Thus the young soldier revealed his newfound joy to his companion, who listened with glad surprise and heartfelt joy to his testimony of the forgiving love of Christ and the bright hope that glowed within his bosom. The dawning light of day shone on him as a new man, a child of God through faith in Christ Jesus. Thus they marched on towards the fatal field, and soon the enemy was in sight; and then came the rush of battle, the roar of cannon, and the whiz of bullets; and early in the day the young convert, struck by a ball, fell dead at the side of his friend. Do we not see the urgent need there is in the case of all to be reconciled to God? Sin is rebellion: it must therefore be acknowledged and forsaken, and pardon be sought in God's appointed way, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and sought at once. stored to God, To make our own happiness the end of our religious efforts and profession is not the true end. We should seek to be re. reconciled to Him, and so be at peace. This reconciliation God has provided for in the redemption of Christ. "He is our peace." We must yield to His claims, and accept Him as our Saviour, and put our whole trust in Him-for all things, at all times, and for evermore. "Love's redeeming work is done; HERE is a story told of an Austrian standard-bearer, in one of those battles in Bohemia fought in 1866 between the Austrians and the Prussians, which deserves to be remembered not only for itself, but also as an example to those who are standard bearers in the army of the Cross. In the fierce fight of Trautenau, the advancing Prussians came upon a ditch half filled with dead and wounded Austrians. Among the latter was a young officer, evidently badly wounded; he was lying on his back in the wet ditch. Moved with compassion, the Prussians were about to remove the wounded man, that his case might be attended to by the surgeon, when he entreated to be allowed to lie where he was, as he felt quite cool and comfortable. He expired shortly after. When the dead body was removed, it was found that even in death it had served to protect the "bit of rag," which, in the morning of that bloody day, had been the standard of the regiment. He had carefully folded it up, and then lain down upon it to die. His noble foes forbore to take away the trophy. They wrapped it round him, and they left him to take his rest upon it. The Prussian general who told this story told it bareheaded. "With it or on it," was the word of a Spartan mother on handing her son the shield with which he was to go out to battle. It is a fine instance of the old heroic spirit of devotion unto death, which, whether in the Spartan soldier or the Austrian standard-bearer, makes all the difference between the soldier and the mere mercenary, the man of honour, or the bravo who loves the mere excitement of the fray in the day of battle, or the chances of plunder the day after. "Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown, but we an incorruptible." Honour is the soldier's watchword. "What will they say of us in old England?" passed round among the men who held out during the long day of Inkermann, and died in the trenches, or at the hospitals, during the long siege of Sebastopol. The Christian soldier sometimes needs to be reminded that he has to fight a good fight, and to war a good warfare. He does not always remember either the armour which he should wear or the watchfulness which he should exercise. He may either make too little of his enemy's strength and skill in stratagem, or presume too far on an easy and certain victory. But he is especially in danger of forgetting that there is an innumerable company of witnesses by which he is surrounded, and that the honour of the cause of Christ is thus entrusted to him. Above all, he is prone to forget that the Captain of his salvation was also his forerunner, that He endured unto blood striving against sin, and that |