C.H. Malan, Officer and Evangelist - A Soldier’s Experience of God’s Love and Faithfulness
Part 1
In July 1857 Captain Charles Hamilton Malan boarded a Royal Navy ship bound for India, where the Indian Rebellion had begun two months previously. Such sea-journeys could last well over a year and were often full of adventure. However, this journey started so smoothly that some of his fellow officers actually began to complain; it was more like a coastal cruise than the adventure they all anticipated. This quickly changed when the ship was suddenly hit by gale force winds, which shredded the topsails before the crew could lower them. The masts were snapped off ‘as twigs,’ and the ship listed hard. For a moment, it seemed that the ship would not correct itself, and that they would be lost. As Adjutant, Malan was responsible for the prisoners and their guard, and having seen to his duties took up position on deck next to the Captain; it took all of his strength just to hold on.
The Captain lent over and with cupped hands shouted into his ear, you are in greater danger now than ever you were at Sebastopol. If the foresail goes, we shall all go to the bottom.
Malan was commissioned into the 7th Fusiliers City of London Regiment, and later the 75th Stirlingshire Gordon Highlanders. His early years of service in the Army were eventful. In his first appointment in command of a platoon of 30 men he fought in the Crimean War and narrowly escaped death at the Battle of Sebastopol. Many of his unit were killed, including both his Commanding Officer and Adjutant.
He was a religious man. He read the Bible every day and strived to obey it. In truth he was attempting the impossible; he was trying to be accepted by God on the basis of his own obedience. In the midst of the storm, when the ship’s survival hung in the balance, Malan’s eyes were opened. Surveying a scene of devastation he realised that he was not only in physical danger, but also in eternal danger.
I saw death, judgment, and eternity before me as I never before had seen them. I also saw in the raging of the wind and sea more of His power against Him to whom I knew myself to be a sinner.
Finally, the storm passed and the ship and her crew escaped. However, the impression on Malan’s heart remained. When a brother officer invited Malan to pray with him in his cabin to give thanks to God for their deliverance, Malan eagerly accepted. Kneeling down, he fervently confessed his sin, and sought for the Lord’s mercy, “and in due time I received pardon and peace… ignorant as I was, I asked and sought, and I did not do so in vain.” He left the cabin a new man. Like the calm that followed the passing of the storm, Malan had an inner peace that God’s anger had also passed from Him. He described it as, “the peace of free, full, and eternal forgiveness of sins through the blood of Christ.’
Malan arrived in India just before his 21st birthday, newly promoted, newly converted and zealous to serve the Lord. This presented him with a choice; should he resign his commission and return to testify to his friends in Britain of his new faith in Christ, or stay in the Army? He decided to stay.
After a few years service in India, Malan fell ill and was sent back to England to recover. Since becoming a true Christian a natural desire had developed in Malan to speak to people about Christ.
I was early warned not to delay in giving to my men the message of eternal life which God had given to me for them. This I did after I had made the necessary arrangements for discipline and comfort. What encouragement the Lord gave me the very first day! It was in the afternoon. I went below. Both sides of the deck were lined with beds filled with sick and dying men. After speaking a cheery word to each of them about their health or regiment, I said, ‘Comrades, let me read to you the Word of God. Whether in sickness or health, joy or sorrow, this blessed book is our best friend.’ I then told them how God had led me to believe it and love it, and asked if they would like me to read to them. They thanked me. Many a poor sick fellow raised himself in his bed. They listened with deep attention while I read to them those precious words of the Lord Jesus, in Luke 15. Here we learn that the love of God gives free and full forgiveness of sins to the sinner who turns to Him. The father kissed his son, in token of his acceptance before the son could say, ‘Father, I have sinned.’ Because sin had been atoned for, put away by the blood and sacrifice of Christ, God forgives the guiltiest sinner who turns to Him before he can get on his knees and confess his sins! His forgiveness was purchased when his great Substitute died for him. He can rejoice in His forgiveness when he believes that the Substitute was the Son of God, who lives in glory to bring him there. Then, while he rejoices, he will mourn that he should have so long rejected one who so loved him. This is repentance, because he will then forsake sin and turn to God.
I had drawn my bow at a venture, in humble faith. I had hardly gone up on deck for fresh air when a corporal came to see me. ‘Sir, that deserter M’Niff’ wants to see you.’ I was too tired then to go to him, but I went after my evening reading to the men between decks. This soldier, a prisoner, screened away from the rest, had heard every word that I had read and said; and like iced water to fevered lips, the message had come home to his soul. ‘Sir,’ he said, ‘I’m a great sinner. I’ve done very wrong, and I’m very, very sorry for it. I heard what you read this afternoon, and I am like that poor man. You said there was mercy for all who repent. I do most truly; will God forgive me?’
I took his hand. It was pitch dark, but I felt God was present. ‘My poor friend, you are causing joy through all heaven,’ was my reply. Simply, I told him the story of the Cross, simply he believed. ‘I am so thankful I came here,’ said the poor fellow; and added, ‘Oh, sir, let me once more take your hand.’ There was no humbug about this man. He had nothing to gain from me. He was dying of consumption. Everything he wanted the doctor gave him.
Great was his joy in God his Saviour. I talked with him every day; and when his blessed spirit was released, and I committed to the deep the body of my ‘dear brother here departed,’ the Lord sent a wave up to the very edge of the gangway, to receive it with the tenderness of a mother to her child. That wave was a beautiful sight.
Malan, encouraged by the Lord’s blessing on his work, thus formed a lifelong practice of seeking every opportunity to tell people about Christ. He prayed fervently for God to enable him and then gave himself fully to the work. A number of incidents illustrate his labour. In 1868 Malan was promoted to the rank of Major and was placed in command of a company of around 100 men in Hong Kong. Possibly due to the fact he had already been invalided away from India, and that Chinese summers had a fearful reputation for disease, he dreaded the assignment. However, having publicly declared his absolute trust in Christ, he dared not turn down the posting unless Christ should also be dishonoured.
Therefore, he prayed earnestly at the start of the journey. His prayer was answered when the word came with assurance to his heart, “Be strong, and work, for I am with you says the Lord of hosts” - Hagai 2:4. It was, “a field prepared of God for sowing.”
The ship’s Captain was a personal friend, so Malan asked his permission to visit the sailors and to speak to them about Christ. “If they have no objection, I should be glad,” was his kind reply. Malan visited the various dining rooms and offered to read to them every evening from a book, “which was my very best friend, if they would like me to do so.” His offer was received warmly, and for the next 16 months from 3 February 1868 until 4 June 1869 Malan read and explained the Scriptures to the ship’s crew from half-past six until eight o’clock every day. In the afternoons he visited the hospital and read the Bible to the sick.
Very happy are my recollections of that voyage. The affection which many of the bluejackets have for the ship is wonderful. ‘It was a good day I ever sailed in her.’ ‘I thank God that dear old --------- was ever built.’ None of them, however is more thankful than I am: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’
A year or more after the voyage, I met a sailor at Singapore. He touched his cap, ‘Very glad to see you, sir.’ I thanked him, remembering that we made the voyage to China together. ‘You were not then a believer in Christ, my friend,’ I added. ‘No, sir’ he said; ‘but do you remember the night of that terrible gale of St Paul’s? I was lying in my hammock in fear and trembling when I saw you come down to read the gospel to the men. I could not hear a word you said, but I could see your face, and I watched you the whole time. I saw your bright, happy smile just the same as ever. I said to myself, “Here am I, an old sailor, many years at sea, and I am afraid now in this gale; and here’s a landsman as happy as if he were ashore.” I felt that you had what I had not; I felt that you had, what I had heard you say you had, forgiveness of sins and eternal life. I prayed that night. Ever afterwards I came near you when you were reading, and when I left the ship I was a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.’
Well did I remember the gale. I went below that night because I thought that, if I did not go among them, the men would imagine that I was afraid, and I thought I might cheer them. ‘The Word of God is the same in a storm as in a calm, men; it always does us good,’ was my opening remark. I sat on a mess-table as usual, enjoying that evening as much as any. Little did I then think what the Lord had done by making His joy and peace shine in my face. He is wonderful in counsel.
When he arrived in India his anxiety had been replaced with a heart, “rejoicing in God more than it had ever done before.” Furthermore, he was relieved to hear that he was to command a forward element of the Regiment located in a remote rural area, which he was to travel to by sea. With the permission of the Captain he proceeded to speak to the sailors of Christ.
I was walking on deck one morning before breakfast, while the deck cleaning was going on. A sailor passed me with a smile on his face, touching his cap, and saying, ‘Good morning, sir.’ ‘Good morning my friend,’ was my reply. After noticing the glory of God’s works around us, I asked him whether he had been listening to His Word since I came on board.
I shall never forget the light which burst on that man’s face as he said, ‘Yes, sir, indeed I have, thank God! I was the biggest blackguard [scoundrel] on this ship, sir, and any man will tell you the same. But, thank God! That’s all at an end. It was the night you talked to us of the pearl of great price. Oh, sir, I have found that pearl! I have found it!’ His face was radiant with delight, and I could not doubt but that he had indeed, by God’s mercy, been led to Him who has power now on earth to forgive sins.
He found similar fruit on a previous voyage from America to England.
The day the ship arrived at Liverpool the first officer offered the men, who had been working very hard all day, a second glass of grog [an alcoholic drink]. ‘No, thank you sir,’ was the reply he received. ‘You know that when we embarked at Montreal there was not a man of us who would not have gone up to his armpits in rum, but there’s been a gentleman among us this passage who has taught us what’s a deal better than grog.’ Blessed be God for a sailor’s profession of faith!
While Malan was outstandingly diligent in his duties as an officer, his eye was also constantly fixed on winning people to Christ. Lives were transformed as he laboured in prayer and seeking every opportunity to tell people about Christ. But over the years a second desire had also begun to develop in his heart, which he committed to God in prayer; he wished to be placed in command of a body of men in a position of great danger, and to be delivered by the Lord. He expected that his prayer would be answered in a fierce fight on the battlefield. However, the Lord chose to answer his prayer in a more unexpected but none the less, miraculous manner in October 1871 in South Africa.
From the moment that Malan and his men landed in South Africa it rained. They arrived on a Wednesday in the rain. It then rained on the Thursday and even harder on the Friday. Having travelled from China and its harsh climate, his men were weak and highly vulnerable to disease. There was a real risk that many of them would die if they were forced to live in wet conditions.
The more it rained, the more earnestly did I pray. The Lord answers prayer in more ways than one. He either does directly what we ask, or He makes man His instrument for performing His will and answering prayer, or else He fulfils His word, which cannot be broken, ‘Ask, and you shall receive.’ On Saturday the camp was a complete swamp. There was a pool of water in my own tent, and most of the others were much the same way. Very earnestly did I pray for deliverance for my men. I felt sure it would come. After breakfast, the Lord led me to determine to go down to the village and seek shelter for them. Having prayed for His guidance, I asked the control officer to accompany me, which he was most willing to do, and we went together to the village. We inquired after some empty stores, and were not long in hearing of one. I had asked the Lord to open the hearts of any who might have the buildings available to lend them.
The first person I asked offered his most willingly. ‘I will show it, sir; and if it will do you, you are most welcome. We have been thinking how those poor fellows must feel it in camp after China.’ It was a large store, which at a pinch, would hold three hundred men comfortably. I thanked him much….With a light and thankful heart I returned to camp….. Hardly had I got the companies into their new quarters, and the officers in the little hotel, when the storm came with increased violence and the rain fell in torrents. This continued all night….
A ship was wrecked a few miles from us. The guard who came down from camp reported that the inside of the tents, and the whole camp, was ankle-deep in water. How I thanked God for having delivered my men out of so great danger, and for having used me as His instrument in so doing! ‘I have never seen such weather as this for twenty-years, sir,’ was the harbour-master’s remark when I went to visit him.
On the following day, having had all the tents opened towards the sun, to dry the inside, I marched the men back to camp. We commenced our journey to King William’s Town next day. I hoped that we should have fine weather; but I was yet to have one more trial of faith. I was awakened the morning after our first halt by the sound of rain on my tent. I knew well what that meant; a wet march of more than 20 miles, wet camping-ground, wet tents; and my men would suffer as much as if I had kept them in camp in East London. But I knew also in whom I believed, and that He was able. The word of the Lord came to me at once:
Elijah was a man subject to like passions as we are and he prayed that it might not rain, and it did not rain – James 5:17.
I got up, threw my cloak over my shoulders and began my prayer, saying, "Where is the Lord God of Elijah. O Lord hear" - 2 Kings 2:14, and then I prayed that, as He has before delivered my men, He would yet do so again, and cause the rain to cease. I had hardly finished my prayer when an officer in the next tent shouted to his servant, ‘Any counter-orders for the march?’ I answered him with ‘No.’ I dressed, and putting on my waterproof, walked to the sergeant-major’s tent, to tell him to turn out the men. Before I got back to my own tent the rain had ceased; and when the men fell in for the march, there were heavy rain-clouds all round, and a low rolling cloud within a few yards of their heads, covering the whole camp, but not one drop of rain!
I prayed for strength for the men for what was a long march for me just come from China, and it was granted. The distance was twenty-two miles, the road bad, we had no music but one fife and a drum; and only one old man, who had been more than twenty years in the service, fell out! I find in my diary, ‘The officers noted the stopping of the rain as very remarkable.’
The next day we marched into King Williams’s Town, ‘Well, major,’ said one of my officers to me, a week or two afterwards, ‘that was a very wonderful thing; we have just talked about it. All that rain at East London, and not a man caught a cold!’ It was wonderful indeed; and yet not so, for it was an answer to fervent prayer. Thus the Lord has in His wisdom fulfilled my third desire. He had given me command of a body of men in a position of great danger to them all, and He had enabled me to deliver them out of it.
What a wonderful God who owns and controls the whole Earth and all of its processes. Should we be surprised that those who know Him, and serve Him, see such miraculous answers to prayer? How many owed their survival and place in heaven to the man who had been praying secretly and whose prayers were answered so graciously by the Lord?
Since his conversion in 1995, Philip Bray has served the Lord at Stroud Green Christian Assembly, London, most recently as an elder and in the work of Christian Alliance Ministries. He is employed as an infantry officer in the British Army and has served in Northern Ireland, Iraq and most recently in Afghanistan. He is a member of the Soldiers’ and Airmen’s Scripture Readers Association, whose object is to encourage personal evangelism in the Army and Royal Air Force.
NEXT: CH Malan, Officer and Evangelist. A Soldier’s Experience of God’s Love and Faithfulness (Part Two).
