The Psalm of Life. The Dirge of Death

THE angel of the resurrection is waving his wings of splendor over the world. The fair-haired Spring has risen from the tomb of the ice and the frost and the snow. The radiant flowers are breathing forth the fragrance of their resurrection life. Around the trenches on the battlefields the star-like blooms are growing; over a thousand fields of carnage the trees hang out their leafy banners. The glad hills laugh with joy, and the valleys smile in glory. Where shrapnel bursts and bullets take their toll of death, the sweet wild birds are singing. The lark soars upward to the skies, and the cadence of its song is heard in the pauses of the thunder of the guns. And while the reaper Death is doing his terrible harvesting, the young life of the universe is bursting forth in bud and bloom.
Yes, God be thanked that amid all the awful desolation of the world today, amid all the inconceivable horrors that mark this fearful strife, the power of the love of God is bringing souls to Christ and heaven from the very gates of hell. The power of the resurrection life of the Saviour is making His divine flowers grow in the soil of human hearts, and the glory of His presence transmutes the awful discords of the dirges of human pain and sorrow, and the fear of death, to the gracious melodies of the new-born life that are in tune with heaven.
I have been reminded of this many times this past week. Have you seen this extract from a letter written by a British soldier in the trenches? He says, “Truly I can write:”
“ ‘Better than ships of war;
Better than force of arms;
Kept by the power of God
Safe amid wild alarms.
Angels are mounting guard;
Jesus is giving peace;
Saving my soul from death,
Shielding till wars shall cease.’”
Truly this is a bloom for heaven from the battlefield, and a “lark song” at the very gates of glory.