Two Americans who were crossing the Atlantic met on Sunday night
to sing hymns in the cabin. As they sang the hymn, "Jesus, Lover
of my Soul," one of the Americans heard an exceedingly rich and
beautiful voice behind him. He looked around, and although he did
not know the face he thought that he recognized the voice. So when
the music ceased he turned and asked the man if he had not been
in the Civil war. The man replied that he had been a Confederate
soldier. "Were you at such a place on such a night?" asked the
first. "Yes," he said, "and a curious thing happened that night;
this hymn recalled it to my mind. I was on sentry duty on the
edge of the wood. It was a dark night and very cold, and I was a
little frightened because the enemy was supposed to be very near
at hand. I felt very homesick and miserable, and about midnight,
when everything was very still, I was beginning to feel very weary
and thought that I would comfort myself by praying and singing a
hymn. I remember singing this hymn,
'All my trust on Thee is stayed,
All my help from Thee I bring,
Cover my defenceless head
With the shadow of Thy wing.'
After I had sung those words a strange peace came down upon me,
and through the long night I remember having felt no more fear."
"Now," said the other man, "listen to my story. I was a Union
soldier, and was in the wood that night with a party of scouts. I
saw you standing up, although I didn't see your face, and my men
had their rifles focused upon you waiting the word to fire, but
when you sang out,
'Cover my defenceless head
With the shadow of Thy wing.'
I said, 'Boys, put down your rifles, we will go home.' I couldn't
kill you after that."
God was working in each of them, in His own way carrying out His
will. God keeps his people and guides them and without Him life
is but a living death.
III.
The third element in life about which I wish to speak is LOVE.
In this picture we notice the delicate sense of companionship,
brought out by the young man and the young woman. It matters not
whether they are brother and sister, or lover and loved; there
you have the idea of friendship, the final ingredient in our life,
after the two I have named. If the man or the woman had been
standing in that field alone it would have been incomplete.
Love is the divine element in life, because "God is love." "He
that loveth is born of God," therefore, as some one has said, let
us "keep our friendships in repair." Let us cultivate the spirit
of friendship, and let the love of Christ develop it into a great
love, not only for our friends, but for all humanity. Wherever
you go and whatever you do, your work will be a failure unless you
have this element in your life.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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