A young man, who was in the army during the Civil war, told me that when he heard that his brother, from whom he had never been separated, had joined a certain regiment, he went right away and put his name down under his brother’s. They messed together, marched together, and fought shoulder to shoulder. At last his brother was struck with a Minnie ball, and he fell mortally wounded by his side. He saw too plainly that he must die, and as the battle was raging, and he could do nothing to save him, he put his brother’s knapsack under his head, and made him as comfortable as he could, and bending over him, kissed him, bade him good-bye, and left him to die. As he was going away, his brother said, “Charlie, come back, and let me kiss you upon your lips.” “As I bent over him,” said the young soldier who told me the story, “he kissed me on my lips, and said, ‘Take that home to mother, and tell her that I died praying for her’; and as I turned away from him, I could hear him say, ‘This is glory,’ and as he lay weltering in his blood, and I wondered what he meant, I asked him what was glory. He said, ‘Charlie, it’s glorious to die looking up—I see Christ in heaven.’”
DYING LOOKING UP.
If you want to die looking up and seeing Christ, seek the kingdom of God. You may never hear the call again. Do not leave this place without making up your mind to settle the solemn question of eternity at once.