und, and although he did not know the
face he thought that he recognized the voice. So when the music ceased
he turned around 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 a wood. It was a dark night
and very cold, and I was a little frightened because the enemy were
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, you