
 to get into debt, and, at least, this I can safely say, 
 that I detest debt as much as you possibly can. I 
 think it is the root of immense evil, and all manner of 
 temptation ; and regarding it in this light I will shun 
 it through life as my worst enemy. God only knows 
 how I can resist the temptation of various vices when I 
 am left to act for myself, but it shall be my earnest 
 prayer to be delivered from them." 
 
 The principles and feelings avowed in this letter of a 
 boy of sixteen are too important to our young readers 
 to be overlooked. It should ever be borne in mind 
 that honesty is an essential branch of the religion of 
 Christ, which requires us to " live righteously and godly 
 in the presqnt world." How many young men would 
 have been spared difficulties which crippled their exer- 
 tions in after-life, had they commenced their career 
 with the same honest principles which are expressed by 
 the youthful writer of this letter. It is a lamentable 
 fact that many young people seem to have no idea of 
 the sin and disgrace of contracting debt by thoughtless 
 expenditure. This habit is especially to be avoided in 
 boyhood as the forerunner of many evils. The resolute 
 self-denial of our young hero was but the first demon- 
 stration of that firmness of character and conscientious- 
 ness which afterwards enabled him to resist the solicita- 
 tions of those who tempted him to save his life by 
 renouncing his religion. 
 
 The fear expressed by this youth as to his endurance 
 and triumph over temptations to evil is also worthy of
 
 EARLY DAYS. 
 
 notice. In the gay capital of Brussels, removed from 
 the watchful eye of parents, he felt his exposure to 
 danger on this score. It was indicative of true religious 
 principles germinating in his mind that he felt this, and 
 was distrustful of himself. Such feelings are among 
 the best pledges of safety, as they will lead the young 
 Christian to shun the scenes and occasions of tempta- 
 tions ; to watch against the danger, and to pray 
 earnestly to God for upholding and preserving grace. 
 It is to the want of such holy fear, and distrust of 
 themselves, and neglect of prayer, that many young 
 persons, in an unsuspecting hour, fall a pray to temp- 
 tations which have proved to them the commencement 
 of a career of folly and misery. The religious principles 
 here avoved by young Marcus, sown in the youthful 
 mind and nurtured there, are the elements of true 
 greatness of character, and will be the source of pure 
 joys in after-life. 
 
 Before he left Brussels, Marcus, at his own desire, 
 was confirmed, and the first Sunday after his return to 
 England, when the Sacrament was to be administered 
 at the church of his native town, he expressed his desire 
 and intention to his mother to partake of the Holy 
 Communion with her, which he did with great serious- 
 ness and devotion. About this time, on an occa- 
 sion of a collection being made in the church, 
 his aunt supposing that he had but little money 
 with him, offered to give him a part of what 
 she intended for the collection, to put in the plate. 
 His reply was, " Oh no, aunt, you know that would not
 
 8 DEPARTURE FOR INDIA. 
 
 be my gift, but yours. I intend to give my own, and 
 have something to give." Marcus at this time was 
 fond of drawing, and several of his sketches, which the 
 writer has seen in his little room, and which remain as 
 he left them, evince considerable talent in this way ; 
 one or two show considerable wit and humour. He was 
 remarkably tall; at the age of fifteen, his stature was 
 within an inch of six feet. Discovering a decided pre- 
 dilection for the military profession, his father, through 
 the kind interest of Lord Marcus Hill, who was 
 attached to him as his godson, obtained an appointment 
 for him, through the Right Hon. Robert Vernon Smith, 
 President of the Board of Control, who gave him a 
 " direct " appointment to India. Though such an ap- 
 pointment rendered his going through the usual course 
 of studies for two years at Addiscombe unnecessary, he 
 had to pass an examination there, which he did with credit 
 to himself and satisfaction to those who examined him. 
 The time was now come for Marcus to quit the scenes 
 of his early youth, and to leave those beloved friends 
 and that home which he was not again to revisit. He 
 was cheerful in spirit, buoyant in hope of future scenes 
 and days, though at times a little depressed, as the time 
 drew nigh of separation from those he loved. His 
 father accompanied him to Southampton, where he 
 embarked for India on the 20th of March, 1857, 
 reaching Calcutta by the overland route on the 28th of 
 April, and received his appointment of ensign of the 
 6th Regiment of Bengal Infantry, stationed at Alla- 
 habad. He was allowed three weeks to visit his uncle
 
 JOINS THE REGIMENT, ETC. 9 
 
 and family resident in India before he joined his regi- 
 ment. The short letters from himself, and others from 
 his relatives, show that these hasty visits were to them 
 all a source of great pleasure and satisfaction. Alas, 
 these were the only, the last visits our young ensign 
 was permitted to make to his Indian relatives ! Little 
 did they imagine they should see his face no more. 
 Such was the will of God, and they bow, though with 
 sorrowing hearts and sweet reminiscences of the de- 
 parted youth, to Him, who "doeth all things well." 
 Young Marcus reached Allahabad on the 19th of May, 
 1857, and joined his regiment. The brief communica- 
 tions received by his friends in England speak -of his 
 being pleased with Allahabad as a fine city, and of the 
 satisfaction he realized in his new position, and the 
 novel circumstances in which he found himself. It is 
 much to be regretted that a diary, which he promised to 
 keep and send monthly to his mother, has not been 
 found, as it would have conveyed interesting information 
 concerning him ; this diary, his sword, the Bible given 
 to him by his aged grandfather before he quitted Eng- 
 land, and other valuables, are supposed to have been 
 irrecoverably lost. 
 
 This brief notice of the early days of Marcus Cheek, 
 though presenting nothing remarkable above that of 
 many young people, yet viewed in connexion with his 
 future short history, furnishes one among many in- 
 stances that times of great trouble call forth from their 
 obscurity persons of eminent talent and faith who 
 would have remained unknown had all things gone on
 
 10 THE YOUNG MARTYR, OF ALLAHABAD. 
 
 quietly and smoothly as usual ; just as the earthquake 
 and the torrent, rending the mountain side, reveal to 
 sight the rich minerals before concealed. Where there 
 is nothing more than what is commonly expected to 
 take place in the ordinary affairs of life, the man of 
 high courage has no opportunity of distinguishing him- 
 self from his timid and irresolute companions. He may 
 not himself even be aware that he possesses those 
 higher virtues that are commonly called forth by 
 difficult and dangerous circumstances. The latent 
 virtue existed before the trial came ; it would be too 
 late to learn how to do the duty when the time of ac- 
 tion arrived. The great task of those who educate the 
 rising generation must be to implant those high princi- 
 ples of Christian faith, of justice, mercy, and truth, 
 which will render it difficult, if not impossible, for a 
 man to do an act of criminality, of injustice and 
 cruelty, or to violate the strictest rules of honesty and 
 truth. The parent and guardian must strive, in de- 
 pendance on Divine guidance, to awaken the latent 
 powers of mind, and to kindle high and holy feelings ; 
 but there is no teaching more powerful than example. 
 The anxious parent, therefore, who sends forth an in- 
 experienced and darling son to encounter the tempta- 
 tions and difficulties of the world, will look with eager- 
 ness for some shining examples of virtue among the 
 comrades of the boy, or those of similar age, that may 
 hold forth to him a pattern by which to form his own 
 conduct. Hence, it is important that every deed of 
 heroism, every shining example of piety, should be
 
 THE YOUNG MARTYR OP ALLAHABAD. 11 
 
 remembered, that those who hear of it may be stimu- 
 lated and encouraged to do likewise. Surrounded as 
 the inexperienced youth is with the many bad examples 
 whose influence is to draw to evil, it is refreshing to find 
 some who, though young, have been strong in faith, 
 and have held fast their Christian hope in the darkest 
 hour of temptation and peril. It is, therefore, a sacred 
 duty to preserve the records of the faithful who have 
 stood out bravely to confess Christ before men. In 
 thus gathering up the few precious memorials of 
 Marcus Cheek, as we proceed, we hope to hold up a 
 shining example of Christian fidelity, to stimulate other 
 young persons to cultivate by prayer and diligence 
 those Christian graces which can arm the unprotected 
 sufferer with the same courage to bear affliction, even 
 captivity and torture, without giving up their trust in 
 the power and love of their Saviour.
 
 12 THE MUTINY AT ALLAHABAD. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE MUTINY AT ALLAHABAD. 
 
 THE fearful storm, of the near approach of which 
 there were unmistakeable signs, was now about 
 to burst over Allahabad, its 100,000 inhabitants, 
 and its devoted garrison. What had occurred at 
 Meerut, Neemuch, Benares, and other places, 
 the fearful massacre of British officers and Euro- 
 peans, the flight of the mutineers to Delhi, and its 
 possession by them, with all its mighty stores of 
 military materials, could not fail to excite alarm at 
 Allahabad. It was manifest to all that the mutiny was 
 not, as at first supposed, of a partial or local character, 
 but the result of a deep-laid, well-ordered, and widely- 
 spread conspiracy for the overthrow of British dominion 
 for the expulsion of Christians and Christianity from 
 India. A time was fixed for striking the final blow, 
 and for a general rising and massacre of the Europeans. 
 The somewhat premature outbreak at Meerut antici- 
 pated this led to the discovery of the fearful plot, and 
 thus providentially put the Europeans on their guard. 
 In Allahabad, with about 100,000 inhabitants, with a 
 large Sepoy force, and with comparatively small
 
 THE MUTINY AT ALLAHABAD. 13 
 
 European forces, in the event of an outbreak, the worst 
 of consequences were apprehended. The Rev. Mr. Hay, 
 an American missionary, stationed there and in the city 
 at the time, states : " There had been several panics in 
 the city for some time before the revolt broke out there, 
 and three weeks before there was any fighting the city 
 was patrolled, and European women and children were 
 ordered into the Fort. At times the alarm died away, 
 and the women would come out of the Fort. The 
 expectation was that the city would be attacked by 
 mutineers from Benares. At length a chief raised the 
 standard of insurrection. No European knew who he 
 was ; some said he was a Moulvie that is, a Moham- 
 medan religious teacher, something like the padre of the 
 Portuguese ; others, that he was a native officer ; others, 
 that he was a weaver by trade. He, however, repre- 
 sented himself as a Viceroy of the King of Delhi. He 
 commanded about 4,000 of the mutineers. Mr. Hay 
 speaks in the highest terms of Major Brasier and 
 Colonel Neile. He (Brazier) commanded the Sikhs at 
 Allahabad, and exercised great influence over them. It 
 was to him that the Europeans were indebted for pre- 
 venting the rebels from taking the fort. Had they 
 done so, scarcely anything could have driven them out 
 of it, for it is constructed on a European model. 
 Nothing could induce the rebel Sepoys who besieged it 
 to come near, so much did they dread its guns. On 
 the 13th June, Colonel Neile cannonaded Darghung, a 
 suburb of Allahabad. Brasier behaved there with dis- 
 tinguished gallantry. The chief of the mutineers was
 
 14 THE MUTINY AT ALLAHABAD. 
 
 taken prisoner. He was a young man magnificently 
 dressed, and was said to be a nephew of the Moulvie 
 who headed the mutiny inside the walls. Major Brasier, 
 surrounded by a few Sikh soldiers, ordered the chief to 
 be brought before him to be interrogated. After being 
 questioned, he was ordered to be taken to a place of 
 confinement. His arms were loosely fastened behind 
 him. Before he left the presence of the Major, he by 
 a great effort caught at a sword that was within his 
 reach, and made a cut at one of the Sikhs. Brasier 
 and all the Sikhs fell upon him, and the foi'mer wrested 
 the sword from the prisoner's hand ; but the enraged 
 Sikhs, while the chief was prostrate, placed their heels 
 on his head and literally crashed out his brains, and 
 the body was thrown outside the gates there. " 
 
 Within the city all was intense anxiety and alarm. 
 The 6th Native Regiment of Bengal Infantry, of which 
 Marcus Cheek was an ensign, was for a time considered 
 to be faithful and to be relied on. They had, with 
 great apparent sincerity, professed their loyalty, and 
 great attachment to their officers, and had prayed to be 
 led to Delhi, to rescue that city from the rebels; and 
 had received with hearty cheers the thanks of the 
 Governor-General for their loyalty. But in the hour 
 of need the 6th Regiment proved treacherous and broke 
 out into open mutiny, arid massacred their officers, to 
 whom they had professed submission and attachment ! 
 The sad story of all this is best told in the extracts from 
 letters of several of the survivors.
 
 THE MUTINY AT ALLAHABAD. 15 
 
 FROM A CIVIL SERVANT. 
 
 "Allahabad, June 28. 
 
 " I told you in my last letter that we were apprehen- 
 sive of an outbreak on the part of the city people, and 
 that I had taken up a position at the gaol, ready to 
 make a stand that the officers of the 6th Native 
 Infantry had all confidence in their men, though we 
 had not, for now no one can trust those wretched 
 natives. Well, matters went on quietly enough till 
 Friday the 5th, when news of the disturbance at 
 Benares came up, with a report that a number of the 
 insurgents were on their way to attack this station. 
 On the same day an order came from the Brigadier at 
 Cawnpore to ' man the Fort with every available 
 European, and make a good stand/ We non-military 
 men were instantly ordered into the Fort, being formed 
 into a militia under the orders of the officer command- 
 ing the garrison. We slept in the Fort on that Friday, 
 the 5th, doing duty upon the ramparts, and returned 
 to the station the following morning, but only for the 
 morning, going into the Fort again in the afternoon. 
 About this time we had in the Fort about fifty invalid 
 artillery soldiers, some few commissariat and magazine 
 sergeants, and we volunteers, mustering above 100 
 men. There were also 400 Sikhs, and 80 of the 
 wretched 6th guarding the main gate. A great 
 number of the European merchants and half-castes 
 remained outside, believing the report to be only a cry 
 of ' Wolf' and supposing it to be a false alarm. The
 
 16 THE MUTINY AT ALLAHABAD. 
 
 report of the approach of the insurgents was false ; but, 
 alas ! would that the poor creatures had taken advice, 
 and joined us in the Fort ! Among those outside were 
 poor Captain Birch, the Fort-Adjutant, a married man, 
 poor fellow ! with a family ; Innes, the Executive 
 Engineer, who had the previous day resigned his 
 appointment in the Fort from ill-health, and had gone 
 up to his bungalow. My poor dear friend, Alexander, 
 of the Irregulars, was in a garden near the Fort with 
 150 of his troopers. Two guns, under Harward, of the 
 Artillery, had been sent down to the river to guard the 
 bridge of boats over the Ganges towards Benares. 
 Hinks, of the 6th Native Infantry, and two little griffs 
 (young men not long in India), were also stationed 
 there, in charge of two companies of that regiment. 
 Well, all these poor fellows were out, and we were 
 inside the Fort, through the mercy of the Almighty. 
 We were told off on our guard, and had laid ourselves 
 down on our beds (those who were not on watch), when 
 about half-past nine we heard firing in the station, and 
 on the alarm-bugle being sounded we ran up to the 
 ramparts in breathless silence. The firing grew heavier, 
 and we all thought that the insurgents had entered the 
 station, and were being beaten off by the regiment. So 
 steady was the musketry, regular the firing ; on, on it 
 continued, volley after volley. ' Oh ! ' we all said, 
 ' those gallant Sepoys are beating off the rebels/ for 
 the firing grew fainter in the distance, as if they were 
 driving a force out of the station. But before long the 
 sad truth was known. Harward rode in, bringing the
 
 THE MUTINY AT ALLAHABAD. 17 
 
 tidings that the wretched Sepoys had risen, had seized 
 his guns, and had marched them up to the station. He 
 had escaped, and had run up to poor Alexander's camp, 
 who jumped on his horse and rode up towards the 
 lines, with as many of his men as could be got ready; 
 he had been caught in an ambush by a body of Sepoys 
 lying in wait in an empty tank, and had been killed by 
 a musket being placed to his side, blowing out his heart. 
 His poor body was brought in later in the night, and I 
 gave his hand a last shake and shed tears over his last 
 bed. 
 
 " The officers were at mess when the wretches sounded 
 the alarm-bugle to bring them to the parade, and shot 
 them down right and left. Wretched murderers, may 
 they receive their reward ! Nine poor little ensigns 
 doing duty with the regiment were bayoneted to death 
 in the mess-room, and three of the officers who escaped 
 heard their cries as they passed ! Poor boys ! who had 
 never given offence to any native, nor caused dissatis- 
 faction to the Sepoys. Five officers were shot belong- 
 ing to the regiment, besides the nine poor boys. Birch 
 and Innes, with the Sergeant- Major in all, seventeen 
 military men, many merchants and others, were most 
 cruelly murdered. In all, fifty Europeans fell that 
 night by the hands of the murderous Sepoys. The 
 treasury was plundered, the prisoners escaped from 
 gaol, and the work of destruction commenced. The 
 whole station was destroyed house after house plun- 
 dered and destroyed ! Each moment we expected the 
 Sikhs would turn on us, and then ! . . . But the 
 
 c
 
 18 THE MUTINY AT ALLAHABAD. 
 
 Almighty mercifully decreed otherwise. We disarmed 
 the 6th guard at the main gate, and found the villains 
 with loaded and capped muskets ready to turn out ! 
 
 " What an escape we had ! Five officers came in, 
 all having escaped in a wonderful manner three naked, 
 having had to swim the Ganges. "VYe were all night 
 under arms, and in the morning lay down in our cots 
 sad and weary, each moment expecting to be called up. 
 The streets of the city are about half a mile from the 
 fort, and during the four or five following days troops 
 of the rioters were to be seen, rushing from place to 
 place plundering and burning. Day and night we 
 manned the ramparts in the hot blasting sun, and day 
 and night the guns and mortars belched forth, throwing 
 shell and grapeshot, burning down houses, and scatter- 
 ing the demons wherever they were seen. 
 
 " We dared not leave the Fort, for who knows what 
 the Sikhs would have done if it had been left empty ? 
 However, let us not breathe one word of suspicion 
 against them, for they behaved splendidly, &c. 
 
 "The wicked 6th had marched out on the 7th, 
 leaving two guns, and a Mussulman had set himself up 
 in this city calling himself the agent of the King of 
 Delhi, and calling on all natives, Hindoos, and true 
 believers, to massacre all Europeans ; and many poor 
 fellows who had been in hiding fell into his hands and 
 were murdered." 
 
 However painful it is to pursue this view of the 
 horrors and atrocities of this mutiny at Allahabad, we
 
 THE MUTINY AT ALLAHABAD. 19 
 
 must add to the above painful narrative an extract from 
 the letter of the son of a clergyman to his father, dated 
 "Chunar, June 6:" 
 
 " And now I have a tale of fearful horrors to tell you 
 of what happened at Allahabad. God grant it may be 
 exaggerated ; I fear it is too true. Let it stir up our 
 English friends to send us with the utmost expedition 
 the troops we so urgently require. On Saturday even- 
 ing last, the 3d Oude Cavalry and 6th Native Infantry 
 rose, and destroyed the bridge of boats, and murdered 
 every European they could find. Out of seventeen 
 officers at mess at 9.30, fourteen of them were butch- 
 ered by 9.40, by the mutineers and mess-guard. 
 And this is a regiment that volunteered to go against 
 the Delhi rebels ! Many of the poor residents had left 
 the Fort, on account of the intense heat and the apparent 
 security of everything. The mob and cut-throats rose 
 with the soldiery. They burnt one whole family, from 
 grandfather to grandchildren, alive ! Others they killed 
 by inches, cutting off the nose, then the ears, then 
 fingers, then toes, &c. Children they killed, little 
 innocent babes, before the mother's eyes, and then 
 killed her!" 
 
 How fearful the exhibition, the confirmation, exhibited 
 in the massacre and atrocities at Allahabad, at Cawnpore, 
 and other places, of the representations of Holy Scrip- 
 tures, that the heathen are " without natural affection," 
 and the " dark places of the earth are filled with the 
 habitations of cruelty." Of all cruelty to which man is 
 impelled, none is greater than that which is called forth 
 c 2
 
 20 THE MUTINY AT ALLAHABAD. 
 
 by religious bigotry ; and to this we must trace what is 
 occurring in India. The various reasons assigned for 
 this fearful outbreak are for the most part mere pretexts. 
 British dominion in India has proved the forerunner of 
 civilisation, and most beneficent to the many millions 
 thus placed under British sway. It is the success and 
 wide-spreading influence of British Christianity shaking 
 the superstitions of Hindooism and Mohammedanism 
 the diffusion of Christian knowledge by our schools for 
 the instruction of the natives the spread of railways, 
 and other advances in civilisation, these have excited 
 in the minds of the Brahmins and Mohammedans the 
 fear of the approaching downfall of their old super- 
 stitions and false religions, and of the final and near 
 ascendancy of Christianity. Hence, though opposed 
 to each other, Hindoos and Mohammedans combine 
 together with maddened bigotry to uproot, to destroy, 
 and to banish Christians and Christianity from India. 
 A prophecy, long current among them, that British 
 dominion in India was only to last for a hundred years, 
 which period is now rapidly drawing to its close, may 
 also have had its influence in hastening the calamities 
 we now deplore. But however these events may for a 
 time retard the progress of Christianity in our Eastern 
 Empire, no one who believes the Word of God can 
 doubt the ultimate triumphs of Christianity, and final 
 downfall of all those systems of idolatry and super- 
 stition opposed to it. The present fearful events which 
 are taking place in India, however painful and 
 mysterious to us, we cannot doubt will be overruled
 
 THE MUTINY AT ALLAHABAD. 21 
 
 by God to these grand ends. The ploughshare of war 
 will break up and prepare the ground for the reception 
 of the Word of eternal life, and thus will be hastened 
 onward that glorious consummation for which every 
 sincere Christian devoutly prays, when the Saviour of 
 the world shall " receive the heathen for his inheritance, 
 and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession." 
 How appropriate to the present times, and how consol- 
 ing, is the prophetic language of Holy Scripture : 
 
 " Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine 
 a vain thing ? The kings of the earth set themselves, 
 and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, 
 and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their 
 bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. He 
 that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh : the Lord shall 
 have them in derision. Then shall He speak unto 
 them in his wrath : and vex them in his sore dis- 
 pleasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill 
 of Zion. I will declare the decree : the Lord hath 
 said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I 
 begotten thee. Ask of me, and I shall give thee the 
 heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts 
 of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them 
 with a rod of iron ; thou shalt dash them in pieces like 
 a potter's vessel. Be wise now therefore, ye kings ; 
 be instructed) ye judges of the earth" (Psalm ii.)
 
 22 THE ESCAPE OF MARCUS CHEEK 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE ESCAPE OF MARCUS CHEEK FROM THE MAS- 
 SACREHIS SUFFERINGS HIS HEROIC FAITH 
 HIS DEATH. 
 
 IN the fearful outbreak and massacre of British officers 
 and Europeans at Allahabad, what became of Marcus 
 Cheek, our young Christian hero ? Providentially on 
 that night of horrors, when nine young ensigns were 
 murdered by the treacherous Sepoys, whose dying 
 shrieks were heard by the passers by, Marcus had left 
 the mess-room at an early hour and retired to his own 
 private lodgings. An overruling and merciful Provi- 
 dence thus rescued him from instant death, and pre- 
 served his life a few days longer, to fulfil his high 
 commission of testifying his faith in his Saviour, and to 
 strengthen others boldly to confess Christ in the face of 
 cruel suffering and death. How the short interval was 
 employed is known only to that God who seeth in 
 secret. It was a time of seriousness, as danger was 
 anticipated. It is no undue stretch of imagination to 
 suppose that our young hero opened and read at that 
 solemn evening hour that precious Bible his pious 
 grandfather had given him before he quitted his Eng-
 
 FROM THE MASSACRE. 23 
 
 lish home, and that he prayed to the God of his fathers 
 to prepare him for and protect him in anticipated trials 
 and dangers. Soon the sound of sudden alarm, the 
 rushing of multitudes, and the rattling noise of firing, 
 roused him from reflection and rest. It is supposed 
 that on leaving the house where he was, he was cut 
 down by a Sepoy and left for dead. We must here 
 give the few particulars which have been gathered in 
 the words of his uncle, G. N. Cheek, Esq., communi- 
 cated in a letter to his brother, the bereaved father : 
 
 " Bancoorah, June 27, 1857. 
 
 "My DEAREST OSWALD, I have tried all in my 
 power to get correct accounts regarding the death of 
 your dear Marcus, and what I have obtained I have 
 enclosed. You will see that after he was wounded he 
 was left for days in the hands of the mutineers. Some 
 accounts say that he must have had a little care taken 
 of him, or he would not have lived so long ; others say, 
 the rascal of a landholder who had him neglected him, 
 and the consequence was, when he was rescued and 
 sent into the fort of Allahabad, he sank from exhaus- 
 tion. Poor dear lad, he has been called early indeed 
 to suffer. But it is a consolation to me (little though 
 it may be to some), that he was not killed on the spot : 
 likely this short respite was given him to be more pre- 
 pared to meet his God. Another comfort is, he had 
 Christian burial : the others who were massacred were 
 devoured by jackals and dogs; so in all your severe 
 affliction your dear wife and self will have some little
 
 24 THE ESCAPE OF MARCUS CHEEK. 
 
 consolation. May He who can alone pour balm into 
 your bleeding hearts abundantly bless and support you. 
 The letters I enclose are all the information I can 
 obtain to this date. I shall persevere and see if I can 
 glean anything more, if so you shall have it. 
 
 "We have not come to a turn in our favour yet. 
 Delhi is not taken. At Cawnpore and Lucknow we 
 have great difficulty to hold our own, and shall not hold 
 out long unless reinforcements reach these places. 
 The deaths in Oude are fearful not known yet in full. 
 All India in a blaze ! Prisoners let out of the gaols, 
 and the treasuries robbed more than a million and 
 a-half of pounds sterling besides stores taken by the 
 rebels. We are in a fearful state; all the ladies from 
 this have been sent into Calcutta my dear wife gone 
 too. Jane is coming down in the steamer to Calcutta. 
 No civil station is safe. Here, at present, all is 
 quiet, but in these days we may in an hour be attacked. 
 I sleep with two revolvers loaded under my bed, and 
 my gun loaded in my dressing-room. I hope my trust 
 is in God, not in man ; it is my duty to leave no stone 
 unturned for defence, but results must be left to Him, 
 who, though his providence may to us mortals be dark 
 and mysterious, He does all things well : blessed be 
 his holy name ! My wife has suffered dreadfully on 
 account of Marcus ; she loved him and he loved her. I 
 send a letter which came for him it reached me after 
 his death. I suspect it is from his dear mother. I 
 have written to inquire about all the things Marcus 
 had, and told them to sell nothing, but send all to me.
 
 HIS SUFFERINGS. 25 
 
 If I get anything I will send them to you, but I fear 
 
 everything is gone." * 
 
 Among the papers sent by the uncle is the following 
 extract from " The Englishman," of Calcutta, June 24, 
 1857: 
 
 " Cheek, a young ensign, who had been wounded 
 when the rest of the officers of the 6th Regiment were 
 shot down by the miscreants of that corps, came in 
 to-day (to the Fort). He had been kept by a zemindar 
 (a landholder), a known scoundrel, who starved him. 
 Cheek is rapidly sinking, poor fellow, from exhaustion." 
 
 The uncle adds to this brief statement in his letter 
 to the father : 
 
 "Your noble boy was not only a soldier, but a 
 Christian. The zemindar, into whose hands he had 
 fallen, wanted the dear, dear departed lad to become a 
 Mussulman, giving him the choice of doing so, or 
 death ! The noble lad replied, ' Anything but resign 
 my faith and hope in my Redeemer ! ' So, my brother, 
 the noble boy died a martyr, and although his name 
 may not be mentioned among those noted as martyrs, 
 to all intents he was a blessed one. He, glorious boy, 
 acknowledged Christ before Christ's enemies ; and 
 Marcus will be acknowledged by his Saviour in the 
 realms of bliss ; one, who though young, has fought the 
 good fight and not denied the faith ; to such a crown of 
 glory is promised, and none of Christ's promises shall 
 fail. I pray God, if in my grey hairs I am called on 
 as he was, the Holy Spirit may be given me to act as
 
 26 HIS SUFFERINGS. 
 
 he, dear lad, has done. I ask no more ; then come life 
 or death, it little matters. How much more impressive 
 is the conduct of dear Marcus than ten thousand 
 sermons. Let us, my brother, follow his example ; let 
 us be ready, as he evidently was, and then we shall 
 meet him in glory ! " 
 
 So far as can be gathered from the various accounts 
 which have come to hand, our young hero, after he had 
 been dreadfully wounded by a sabre cut on the night of 
 the outbreak of the mutiny and massacre of the officers, 
 was able to effect his escape and to hide himself, as the 
 affecting notice of him in the " Times " states, in a ravine 
 on the banks of the Ganges. " Here," as that notice 
 says, " he found a stream, the waters of which sustained 
 his life for four days and nights. Although desper- 
 ately wounded, he contrived to raise himself into a tree 
 during the night for protection from wild beasts. Poor 
 boy ! he had a high commission to fulfil, before death 
 released him from his sufferings. On the fifth day he 
 was discovered, and dragged by the brutal Sepoys before 
 one of their leaders, to have the little life in him extin- 
 guished." (The leader before whom he was dragged 
 appears to have been the Moulvie, the head of the 
 insurgents.) " There," this account proceeds to state, 
 "he found another prisoner, a Christian Catechist, 
 whom the Sepoys were endeavouring to torment and 
 terrify into a recantation. The firmness of the native 
 was giving way, as he knelt amidst his persecutors, 
 with no human sympathy to support him. The boy
 
 HIS HEROIC FAITH. 27 
 
 officer, after anxiously watching him for a short time, 
 cried out, ' Oh, my friend, come what may, do not deny 
 the Lord Jesus Christ ! } " 
 
 It was just at that critical moment the gallant 
 Colonel Neile, with his heroic Madras Fusiliers, came 
 to the deliverance of Allahabad and the beleaguered 
 fort. The insurgents, with their leader, were put to 
 flight, and the noble confessors at the Moulvie's head- 
 quarters were mercifully delivered. 
 
 The following interesting letter communicated by the 
 uncle will throw light on this statement and supply 
 some very important, interesting particulars as to the 
 sufferings, faith, and death of our young Christian 
 martyr : 
 
 " Fort Allahabad, June 19, 1857. 
 "My DEAR MR. CHEEK, I received this morning 
 your letter of the 12th inst., and proceed to answer it 
 as well as I can, and give you what particulars I have 
 been able to obtain regarding poor Marcus Cheek's 
 death. On the night of the 6th inst. he had left the 
 mess-room before nine p.m. and gone to his own house, 
 which was not far distant, and retired to rest. From 
 that period till for four or six days afterwards nothing 
 was heard regarding him, and it was supposed he had 
 been killed amongst the many who fell victims to the 
 treachery of the 6th Regiment. About the 12th we 
 heard he was lying, badly wounded, at the Khowhs or 
 Gardens, where the Moulvie, the head of the insurgents 
 at Allahabad, had established himself. Holding the
 
 28 HIS HEROIC FAITH. 
 
 Fort with so few men we could make no offensive move- 
 ments, and could only hope that the poor survivors might 
 yet remain alive when means were at our disposal to 
 punish. On the 17th inst. the Moulvie fled in conse- 
 quence of our small force moving out, and burning 
 Durghabad and chasing the insurgents from Kydgunge, 
 a portion of the native city; and in the same morning 
 poor Cheek was brought into the Fort, having been sent 
 from the gardens in a dooly to the American Mission- 
 house, about a mile distant from the Fort, by some 
 friendly people ; from whence we brought him by send- 
 ing some men of the Madras Fusiliers in a steamer up 
 the Jumna river, the Mission-house being on its bank. 
 Poor fellow, he was in a sad state, at times slightly 
 sensible, and at times the reverse; but from what fell 
 from his lips we believe that he was attacked in his 
 own house, and in the attempt to escape was cut down 
 at the door by a sabre cut across the brow or head, 
 where he had a most severe wound. When he came 
 among us he remembered nothing but the fact of some 
 people having been kind to him and giving him water 
 and melons ; all else was confused. Evidently he had 
 suffered much, and his body exhibited signs of great 
 suffering in the marks of bruises and sores caused from 
 exposure to the sun. He died the same evening, and 
 was buried in the covered way of the- Fort, near the 
 river side, and at the salient angle of the Jumna 
 battery. But if I am necessitated to be so open with 
 you in detailing particulars of the manner of his death, 
 I am happy, also, to be able to tell you of matters pre-
 
 HIS HEROIC FAITH. 29 
 
 ceding which may comfort those to whom he was dear. 
 A conductor of my establishment, a Mr. Coleman, and 
 his wife, were seized by the insurgents and taken to the 
 gardens, where they saw poor Cheek. Every effort was 
 made by these rebels to induce them to abjure their 
 faith and become Mohammedans, and threats were 
 made, that, unless they did so, they must forfeit their 
 lives. Poor Cheek, in his almost last moments of sensi- 
 bility, called Mrs. Coleman to his side, and bade her 
 remember, and to do everything but that ; to be true to 
 her faith and hope ; and after these few words of exhor- 
 tation she and he were parted ; and we know no more ; 
 but amidst the records of heaven these few words of his 
 may have been written, and brought down a message 
 of pardon and acceptance to the dying soldier. 
 
 "W. C. RUSSELL. 
 
 "P.S. I have just heard from another source that 
 poor Cheek's last wish before he died, in a few moments 
 of seeming consciousness, was to write to his mother." 
 
 The following, from one of the American mission- 
 aries, of the name of Joseph Aben, addressed to Mrs. 
 Cheek, will supply additional particulars : 
 
 "Allahabad, June 23, 1857. 
 
 "Mv DEAR MRS. CHEEK, Your kind letter of the 
 12th inst. has just reached me, the Benares Dak having 
 been closed up for several days. It is indeed pleasant 
 to hear from friends once more. I have also just
 
 30 HIS HEROIC FAITH. 
 
 received a letter from my dear wife, giving me good 
 accounts of her own and our dear boy's continued wel- 
 fare. From the Cawnpore side we have had no dak 
 for about three weeks. You ask me about your dear 
 nephew. On the night of the 6th instant, about nine 
 o'clock, the 6th Regiment of Native Infantry broke out 
 into mutiny, sounded an alarm, called the officers to 
 the parade-ground, and then and there shot seven of 
 their officers. Others were also wounded. Indeed, the 
 number of Europeans and East Indians who were 
 victims of the massacre amounts to about thirty. The 
 incendiarism has been dreadful, far more destructive 
 than at any other station; very few bungalows at our 
 once large station have escaped. All our Mission 
 property has been destroyed. I have lost all my 
 private property, and a library which cost me about 
 10,000 rupees, but which no money can ever replace. 
 I had a large collection of precious, old theological 
 volumes, long since out of print, collected from various 
 parts of Europe ; also a large classical, and a German 
 and an Oriental library of valuable books and manu- 
 scripts. The authorities would not allow me to take 
 anything into the Fort, so I lost everything, except 
 a few changes of clothes and a few volumes. "\Ve 
 in the Fort heard the firing from cantonments shortly 
 after nine o'clock at night, but for some time 
 knew not the cause. Our chief apprehension had been 
 regarding the arrival of mutineers from Benares, hav- 
 ing heard that that station was in a blaze ; but those 
 mutineers never came. Our troubles came only from
 
 HIS HEROIC FAITH. 31 
 
 the loyal (!) 6th, who had offered their services to go 
 and fight the rebels at Delhi, and who had at six o'clock 
 in the evening of the 6th received the thanks of the 
 Governor- General, at a special parade ordered for the 
 purpose, and returned the same with three hearty 
 cheers ! Three hours afterwards they shot their officers ! 
 Of the seventeen who sat down to dinner at mess that 
 evening, only three are known to survive, viz., Colonel 
 Simpson, Captain Gordon, and Lieutenant Currie. 
 Colonel Simpson's horse was riddled with bullets, but 
 he managed to reach the Fort in safety. Lieut. Currie's 
 horse was shot from under him, but he got another, and 
 reached the Fort. Seven officers were shot on the 
 parade ground, and their bodies were never recovered. 
 Others were murdered elsewhere, and their bodies 
 shared the same fate. Some of the bodies of the 
 young ensigns were believed to be in the mess-house 
 when that was burnt. A week ago to-day (Tuesday, 
 16th inst.) my mind was relieved by receiving a letter 
 from our dear brother, the Rev. Gopenauth Nundy, 
 regarding his safety. We had heard most distress- 
 ing rumours about him. He said he was in the 
 Mission school-house with Ensign Cheek, and Conductor 
 Coleman and his family. On having escaped from the 
 insurgents, who had left the place that morning, I went 
 immediately to Mr. Court, the magistrate, who had just 
 received a similar letter. I could not get writing 
 materials, and, therefore, sent a verbal message that we 
 would come immediately. We went up on a steamer,
 
 32 HIS HEROIC FAITH. 
 
 with a party of 100 Sikhs and 80 Fusiliers, and a 12- 
 pounder, but met with no opposition. "When we 
 reached the place, they having misapprehended my 
 message, had left. On returning to the Fort, I found 
 Gopeenauth' (Gopeenay) in my quarters. He and his 
 wife and two children had been in the hands of the 
 Mohammedans more than four days, and very badly 
 treated. Immediately on our disaster here the Moham- 
 medans set up a government of their own, which 
 lasted nine days. They took the way of making 
 converts which is peculiarly their own. Gopeenauth's 
 feet were in the stocks four days and nights, and his 
 wife was treated with great cruelty. On the night of 
 the outbreak your nephew escaped to the Ganges, and 
 was there found by the Mohammedans, and thence 
 brought to their head- quarters. There Gopeenauth met 
 with him, saw him wounded with sword-cuts, and 
 showed him all the kindness in his power. The Mo- 
 hammedans seeing this, separated them, and made 
 GopeenauthV feet fast in the stocks. Your nephew 
 suffered greatly from thirst. Gopeenauth tried to get 
 milk for him, but the Mohammedans prevented even 
 this trifling kindness ; nor would they allow him to give 
 him a drink of water. Gopeenauth was enabled, by 
 Divine grace, to witness a good confession. He pub- 
 licly declared his faith before the scoffing Moham- 
 medans; had worship with your nephew, and the 
 other Christians who were with him, and showed that 
 he was not ashamed of Jesus. He was frequently
 
 HIS DEATH. 33 
 
 threatened with death by the Mohammedans, and 
 told them he was not afraid ! Your nephew said to 
 him, e Padre Sahib ! hold on to your faith don't give it 
 
 up 
 
 i > 
 
 " On Tuesday, the 16th, after the party had reached 
 the Fort, I was engaged in trying to make Gopeenauth 
 and his family comfortable, and arranging for their 
 immediate passage to Calcutta. While thus engaged I 
 heard that young Cheek was very ill. Some one also 
 said, that he had a relative living at Bancoorah. I 
 instantly thought of you and Dr. Cheek, and without 
 a moment's delay ran down to the hospital to see him. 
 But it was too late j he was insensible, and died shortly 
 afterwards. I never had the pleasure of his acquaint- 
 ance, nor did I know, till too late to get a message from 
 him, that he was related to you. After his recovery 
 from the hand of the Mohammedan savages all was 
 done for him that could be done; but his severe 
 wounds, and exposure to the sun, and want of nourish- 
 ment were too much for his physical frame. It will be 
 a comfort to his friends to know that he received Chris- 
 tian burial from the Chaplain, the Rev. A. B. Spry, in 
 the trenches of the Fort, on the morning of Wednesday, 
 June 17th, a blessing denied to many of his brother 
 officers, whose bodies were never recovered after the 
 massacre, and have probably been devoured by wild 
 birds and beasts. These are mysterious dispensations 
 of Divine Providence : but Jehovah reigns, and will 
 doubtless bring good out of all this evil. The move- 
 ment appears to be a Mohammedan one ; the cartridges 
 
 D
 
 34 HIS DEATH. 
 
 are dexterously used as a handle for laying hold of the 
 Hindoos. " With best regards, 
 
 " Yours most sincerely, 
 
 " JOSEPH ABEN." 
 
 The remarks of the uncle, to whom these letters 
 were addressed, in his letter to his brother in England, 
 must not be withheld : 
 
 " He (Marcus) is now clothed in white robes the 
 righteousness of his blessed Saviour is crowned with 
 the crown of glory. Happy Marcus ! So soon taken 
 from a world of sin and misery to a state of happiness 
 in glory, and enjoying the presence of the Saviour, 
 whom he boldly confessed before men. Do you not 
 feel this, my brother and sister? Can you wish the 
 beloved one back again? Does it not call for great 
 thankfulness that he was permitted to show his 
 faith in Jesus, while his comrades were killed on the 
 instant ? Think not of the sufferings the dear departed 
 went through the few days he was in the rebels' hands ; 
 think of the manner in which he has glorified his God 
 and Saviour, and of the happiness he is now enjoying, 
 purchased through the blood of Christ, to whom be all 
 the glory ! " 
 
 A better idea will be formed of the amount of suffer- 
 ing endured by our young hero, of the strength of faith 
 he displayed, and of the sustaining grace of God which 
 supported him, from the following statement of the 
 medical gentleman who attended him in his last hours. 
 The letter is addressed to Dr. Cheek, of Benares :
 
 HIS DEATH. 35 
 
 " Allahabad, June 30. 
 
 " MY DEAR CHEEK, Your poor young cousin was 
 brought into the fort in a very exhausted state between 
 eleven and twelve o'clock on the 16th, and died a few 
 minutes before four o'clock the same evening, and was 
 buried in the fort. Brettingham and I saw him, and 
 did all we could for him. He had an incised wound 
 over the right ear, through the scalp, an inch and a-half 
 long ; another in the left elbow, and left humerus frac- 
 tured; his mind wandering ; the skin was literally off his 
 chest and thighs from exposure to the sun, fyc., fyc." 
 
 What, but strength from God, could have supported 
 our young hero under such sufferings, during those 
 four days and nights of solitary agony on the banks of 
 the Ganges, and nerved him with such faith and 
 endurance in the midst of scoffing and blood-thirsty 
 Mohammedans, threatening him with death unless he 
 denied his Saviour ! We have in this evidence of God's 
 faithfulness to his promise : " As thy day, thy strength 
 shall be." He who calls his children to great trials and 
 sufferings will impart special " grace to help in time 
 of need." What striking proof have we of this in the 
 case before us, and also in that of the martyrs. The 
 weakness of youth and womanhood has waxed strong 
 in the hour of trial, thus strengthened from on high. 
 Weak humanity has never exhibited such super-human 
 power, or appeared in more grandeur, than when thus 
 called to the endurance of " cruel mockings," and cruel 
 deaths for Christ. How many and how striking have 
 D 2
 
 36 HIS DEATH. 
 
 been the instances of this during the late troubles and 
 appalling atrocities ! 
 
 The following extract from a letter of a dear friend, 
 the wife of a Christian missionary, will supply proof of 
 this : 
 
 " Bangalore, July 20, 1857. 
 
 " MY BELOVED FANNY, You will be anxious to have 
 a line from us in these troublous times ; and, just now, 
 it is to us no small comfort that we have your sympathy 
 and prayers. We cannot doubt that many a fervent 
 supplication is ascending from our beloved country on 
 our behalf, and for this sorely tried land; and may it 
 not be in answer to these, coupled with those we have 
 presented here, that hitherto we have been kept in 
 .safety ? 
 
 " Since we last wrote, we have suffered the most 
 painful alarm. Every day has brought tidings from 
 the north of the most harrowing nature, either of fresh 
 outbreaks, or of plots discovered, just in time to 
 prevent their being executed ; or of barbarities on the 
 part of the mutineers only equalled by the atrocities of 
 the North American Indians, or those fierce Fingoes'in 
 South Africa. We have been watching the increasing 
 storm with the intensest anxiety, and seeing it draw- 
 ing nearer to us, until at last came this unwelcome 
 truth, that it was around and among us. I cannot tell 
 you the feelings with which we first realized this. Some 
 of us felt that a natural death, or even being suddenly 
 massacred, was a small thing compared to the indig-
 
 HIS DEATH. 37* 
 
 nities and lingering tortures which might await us. 
 The great perfidy of the (native) troops, everywhere, 
 made us feel safe at no moment. The Lord's people, 
 at least many of them, drew together, and united 
 in earnest prayer to Him who alone can protect and 
 save us: We met, and still meet, in one of our school- 
 rooms, at seven in the evening. The flushed cheeks 
 and tears of the ladies, and the trembling voices of 
 those (often officers) who lead our devotions, tell how 
 deep is the general feeling. But these have already 
 been seasons of much blessing. We have felt it good 
 to unite in humbling ourselves before God, confessing 
 our sins and the sins of our people, and have found our 
 little strength renewed, and our hope and trust con- 
 firmed. We have been quite astonished to see how 
 numerous were the portions of Divine truth just 
 adapted to our peculiar position and circumstances. 
 Some histories, which we before regarded as belonging 
 to a past age, have contained such appropriate instruc- 
 tion and consolation that we have admired and blessed 
 the wisdom that left them on record. One evening, 
 dear Fanny, I shall long remember with thankfulness. 
 In addition to alarming accounts in the papers, we had 
 that day received letters from the different places, con- 
 taining the most harrowing details. My dear husband 
 and I felt extremely depressed; we felt that, before 
 night was over, we and our beloved boy might be called 
 to undergo similar treatment. We took the Bible, and 
 read the Saviour's last instructions to his disciples in
 
 38 HIS DEATH. 
 
 anticipation of the persecutions they would be called to 
 endure ; and as we lingered over and pondered his 
 words of comfort, the Holy Spirit the Comforter came 
 to us, removed the load that oppressed our hearts, and 
 made us feel that we could accept anything with Christ 
 and for Christ. May the love He has shown us in 
 these times of trial bind our hearts more closely 
 to Him!" 
 
 Such precious records of the faith and patience of 
 many of our countrymen and countrywomen in India, 
 shed a halo of heavenly glory over those trying scenes 
 through which many of them have passed to that 
 bright and better world, where they now experience 
 "fulness of joy at God's right hand;" and "sorrow 
 and sighing are for ever done away." 
 
 Such was the noble conduct of Marcus Cheek in the 
 hour of trial and death. Who that contemplates this 
 noble youth in the presence of cruel and scoffing 
 Mohammedans,- threatening him with torture and death 
 unless he denied his Saviour, yet boldly confessing Him, 
 and exhorting others to the same fidelity, can hesitate to 
 enrol him in that " noble army of martyrs " who, " out 
 of weakness were made strong, and waxed valiant in 
 the fight " of faith ? There is something touching in 
 his last moments of consciousness, in the allusion of 
 the dying youth to his mother. The last earthly desire 
 which he expressed was to write to his mother ! The 
 love, the tenderness, the gratitude expressed in so
 
 HIS DEATH. 39 
 
 touching a remembrance, breathes in it the spirit of 
 Jesus, who in His last moments of unparalleled agony 
 on the cross regarded his mother with affection, and 
 cared for her comfort. To the sorrowing heart of the 
 bereaved mother of our young martyr such a remem- 
 brance of her in such an hour may well prove a 
 precious consolation in the season of her sorrow. Under 
 whatever circumstances it may have been permitted 
 to happen, " precious in the sight of the Lord is the 
 death of his saints." It was the desire of an apostle 
 " that Christ might be glorified in his body, whether by 
 life or by death;" this privilege was granted to Marcus 
 Cheek. A long life of distinguished piety and useful- 
 ness could not have glorified the Saviour more than our 
 young Christian hero did by his stedfast, suffering, and 
 triumphant faith in Christ, in suffering and dying 
 hours. We must estimate life not by length of days, 
 but by the fruits of faith, by which the Saviour is glo- 
 rified. What though, as in the case of Marcus Cheek, 
 the mortal remains of our beloved ones may slumber in 
 distant lands, in unknown and unvisited graves, the 
 Saviour watches over their sleeping dust ; " they rest 
 in their graves." Those graves contain precious 
 "jewels," which Jesus purchased with His own blood. 
 He will ransom them from the grave, and will claim 
 and acknowledge them as his " own" in that day when 
 He will "make up his jewels." The word of Christ 
 abideth for ever : " Whosoever shall confess me before 
 men, him will I confess also before my Father which is 
 in heaven." (Matt. xi. 32.)
 
 40 HIS DEATH. 
 
 " His soul to Him who gave it rose, 
 God led it to his long repose, 
 
 Its glorious rest. 
 
 And though the Warrior's sun is set, 
 Its light shall linger round us yet, 
 Bright, radiant, blest." 
 
 Longfellow,
 
 LETTERS OF SYMPATHY. 41 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 LETTERS OF SYMPATHY AND CONSOLATION TO 
 THE PARENTS OF MARCUS CHEEK.* 
 
 SYMPATHY of man with man in joy and sorrow is one 
 of those benevolent laws of human nature, implanted 
 and provided by God for human happiness ; for the in- 
 crease of our mutual joys, and the mitigation of our 
 mutual sorrows. How powerful and valuable is the 
 manifestation of this sympathy at all times, but espe- 
 cially so in the hour of sorrow and bereavement ! It 
 is so universal, that we cannot behold sorrow in others 
 without being in some measure touched with it our- 
 selves. The tears of the bereaved parent appeal too 
 strongly to the tenderness of our nature, and we can 
 no more resist the contagion of grief, or be unmoved 
 by the smile of rejoicing thankfulness, than the mirror 
 refuse to give back the image placed before it, or the 
 face of nature resist the glow of sunshine in the 
 unclouded light of noon. The Christian religion, so 
 
 * The Author is bound to apologise to the sympathising friends 
 whose letters are given in this chapter, for the liberty taken in 
 publishing them, without previously asking their consent. His 
 excuse must be the difficulty of obtaining the consent of so many 
 parties, and his unwillingness to delay this publication a day 
 longer than necessary.
 
 42 LETTERS OF SYMPATHY AND CONSOLATION 
 
 wonderfully adapted to the wants of man's nature, as to 
 assure us that He who made the one is the author 
 of the other, supplies the most powerful motives to the 
 exercise of this sympathy. It reveals to us the charac- 
 ter of God, as " the God of consolation" * " God that 
 comforteth those that are cast down." f He hath 
 given us in his holy Word, " many .exceeding great and 
 precious promises," all adapted to comfort us in the 
 seasons of our sorrow. We have revealed to us a sym- 
 pathizing Saviour, of whom we read that " He wept " 
 at the grave of Lazarus, whom He loved ; of whom the 
 prophet declares, " He hath home our griefs and carried 
 our sorrows;" and who, though He hath passed into 
 the heavens, and is far beyond the reach of sorrows, 
 "can yet he touched with the feeling of our infirmities," 
 because, when on earth, " He was in all points tempted 
 and tried like as we are, yet without sin." J 
 
 " Touched with a sympathy within, 
 
 He knows our feeble frame ; 
 He knows what sore temptations mean, 
 For He hath felt the same." 
 
 We have sympathizing friends, who "weep" with 
 us when we weep, and "rejoice" with us when we 
 rejoice. How grateful ought we to feel for this merci- 
 ful provision made for our comfort for that sympathy, 
 which flowing through so many channels, cheers and 
 sustains the mourner in times of sadness and affliction ! 
 
 It has been the privilege of the bereaved parents of 
 Marcus Cheek to experience this. The sufferings, 
 
 * Eom. xv. 5. f 2 Cor. vii.6. J Heb. iv. 15.
 
 TO THE PARENTS. 43 
 
 faith, and death of their noble boy have awakened 
 sympathy in thousands of Christian hearts, and called 
 forth precious expressions of it in numerous letters to 
 them, some of which the writer is privileged to tran- 
 scribe. The following selection from the many before 
 him, must suffice : 
 
 LOED MARCUS HILL (TO THE FATHER.) 
 
 " MY DEAR OSWALD, I thank you much for the 
 perusal of the several letters which I return. They 
 are of no small interest to me in connexion with the 
 early fate of my godson. 
 
 " What a melancholy gratification it is to know that 
 he was so much appreciated. 
 
 " God give you all resignation and consolation ! 
 " I am, very sincerely yours, 
 
 "Aug. 7." "A. MARCUS C. HILL. 
 
 THE EARL OF SHAFTESBURY. 
 
 " Spa, Sept. 14, 1857. 
 
 " SIR, A letter from you to the Editor of the 
 ( Times ' reveals the name of that noble boy who died 
 by the hands of assassins near Allahabad. 
 
 " I cannot repress the desire I feel to express my 
 deepest sympathy with yourself, and my unbounded ad- 
 miration of the heroism and conduct of your precious 
 son. 
 
 " But we must do more than this ; we must (we, I
 
 44 LETTERS OF SYMPATHY AND CONSOLATION 
 
 mean every Englishman, nay, every true Christian) 
 we must give humble and hearty thanks to Almighty God, 
 who raised up one of such tender years to bear such 
 testimony, at such a time and in such circumstances. 
 Surely, never were the words of the Liturgy more 
 applicable : ' We also bless thy holy name for all thy 
 servants departed this life in thy faith and fear; be- 
 seeching thee to give us grace so to follow their good 
 examples, that with them we may be partakers of thy 
 heavenly kingdom/ 
 
 " As a father, you must deeply feel the loss, for the 
 flesh is strong ; but as a Christian, you will rejoice to 
 have been the father of such a child; and remember, 
 too (we cannot see into futurity) that his end, had he 
 lived longer, might not have been equal to his begin- 
 ning. But now he is in everlasting security, beyond all 
 the harm that might have reached him from the world, 
 the flesh, and the devil. 
 
 " It is not given to many parents to produce such 
 sons ; and it is given to still fewer to have such com- 
 plete and unmistakeable assurance that they are entered 
 into their rest. 
 
 " You will excuse this intermeddling with your 
 sorrows ; but I have myself experienced something very 
 similar ; and I have the comfort of these considerations. 
 
 " I am, Sir, with much sympathy, 
 
 " Your faithful servant, 
 
 " SHAFTESBURY."
 
 TO THE PARENTS. 45 
 
 THE ARCHDEACON OF MEATH. 
 
 " Archdeaconry, Kells, Ireland, 
 Sept. 13, 1857. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, Your loss is one that must engage the 
 sympathy of thousands whom you can never know. 
 Will you permit a stranger to express it ? 
 
 " When the great and good Duke of Ormond heard 
 of the death of his brave son, fighting against an enemy 
 as barbarous as Sepoys, he exclaimed, f l would not 
 exchange my dead son for any living son in Christen- 
 dom/ 
 
 ", Where could this apply so well as to one who has 
 early won his heavenly crown, with a spirit so unsub- 
 dued by suffering, so faithful unto death ? 
 
 "But the expression needs some change for him. 
 He is not dead, but liveth unto God. 
 
 " I thank God that his words have been preserved, to 
 be an example to many, and I trust a comfort to 
 yourself. 
 
 " I remain, with sincerest sympathy, 
 " Your faifrhful servant, 
 
 . A. STOPFORD, 
 " Archdeacon of Meath."
 
 46 LETTERS OF SYMPATHY AND CONSOLATION 
 
 THE HON. AND REV. BAPTIST W. NOEL, M.A., 
 
 ON THE DEATH OF ENSIGN CHEEK, AND FIVE OTHER 
 YOUNG ENSIGNS, MURDERED AT ALLAHABAD (AGED 
 SEVENTEEN). 
 
 " Treason in Delhi's walls had risen ; 
 
 Bengal's battalions rose ; 
 And every fort became a prison 
 Begirt with Sepoy foes. 
 
 " Throughout the lines of Allahabad 
 
 Fanatic fury grew ; 
 And mutineers, with hatred mad, 
 Their own commanders slew. 
 
 " One only from the gory heap 
 
 Crept out to die alone ; 
 He did not wail, nor groan, nor weep, 
 But said, ' Thy will be done ! ' 
 
 " "Within the covert of a wood, 
 
 Close by a streamlet's play, 
 Wounded and destitute of food, 
 Four days the soldier lay. 
 
 " And now they find him 'midst the trees 
 
 Not friends who bring relief 
 But Sepoys, who with fury seize 
 And drag hin> to their chief. 
 
 " One brandishes a bloody knife ; 
 All hate to Christians bear ; 
 Fresh stabs will take his ebbing life 
 New curses wound his ear. 
 
 " But who is he that elder man, 
 
 Bound, beaten, fearing worse, 
 On whom each fierce Mahommedan 
 Is pouring out his curse ?
 
 TO THE PARENTS. 47 
 
 " Why are those guards around him set ? 
 
 Those cords upon his wrist ? 
 He teas the slave of Mahomet, 
 And now he preaches Christ. 
 
 " ' Repent ! ' exclaimed the Sepoy crew, 
 
 ' Or Allah's vengeance taste ! ' 
 ' Repent ! ' exclaimed their Captain too, 
 ' Or this day is thy last ! 
 
 " ' Seek then the prophet's aid by prayer, 
 
 Abjure the Christian lie ; 
 Or by his sacred name I swear, 
 Apostate, thou shall die ! ' 
 
 " The drops are standing on his brow, 
 
 His quivering lips are pale; 
 
 Who will sustain his weakness now, 
 
 For hope and courage fail ? 
 
 " Then spake the wounded boy, while faith 
 
 Lighted his languid eye : 
 1 Brother ! ne'er from dread of death 
 Thy Saviour's name deny ! ' 
 
 " Trembling no more, no more afraid, 
 The prisoner hears them crave ; 
 Those words, that dying look, have made 
 His faltering spirit brave. 
 
 " ' Hark ! hark ! it is the tramp of men ; 
 
 The Fusiliers are here ! ' 
 And, rushing headlong down the den, 
 The Sepoys disappear. 
 
 " The Teacher clasped his hands with joy, 
 1 We are saved ! Our foes are fled ! ' 
 And then he turned to bless the boy, 
 The heroic boy was dead !
 
 48 LETTERS OF SYMPATHY AND CONSOLATION 
 
 " They bore his placid corpse away, 
 
 And dug a quiet grave 
 Far from his childhood's home, which lay 
 Across the Western wave. 
 
 " But ye who love him still shall greet 
 
 Your loved one once again ; 
 For all who trust in Jesus meet 
 Beyond the reach of pain !" 
 
 B. W. N. 
 
 THE REV. DR. WILLIAMSON. 
 
 " Per shore Vicarage, Sept. 26, 1857. 
 " DEAR SIR, I hope you will not think that 
 I intrude too soon, stranger as I am, upon your 
 domestic sorrow, if I send you a few words expressive 
 of my deep sympathy with you in the loss of your son 
 in India. 
 
 " I do not know when I have read so touching 
 a story, as given in the newspapers, as his, poor boy ! 
 And that noble confession of faith with which he 
 closed his life, when he encouraged his fellow-sufferer 
 to stand firm, and not to deny his Lord as one cannot 
 read without tears. Surely, if the recollection of his 
 heroism and truth can soften the grief which his loss 
 must cause you, you have that consolation abundantly 
 granted you, by his and your common Saviour. 
 " I am, dear Sir, with much respect, 
 " Yours faithfully, 
 
 " R. WILLIAMSON."
 
 TO THE PARENTS. 49 
 
 FROM A LADY. 
 
 " SIR, I trust you will excuse a stranger for 
 intruding upon you in your time of poignant sorrow, 
 by writing a few lines of sincere and heartfelt sympathy. 
 No one in our domestic circle could read the touching 
 details of your noble son's steadfast faith and manly 
 fortitude, amid his solitary and acute sufferings at 
 Allahabad, without shedding tears. We wept when we 
 thought of the lonely, mourning hearts of his parents, 
 bereaved of such a son, so worthy of being the object 
 of the warmest parental affection ; and even then, there 
 were mingled tears of holy joy with those of sorrow, as 
 we thought on the bright transition to his pure eman- 
 cipated spirit, as it winged its flight from the dreary 
 scenes of rapine and bloodshed, to the sheltering arms 
 of that compassionate and sympathizing Saviour, 
 to whom he had been firmly " faithful unto death." 
 The crown of life now gleams on his purified 
 brow ; he has ' washed his robes, and made them white 
 in the precious blood of the Lamb/ In the lonely 
 ravine, where his last suffering days were past, I believe 
 many thoughts of his far distant home would come 
 over his weary spirit, and perhaps the blessed memory 
 of instruction received there in happier days might con- 
 tribute, under God's blessing, to the completion of the 
 work of sanctification within him and to his final 
 ripening for glory. The last efforts of his expiring 
 nature were given in his Redeemer's cause ! Oh, Sir ! 
 E
 
 50 LETTERS OF SYMPATHY AND CONSOLATION 
 
 what comfort to you in thinking of this fact. Among 
 all the incidents which I have read from India not one 
 has touched my heart with the same interest as that of 
 your dear son. Do excuse my boldness in writing. I 
 have five sons ; one dear daughter is, I believe, in the 
 same bright land with your precious departed one ; 
 therefore my heart would mingle its sympathy in your 
 grief. My husband begs also to join me in this, and 
 commending you to Jesus' care and love, 
 " I remain, faithfully yours, 
 
 "ELIZA BANKS THOMSON." 
 
 AN INCIDENT IN THE WAR. 
 (From the " Essex Herald") 
 
 OH earth, earth, earth ! thy loud deep cry, 
 
 Full of intensest agony, 
 
 Comes mourning o'er the surging wave, 
 
 "With shrieks for succour from the brave ; 
 
 Thy sunlit morn, thy midnight air, 
 
 Echo the fever of despair ; 
 
 Thy social fabric rent and riven, 
 
 Breathes its sad prayer for help from heaven. 
 
 Resting upon yon Christian's doom, 
 
 One brightening ray pervades the gloom ; 
 
 It permeates his earthly night, 
 
 With beams of everlasting light. 
 
 Weary, exhausted, faint, and worn, 
 In frantic demons' battle storm ; 
 He sees a little streamlet play 
 With the frail insect of a day, 
 And slowly drags his sinking frame
 
 TO THE PARENTS. 51 
 
 To the cool current of the plain ; 
 Where, sinking on the blood-stained sod, 
 He bathes his lips and seeks his God. 
 
 Night closes round, too well he knows 
 Darkness releases other foes 
 Foes framed by nature to be wild ; 
 The forest and the jungle child. 
 He finds a shelter in a tree, 
 And from their hungry jaws is free ; 
 But man, far fiercer than the beast, 
 Seeks in his Christian blood a feast, 
 And gloats with fiendish joy his eyes 
 Upon the hapless youth his prize ; 
 His weakened limbs, resistless now, 
 Before his heathen conqueror bow ; 
 In very helplessness he yields, 
 Nor dares to show the scorn he feels, 
 But what to him the road he treads, 
 While God his soul with manna feeds ? 
 His earthly home, his youthful life, 
 Must pay the penalty of strife ; 
 Death's shadow, like a veil of love, 
 Gently descending from above, 
 Is hovering near to strike a blow, 
 To free him from his tyrant foe. 
 Yet stay, poor youth, one trial more 
 Awaits thee, ere thy mission's o'er ; 
 Thou hast an aged Christian friend, 
 On whose pale, quivering lips suspend 
 The name of his new worshipped Lord, 
 The hatred of the Hindoo horde ; 
 By cruel tortures he must die, 
 Or Jesus' blessed name deny. 
 
 Oh, in this struggling conflict, Lord, 
 Do Thou thy strength and grace afford ; 
 Give vigour to that feeble youth, 
 That he may plead the cause of truth. 
 
 E 2
 
 52 LETTERS OF SYMPATHY AND CONSOLATION 
 
 He gently whispers in his ear, 
 
 " Behold by faith a Saviour near." 
 
 He pleads that Saviour's suffering name, 
 
 And bids the aged man proclaim 
 
 To heathens, that " He dies to live 
 
 In bliss which Christ alone can give." 
 
 He needs no more ; that living faith 
 
 Invests him with a hope in death ; 
 
 Then turns to bless the Christian boy 
 
 Who fills his dying ears with joy ; 
 
 But he is not ; the spirit band 
 
 Had borne him to a happier land ; 
 
 And through that night the old man's dream 
 
 Was full of Jesus' precious theme, 
 
 " Whoso on earth confesses me 
 
 Will I confess eternally." 
 
 ALPHA. 
 
 FROM A LADY. 
 
 " HONOURED SIR, I must honour the parent of 
 the young hero, saint, and martyr of Allahabad, in 
 proportion to the reverence I feel for his son, in common 
 with all who have or shall read the details of his most 
 glorious and triumphant death, supported and supporting 
 another with his latest breath, by his most holy faith, 
 amidst sufferings and terrors at which the stoutest 
 hearts might quail. Yours is indeed a rich consolation ; 
 your soldier of Christ promoted to 'the holy army of 
 martyrs/ whom we reverently remember in our Church 
 prayers ! May we all be given grace to follow their 
 good examples ! 
 
 " But I must, as a perfect stranger, apologize for
 
 TO THE PARENTS. 53 
 
 the liberty I have taken in addressing you. A very 
 dear godson of mine was a fellow-voyager with your 
 precious son, reached that ill-fated station one day 
 before him, and would, on this day, have completed 
 his eighteenth year. He fell on that sad Gtk of June, 
 but how, or when, we cannot learn, and the accounts of 
 that dreadful night given in the papers are so vague and 
 various, that his poor parents and friends are constantly 
 torn by the conflicting accounts given, without know- 
 ing which to believe. His name was Thomas Lane 
 Bayliff; and if in any letters you may have, his untimely 
 and much lamented death is mentioned, you would 
 confer a great favour on the writer and his sorrowing 
 and bereaved family, by letting me know any particulars 
 of his melancholy fate which may have reached you. 
 He, too, was a jewel ; but few find grace early or late 
 to shine with lustre such as your dear lost son's. May 
 the God of consolation support you under your bereave- 
 ment ! 
 
 " I have the honour to be, yours, &c., 
 
 "E. B. LANZEEN." 
 
 FROM A LADY. 
 
 " DEAR SIR, "Will you accept this poor expression 
 of a stranger's sympathy with your sorrow and your 
 
 consolation ? 
 
 "THE LAST BREATH. 
 " Dark faces thronged around them, 
 
 Beneath an Eastern sky ; 
 Two helpless captives hunted forth 
 To suffer and to die.
 
 54 LETTERS OF SYMPATHY AND CONSOLATION 
 
 " Dark faces swarmed around them, 
 Raging with hate and scorn ; 
 
 They stood amid a host of foes, 
 Weak, wasted, and forlorn. 
 
 " The one, an English stripling, 
 
 What thoughts are with him there ? 
 
 His father's blessing on his head 
 His mother's parting prayer. 
 
 " So late, their tears and kisses 
 Seem warm upon his brow ! 
 
 Their voices murm'ring in his ear 
 Oh ! could they see him now ! 
 
 " And one, a swarthy native 
 Who, in some hour of need, 
 
 Had learned to serve a holier God, 
 And teach a purer creed. 
 
 " Well might his spirit falter, 
 
 Well might his heart be wrung ; 
 
 The taunts and curses heaped on him 
 Were in his native tongue. 
 
 " The memories of his childhood, 
 
 The friendships of his youth 
 
 Life, home, and freedom proffered still, 
 
 Would he but spurn the truth. 
 
 " What marvel if that moment 
 
 A wavering thought might crave 
 
 An aching doubt, Is mine a God 
 Who will not smite or save ? 
 
 " But clear above the tumult 
 
 Arose a warning word 
 In English accents, ' Oh, my friend, 
 Deny not Christ the Lord ! '
 
 TO THE PARENTS. 55 
 
 " And, strengthened for endurance, 
 
 He gazes on the foe 
 Yet, hark ! what mean those rushing sounds ? 
 
 Well do the traitors know ! 
 
 " Nearer the tramp of horsemen ! 
 
 Nearer that ringing shout ! 
 And wild, wild yells of baffled rage, 
 
 They flee in headlong rout. 
 
 " The rescued native utters 
 
 A cry of thanks and joy ; 
 But mute and lifeless at their feet 
 
 Lies the brave English boy ! 
 
 " Sees not the friendly faces, 
 
 Hears not the victor's cheer ; 
 But who may tell what sights or sounds 
 
 Woke on his eye and ear ? 
 
 " The faithful, the true-hearted 
 
 Far shall his tale be heard ; 
 His spirit had departed, 
 
 E'en with the warning word." 
 
 FROM A LADY. 
 
 " 9th September, 1857. 
 
 "MY DEAR SIR, As human sympathy seems the 
 best consolation in sorrow, next to the comfort which we 
 know will be bestowed by a gracious God upon those 
 whom He has permitted to suffer affliction for some 
 hidden good to those who trust in Him, I cannot 
 forbear telling you that I know a wide circle wherein
 
 56 LETTERS OF SYMPATHY AND CONSOLATION 
 
 your noble son has been distinguished above all the 
 sufferers in this dreadful time of crime and sorrow. 
 
 "We think the faith which shone so brightly in 
 your son's fearful trial must have been learnt at the 
 home he had so recently left. 
 
 "The faith which supported the son will, I trust, 
 enable the father to seek and obtain comfort from 
 whence only it can be obtained. 
 
 " Sincerely wishing that your eldest son may return 
 in safety, 
 
 I remain, 
 
 "THE MOTHER OF AN OFFICER NOW 
 BEFORE DELHI." 
 
 FROM A LADY. 
 
 " Richmond-hill, Surrey. 
 
 " SIR, I have sent you by this day's post a little 
 book, entitled ' Gone Home to be with Jesus.' It is 
 out of print, so you must excuse its being dirty. It 
 may interest you to hear that an excellent discourse 
 was preached on the account given of your son (I 
 was told) at Marylebone Church, on Sunday last. 
 The little book is on the death of a child, but will, I 
 trust, comfort you. What are all the sufferings of the 
 body the shell compared to the triumphs of the 
 emancipated spirit? My own heart is mourning the 
 loss of a darling child, so I can feel for you under your 
 acuter affliction. But how glorious was your noble
 
 TO THE PARENTS. 57 
 
 boy's death after all ! glorious in the sight of angels 
 and the Great Redeemer, whose faith he confessed, and 
 who will not deny him when He comes again in the 
 clouds of heaven attended by all his saints. 
 
 " Yours sympathizingly, 
 
 " JULIA A. BARRETT." 
 
 BY THE SAME. 
 
 "LINES ON THE NOBLE YOUNG OFFICER AT 
 ALLAHABAD. 
 
 ' Those were well-spoken -words, young Ensign brave 
 ' Deny not' Him who died thy soul to save ! 
 ' Deny not' Him who suffered pangs untold ! 
 Oh ! ' Come what may,' the faith of Christ uphold ! 
 Thy mission was fulfilled, thy Lord was nigh ; 
 Angels rejoiced, and wafted thee on high ! 
 For ever free from all thy foes and fears, 
 Jesus will thee confess ' when He appears ! ' 
 
 "J. A. B." 
 
 FROM A LADY. 
 
 " SIR, Your great grief is borne upon thousands of 
 hearts in this country ; but condolence for your natural 
 distress must mingle with high congratulations in being 
 the father of a Christian hero, who, having proved 
 himself ' a child of God ' upon earth, is now (we may 
 not doubt it) an 'inheritor of the kingdom of heaven/
 
 58 LETTERS OF SYMPATHY AND CONSOLATION 
 
 " I venture to beg your acceptance of two copies of 
 the accompanying stanzas, to the memory of your son. 
 "I remain, Sir, with much sympathy, &c., 
 
 "RACHEL ELIZ. CRESSWELL. 
 " Bank House, King's Lynn, 
 Sept. 10, 1857. 
 
 "THE YOUTHFUL MARTYR. 
 
 " Four weary nights and days, 
 
 In danger and distress, 
 By the river brink he laid, 
 In utter helplessness. 
 
 " He hears the wild beasts' howl, 
 
 And the jackal prowling nigh ; 
 But 't is music to the sound 
 Of the Sepoys' cry. 
 
 " The boy was scarce sixteen 
 When he left his parents' side 
 For India, with her storied pomp, 
 And her military pride. 
 
 " A few short, busy months ! 
 Bleeding and wounded, he, 
 By the mutineers in Allhabad 
 Unseen, in misery, 
 
 " Crawls from the crimson field, 
 Drinks of the running stream, 
 Then sinks exhausted, slumbers, 
 And dreams 't is all a dream ! 
 
 " He has nobly done his work, 
 
 Nor grudged his young life-blood ; 
 For the mother and the children 
 To the death he stood.
 
 TO THE PARENTS. 59 
 
 " Now life is ebbing fast ; 
 
 But he deems the hour blest, 
 When, on his Saviour's bosom, 
 He shall sink to rest. 
 
 " Not yet, not yet, young hero ! 
 
 Though thy work be well nigh done, 
 There is a nobler deed before thee, 
 
 Ere the victory be won ! 
 
 " The fiendish traitors find him, 
 
 They drag him to their lair 
 A man in tortured agony 
 
 Is writhing there. 
 
 " It is a Christian convert, 
 
 Not daring to deny 
 The Lord of life and glory, 
 And yet afraid to die. 
 
 With promises of freedom, life, 
 
 They ply their victim still ; 
 But death, in every hideous shape, 
 
 If he refuse their will. 
 
 " Oh ! 'twas a fearful moment ! 
 
 A soul endangered then 
 The immortal for the mortal 
 
 Perilled from fear of men. 
 
 " There is a hush, a stillness ; 
 
 For a voice, soft, calm, and clear, 
 Issues from lips so deadly white 
 The murderers pause to hear : 
 
 " ' Oh ! whatsoe'er you suffer 
 
 Oh ! whatsoe'er you do, 
 Deny not Christ the Saviour, 
 The Lord who died for you !
 
 60 LETTERS OF SYMPATHY AND CONSOLATION 
 
 " 'T is past ! the sound has died away, 
 
 Drown'd in the war cry loud 
 Of British warriors, bursting 
 Upon the murd'rous crowd. 
 
 " The rescued convert turns to bless, 
 
 And for the boy to pray ; 
 He needs it not ! the victory's won 
 The spirit has passed away ! 
 
 " K. E. C." 
 
 THE REV. M. M. HUMBLE. 
 
 " Suit on Rectory, Chesterfield, 
 
 Sept. 11, 1857. 
 "Sin, * * * * 
 
 " I feel impelled to express to you, in however feeble 
 a way, my intense admiration of your child's Christian 
 courage and example, and, at the same time, my real 
 sympathy with you as a sorrowing parent. And yet, 
 let me say, Why sorrow in the way and to the extent 
 named in your letter ? Will not your noble son be 
 numbered with the glorious army of martyrs? And 
 what an honour is that to him, the coming crown 
 making even more bright and blessed the rest and light 
 of paradise, and to you, the instrumental author of his 
 existence ! Had he been spared to you on earth, could 
 any worldly honour any princely preferment any, 
 the highest, place in the kingdoms of this world, have 
 given him such a position as he now holds in the
 
 TO THE PARENTS. 61 
 
 ' Peerage ' Book of the King of kings ? Though 
 ' sorrowing/ yet surely you can and will ' rejoice/ I 
 only know that I have read of your son's confession 
 unto death as though I were carried back to the 
 apostolic age ; and, whilst I sympathize with your 
 sorrow as a parent, I rejoice and am thankful that out 
 of the evil and misery of this cruel Indian rebellion the 
 Great Head of the Church has brought to light such a 
 witness (the literal meaning of the word martyr) to His 
 truth and the power of His grace, and that at a time 
 when faith so much fails, and love is growing cold." 
 
 TO THE MOTHER. 
 SORROW NOT AS THOSE THAT HAVE NO HOPE. 
 
 " T was not a cruel hand that tore 
 Thy blossom from the bough, 
 And traced another line of woe, 
 Bereaved one, on thy brow. 
 
 " The sever'd cord will be reknit, 
 
 That wrung thy heart's deep core, 
 Where shears of death can enter not, 
 And life is evermore. 
 
 " There was a scar upon his brow, 
 
 The farewell mark of death ; 
 It changed into a martyr's crown, 
 A holy victor's wreath. 
 
 " Thou scarce hadst deem'd the grain was ripe 
 
 To harvest it so soon ; 
 Thou scarce hadst deem'd the morning full, 
 When, lo ! the light of noon.
 
 62 LETTERS OF SYMPATHY AND CONSOLATION 
 
 " Scarce was the earth-light kindled, when 
 
 Its flame was fast a-gone ; 
 But death could not extinguish it ; 
 For, lo ! a star it shone. 
 
 " Thou would'st not have him fading here 
 'Mid earth's cold winds and showers, 
 Rather than blooming even now 
 'Mid Heaven's gathered flowers. 
 
 " Then deem not thou as sad the life 
 
 That had so short an even : 
 Think of his martyr glories now 
 A chosen one of heaven. 
 
 " Think of thy hero, not thy boy 
 
 Thine angel, not thy son ; 
 And let thy worn heart yearn to know 
 The heaven he hath won. 
 
 " And yet we cannot still the sigh, 
 
 Forbid the dropping tear 
 He was too bound to us, too close, 
 Too well-belov'd, too dear. 
 
 " Oh ! may the God that claimed His ow. 
 
 Be near thee in thy sorrow ! 
 Life is but short thy martyr'd son 
 Shall greet thee on the morrow. 
 
 " LIZZIE FOSTER." 
 " Evesham." 
 
 FROM A LADY. 
 
 "Westow Hall, York, Sept. 16. 
 " SIR, I hope that even a stranger may venture to
 
 TO THE PARENTS. 63 
 
 offer to you some expression of the deep sympathy with 
 which she in common, doubtless, with thousands 
 has read that most touching account of the manner in 
 which it has pleased God that you should be deprived 
 of a most noble son. Deep, indeed, must be the 
 anguish of his parents and friends; and yet surely, 
 dear Sir, you have the highest consolation in your 
 intensity of grief. Is it not blessed indeed to think 
 that you had been enabled so to bring up your child as 
 he must have been brought up, and to think that at an 
 age so early he should have been permitted to win the 
 martyr's glorious crown ? 
 
 " A few days ago, I met with a passage relating to 
 the unspeakable horrors of this Indian war, which I 
 thought so beautiful and so consoling that I copied it, 
 and now I will venture to send it to you. I should be 
 indeed thankful if it should bring you any thought of 
 comfort : 
 
 " ' One thought, and one alone, can give any support 
 to the mind when these agonizing scenes are forced upon 
 it. There was One Spectator, whose thoughts are not 
 as our thoughts, and in whose eyes every pang, every 
 indignity, borne in submission to His will, was no stain 
 or pollution, but a fresh claim to glory. And among 
 the sufferers there may have been those who were sup- 
 ported by something above ordinary Christian patience, 
 by the knowledge that as by their labours in his service 
 they had not feared to risk the most fiery persecution, as 
 in his service they did not refuse to suffer it, so He was 
 admitting them through this gate of brief but terrible
 
 64 LINES TO THE MEMORY 
 
 anguish, to a place in that glorious rest under the altar 
 reserved for those " which were slain for the Word of God 
 and the testimony which they held," to cry out till their 
 number is accomplished, "How long, O Lord !" 
 
 "Many, many are the daily prayers offered for the 
 mourners, among whom you are now included ; and little 
 children join in these prayers. I have just now been 
 hearing a dear boy, Arthur, and his little sister, repeat 
 their prayers, and one prayer is for our countrymen in 
 India, adding the words, ' Comfort all their friends, and 
 bring all at length to heaven ! ' 
 
 " May our most loving Lord, who ' healeth the- broken 
 in heart and giveth medicine to heal their sickness/ heal 
 and comfort you and yours, and give you at length a 
 blessed meeting with the beloved one whom you have 
 not lost ! 
 
 " Allow me to remain, dear Sir, 
 
 " Yours in true sympathy, 
 
 "SARAH DONKIN." 
 
 LINES TO THE MEMORY OF THE LATE 
 ENSIGN CHEEK. 
 
 " ' How is he numbered among the children of God, and his 
 lot among the Saints.' First Evening Lesson for AH 
 Saints' Day. 
 
 " Basking in the light of summer, 
 England saw the red bolt fall, 
 And the plenteous joys of harvest 
 Quench'd by tidings from Bengal.
 
 OF THE LATE ENSIGN CHEEK. 65 
 
 " Then too came the mournful story 
 
 Of a youthful hero's death, 
 With his holy breast-plate round him, 
 Couch'd upon the shield of faith. 
 
 " Thinking of his pleasant childhood, 
 And his parents' sadden 'd years, 
 We a little while kept silence, 
 For we could not speak for tears ; 
 
 " And we said, such grief is sacred, 
 
 Let no careless foot intrude 
 
 On the holy ground of sorrow, 
 
 Till its anguish be subdued. 
 
 " When the months have faded slowly 
 
 We will give a song for him, 
 With the music of our dirges 
 Blending rapture's loftiest hymn, 
 
 " Turning with a deep thanksgiving 
 From his grave beneath the sod, 
 To the happy saints that slumber 
 'In the faith and fear of God.' 
 
 " Only such high song of triumph 
 
 Should be poured above the dead 
 As exulting angels chanted 
 When the early martyrs bled ; 
 
 " When, like parting sunlight, falling 
 
 Swiftly on the dying year, 
 Comes that day of pure rejoicing 
 Many a striving heart to cheer. 
 
 " We departed saints remember, 
 
 ' Meekly kneeling on our knees.' 
 Oh, thou young and brave confessor, 
 Come and take thy place with these ! 
 F
 
 66 LINES TO THE MEMORY OF ENSIGN CHEEK. 
 
 " With immortal hope to cheer thee, 
 
 Strong the waves of death to stem, 
 Thou wert tempted, slain, tormented 
 Come and share the crown with them. 
 
 " Witnessing a good confession, 
 
 With a courage high and calm, 
 Comforting a wavering brother, 
 Thine shall be the victor's palm. 
 
 " Rest thy burning thirst is over, 
 
 All thine agony and pain ; 
 Thou hast quaffed the living water, 
 And shalt never thirst again. 
 
 " D. S. W."
 
 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 67 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 
 
 THE preceding memorials of the early life, sufferings, 
 faith, and death of Marcus Cheek, suggest some impor- 
 tant remarks, which will form a suitable conclusion to 
 this work. 
 
 We see the importance of having the mind well 
 instructed and established, in early life, in the principles 
 of the religion of Christ. The season of childhood and 
 youth is the best time for sowing the seed of religious 
 instruction. The mind is then most tender, more sus- 
 ceptible of religious impression, and more free from 
 those evil principles by which advancing youth is sure to 
 be assailed ; and thus, with the blessing of God, becomes 
 fortified and strengthened against temptations. To 
 withhold religious training from the child, is to launch 
 inexperienced youth on a treacherous ocean, without 
 rudder or compass, the sport of every wind that blows, 
 to be driven on the rocks or engulphed in the deep. 
 Religious principles implanted in childhood are the 
 seeds of future excellence and usefulness. They may 
 be long buried, and may be thought to be lost ; but 
 F 2
 
 68 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 
 
 though in some cases it may be so, yet we know that, 
 unless the seed be sown at the proper season, there can 
 be no harvest. Though, for a time, the field may give 
 no promise of fruitfulness, it is a ground of hope that 
 the seed has been sown that the seed is there. It is a 
 further ground of hope that the Divine promise assures 
 us of the blessing : " In due time ye shall reap if ye 
 faint not." The time will arrive in which it will be 
 manifest that religious principles, early imparted, have 
 been the seeds of those excellencies which are developed 
 in after years, that thus the mind has been trained 
 and moulded for new and untried circumstances, and 
 strengthened to resist temptation, to endure affliction, 
 to bless others, and to glorify God. Let parents and 
 guardians of our youth, by assiduous religious teaching, 
 and with earnest prayer, thus implant religious princi- 
 ples, and right practice and religious fruitfulness will be 
 the result. If they neglect this, and yet expect that 
 our youths will be virtuous and holy, they are guilty of 
 the folly of those who expect to reap the harvest, but 
 have neglected to sow the seed. What pleasing proof 
 of this have we in the case of Marcus Cheek. His 
 voluntary dedication of himself to God in Confirmation 
 at Brussels, his own desire to renew that dedication at 
 the Lord's Table, on the first opportunity that offered 
 on his return to England, are proofs of this. The 
 religious principles implanted in childhood, developed 
 their vitality and efficacy in India, sustaining him in 
 the time of suffering, and nerving him with Christian 
 courage, rather to die for Christ than to deny Him.
 
 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 69 
 
 Oh, that like Marcus Cheek, every young reader of this 
 work were persuaded, and enabled by Divine grace, to 
 give up the heart early to God, and to walk in his ways. 
 Such know not the future circumstances of their coming 
 days, what temptations, what trials, what dangers, are 
 before them. The only sure way to happiness, to 
 safety, and comfort, under trouble, to courage and 
 support in the face of peril and death, is, in sincerity 
 and prayer, early to give up the heart to God and his 
 service. 
 
 We have in the narrative of Marcus Cheek an 
 instructive instance of the value and power of living 
 faith in God, to sustain under suffering and give courage 
 in death. Where we see the fruits of faith, we cannot 
 doubt its reality and vitality. It is one principle end 
 and use of biography, especially of religious biography, 
 to show us how men of like passions with ourselves 
 have acted in difficult circumstances, and to develop 
 the principles by which they were influenced and 
 sustained. There are some situations and circumstances 
 in life in which some deem it next to impossible to 
 maintain real dignity and consistency ; but holy Scrip- 
 tures, which are adapted for all conditions of life, and 
 furnish rules and examples for conduct under all diffi- 
 culties, record how Joseph and Daniel served God and 
 benefitted their fellow-creatures when captives to 
 heathen masters. The unlooked-for calamities which 
 have overwhelmed our countrymen in India may have 
 been in many cases rendered yet more dreadful by the 
 idea of the difficulty of retaining true dignity and
 
 70 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 
 
 honour in such circumstances ; and brave men and 
 high-minded women, fearing shame more than death, 
 may be almost tempted to despair and desperation 
 rather than fall under the power of their enemies. Such 
 despair and desperation are both alike equally forbidden 
 by the lessons and examples of holy Scripture. Living 
 faith in God is the best and only sure preservative in 
 these temptations and dangers. The concluding verses 
 of that history of the power of faith recorded in Heb. 
 xi. 32 40 show us what great things faith can do and 
 suffer. The case of Daniel and his young companions 
 in Babylon seems recorded on purpose to meet such 
 cases as are now occurring in India, and such as that 
 in which Marcus Cheek was placed. Daniel and his 
 companions resisted the temptations from the royal 
 table : thus commencing their brilliant course with that 
 self-denial which was the foundation of future greatness, 
 by perseverance in the strictest temperance, and main- 
 taining the habit of prayer even when it exposed them 
 to danger and death. May we not remark the pleasing 
 indication of this in the fact of Marcus Cheek's early 
 retirement from the mess-room, on the fatal night, to 
 his own house, most likely for meditation and prayer ? 
 We mark in Daniel and his companions, when tempted 
 and threatened to deny God by an act of idolatry, how 
 living faith in God sustained and triumphed ! When 
 threatened with a fearful death unless they bowed down 
 to worship the idol, what fidelity to God, what true 
 heroism, is shown in their firm reply : " If it be so, 
 our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the
 
 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 71 
 
 burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us out of 
 thine hand, King. But if not, be it known unto 
 thee, King, that we will not serve thy gods, nor 
 worship the golden image which thou hast set up ! " * 
 Here is the power and triumph of living faith in God. 
 Such was the faith of Marcus Cheek, when threatened 
 with death unless he denied his Saviour : " Anything 
 but give up my faith in my Redeemer ! " was his noble 
 reply, and such was the faith to which he exhorted and 
 encouraged others. Noble boy ! thy example speaks to 
 a thousand hearts the power of faith to impart true 
 courage and triumph in hours of suffering and death ! 
 May the youths of your loved native land learn from 
 thy example the necessity and value of living faith in 
 God, to protect them in the hour of temptation, to 
 deliver them in peril; and then, whatever may befall 
 the fleshly tabernacle, their spirits will be happy and 
 safe ; for " the souls of the righteous are in the hand of 
 the Lord, and there shall no torment touch them." 
 Such a faith, founded in assured belief of the Divine 
 promises, and a realizing sense of the Divine presence, 
 takes firm hold of the strength of the Almighty, and 
 gives unearthly support and triumph in danger, 
 suffering, and death. 
 
 We learn also from the case of Marcus Cheek the 
 duty and honour of boldly confessing Christ before men. 
 The case of Daniel and his companions, before referred 
 to, is one among many instances to show that such 
 courage and heroic faith, contrary to the ideas of some 
 * Daniel iii. 17, 18.
 
 72 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 
 
 timid and unfaithful professors, is crowned with respect 
 and even temporal advancement ; for we read, " Then 
 the King promoted Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, 
 in the province of Babylon ! " * Nothing is lost, even 
 in a temporal point of view, by fidelity to God and his 
 service. But we must take higher ground. Such the 
 promise of the Saviour sets before us : " Whosoever, 
 therefore, shall confess me before men, him will I con- 
 fess also before my Father (and before the angels of 
 God) which is in heaven." f The connexion in which 
 this promise is found clearly points to similar circum- 
 stances as those in which Marcus Cheek confessed and 
 honoured the Saviour. " Fear not them which kill the 
 body, but are not able to kill the soul : but rather fear 
 Him which is able to destroy both body and soul in 
 hell; whosoever shall confess me before men, him will 
 I confess also before my Father which is in heaven." 
 How glorious the promise ! When our. young hero 
 sunk in weakness into the arms of death, the Saviour, 
 whom he boldly confessed, received his emancipated 
 spirit and confessed him before his Father. And when 
 the Saviour shall come again " in glorious majesty " to 
 raise his sleeping saints He will confess before an 
 assembled universe Marcus Cheek as one of that 
 "noble army of martyrs," who thus honoured him 
 " before men." Marcus has received .from his Saviour 
 the martyr's crown : for He hath said, " Be thou 
 faithful unto death, and I will give thee the crown of 
 life ! " But how fearful 'the alternative : " Whosoever 
 * Dan. iii. 30. f Matt. x. 32 ; Luke xii. 8.
 
 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 73 
 
 shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before 
 my Father which is in heaven ! " 
 
 The present fearful state of India and its future 
 prospects cannot, in conclusion, properly pass unnoticed. 
 British dominion there has now existed for nearly 100 
 years. Though its beginning was small, its increase 
 and extension by conquest and cession is extraordinary. 
 That so mighty an empire, with a population of little 
 short of two hundred millions of Hindoos and Moham- 
 medans, should have been brought under British sway, 
 is in itself indicative of some great design of Providence 
 to be accomplished by this country for the welfare of 
 India. This design will not be overlooked or mistaken 
 by a Christian people. It was not that Britain might 
 be enriched by the treasures of the East; but that 
 India might receive from her what is far more necessary 
 and valuable, "the unsearchable riches" of the know- 
 ledge of a Saviour ; not that Britain might be aggran- 
 dised by an Empire, on which it is vauntingly said, 
 " the sun never sets/' but that India might be added 
 to the kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is for 
 this high and holy object British dominion has been 
 established in India ; our tenure of India depends upon 
 our fulfilment of this high trust and destiny. It is by 
 Evangelizing India we can only hope to civilize her. 
 Our duty as a Christian nation and Church to attempt 
 this is not doubtful or optional, but clear and impera- 
 tive. The Saviour's command, that his Gospel shall be 
 preached in " all nations/' and compassion for the souls 
 of the millions held under cruel and debasing super-
 
 74 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 
 
 stitions, demand this of Christian Britain. Alas ! how 
 little has been done by us to fulfil this great duty of 
 christianizing India. The aggregate of all Christian 
 efforts and success is thus summarily stated : 
 
 " Missionaries have been established in more than 
 300 stations throughout India: mission-schools have 
 amounted to the number of 2,015. There have been 
 nearly 80,000 children in these schools. Missionaries 
 have itinerated in all directions, singly and in company, 
 with native Christians, and nearly 80,000 Christian 
 converts have been made in Southern India." 
 
 But great as this effort and success may appear, and 
 full of promise as it is for the future, it is mostly the 
 result of the Divine blessing on the voluntary efforts of 
 the Christian Church. The Government, whether at 
 home or abroad, has made no decided effort as a 
 Government for the religious instruction and conver- 
 sion of the millions of its heathen subjects in India. 
 It has established the Eastern Episcopacy, and provided 
 chaplains for the English residents, its military and 
 civil officers ; but as a professedly Christian nation and 
 Government no provision has been made for the conver- 
 sion of the heathen. On the subject, the remarks of 
 the Bishop of Durham, in a speech delivered lately at 
 Durham, will find an echo in thousands of hearts. 
 The Bishop expressed regret " to be obliged to say that 
 he thought England, in all her dealings with her empire 
 in India, had not been true to the Christian principles 
 and faith she professed. He did feel they had been 
 over-indulgent in dealing with the hideous superstitions
 
 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 75 
 
 which pervaded that land. They had given, as a 
 Government, their full confidence and support to the 
 idolatrous religions of the country, while, as a Govern- 
 ment, they had given no encouragement to the propaga- 
 tion of the Gospel of Christ ; and it was with feelings 
 of deep sorrow that he heard with his own ears in the 
 House of Lords the charge brought against the present 
 Governor-General of India, that he had given a contri- 
 bution to a Missionary Society. That was imputed to 
 him as a crime, and as a grievous wrong to the religion 
 of the country over which he was called to govern. 
 Did it not seem that this was a retribution for their 
 conduct towards that empire ? If they had civilized, if 
 they had christianized those who had now turned round 
 upon them with such barbarous ferocity, they would 
 not have been exposed to those calamities which have 
 befallen them. They were guilty as a nation for not 
 having boldly taught that religion to others which they 
 professed themselves. Earnestly did he hope that the 
 result of the war might lead to the adoption of a 
 different policy by this country." The unworthy fear 
 that our empire in the East would be endangered by our 
 discouragement of and interference as a Christian 
 Government with the superstitions of the people, is 
 refuted by the fact that in those parts of India where 
 missionary labours have been most active and most suc- 
 cessful, there order and safety are enjoyed, and this 
 rebellious outbreak, with its attendant horrors, are but 
 little felt or feared. 
 
 It is an opinion, confirmed by the testimony of mis- 
 sionaries and others resident in India, and best
 
 76 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 
 
 acquainted with the feelings of the people, that this 
 fearful outbreak of violence and insurrection is to be 
 traced not to any real or imaginary wrongs done 
 to India, but that it is mainly a religious, a Moham- 
 medan movement, having for its object not only the 
 overthrow of British dominion, but the expulsion 
 and extirpation of all Christians and Christianity from 
 India. The violence, the unparalleled cruelties on Chris- 
 tians, is but acting out the principles inculcated in the 
 Shasters of the Hindoos, and especially in the Koran 
 of the Mohammedans. And is it not humiliating and 
 astounding that in the schools established for native 
 instruction by the Indian Government, that the Shaster 
 and the Koran should be received in those schools as 
 books of instruction while, at the same time, the holy 
 Scriptures are ignored and proscribed? An Indian 
 officer in the Madras Presidency thus writes : " You 
 will have seen that we are now passing through what is, 
 without doubt, the greatest peril to which our Indian 
 Empire has ever been exposed. I do not feel at all 
 doubtful as to its ultimate issue, because I feel per- 
 suaded that our mission in India has not yet been ful- 
 filled; and because the present fierce outbreak, what- 
 ever may be its real cause, has been distinctly put by 
 the mutineers themselves, Mohammedans as well as 
 Hindoos, upon the ground of religion. It has the cha- 
 racter, consequently, of an open contest for Satan 
 against Christ, and ' He shall have them in derision. 5 ' 
 What, then, is the duty of the Home and of the 
 Indian Government, on the putting down of the present 
 rebellion in India, with a view to the re-settlement and
 
 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 77 
 
 re-construction of the government of our Eastern 
 Empire ? It is required that we act towards India as a 
 decidedly Christian Power. That no direct encourage- 
 ment be given to idolatry, no favouritism or preference 
 be shown to idolaters, or to castes, the existence, 
 tolerance, and influence of which are the source of so 
 many social evils in India, and the cause, in a great 
 measure, of the present calamities. In the administra- 
 tion of righteous and equal laws for all, in our civil and 
 military employments, caste must not be recog- 
 nized as a qualification or a ground of preference, 
 or conversion to Christianity a disadvantage or dis- 
 qualification. In the Indian schools patronized by 
 'the Government, the Holy Scriptures must be admitted 
 and used for instruction. "Mere secular education 
 without the Word of God," as a missionary justly 
 remarks, " is training up a race of infidels, and not the 
 right way to make loyal subjects for Queen Victoria 
 to say nothing of aught else/' Though it is not the 
 duty of a Christian Government to attempt by coercion 
 the putting down of the false religions and debasing 
 superstitions of India, it is clearly its duty as a Chris- 
 tian Power that full means of Christian instruction be 
 provided for the natives, that eveiy part of the country 
 be fully and freely opened to Christian missionaries^ 
 and that all protection and encouragement be given to 
 them. The Church of God must awake and arise to a 
 deeper sense of the duty of doing more, and of making 
 greater efforts and sacrifices for the christianization of 
 India than she has ever yet done.
 
 78 CONCLUDING REMARKS. 
 
 Though at present dark clouds brood over our Eastern 
 Empire, yet the Christian believer in the revealed pur- 
 poses and promises of God not doubting for a moment 
 that what is now happening " will turn out rather unto 
 the furtherance of the Gospel " will look forward with 
 faith and hope to brighter and better days for that dark 
 land. The Gospel, which has triumphed over the for- 
 midable superstitions of olden times, has lost nothing of 
 its heavenly power. It has already achieved glorious 
 triumphs in India. The seed of the Word of God has 
 been widely sown there, and will yield a glorious harvest. 
 The light of the Gospel which has broken upon those 
 dark places of the earth heralds a coming glorious day. 
 What though as yet it resembles the dim twilight of the 
 morning breaking gently on the long deathlike slumbers 
 of the millions there, it is surely leading on the full 
 splendours of the day when God will " destroy the cover- 
 ing cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over 
 all nations." India shall one day cast away her idols 
 and her superstitions, and become " the Kingdom of our 
 God and his Christ, "As surely as I live, saith the 
 Lord, the whole earth shall be filled with his glory." 
 
 " Come forth out of Thy royal chambers, Prince of 
 all the kings of the earth ; put on the visible robes of 
 Thy imperial majesty, take up that unlimited sceptre 
 which Thy Almighty Father hath bequeathed Thee; 
 for now the voice of the Bride calls Thee, and all 
 creatures sigh to be renewed/' MILTON. 
 
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