Sing us sweet fragments of the songs above;
Till morning’s joy shall end the night of weeping,
And life’s long shadows break in cloudless love.”
Singing Soldiers
Fifteen soldiers were gathered together on a Thursday evening in a little French village behind the line during the First World War. Forming themselves into a semicircle around the chaplain, Thomas Tiplady, who has described the scene in “The Cross at the Front,” they made choice of the hymn they would like sung to open their devotional meeting. Then they joined in singing:
“At even, ere the sun was set,
The sick, O Lord, around Thee lay;
O in what divers pains they met!
O with what joy they went away!
“Once more ’tis eventide, and we,