New Testament Anecdotes John 15:13 Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. During the Civil war in America, a farmer was drawn to be a soldier. He was much grieved about it, not because he was a coward, but on account of his motherless family, who would have no breadwinner or caretaker in his absence. The day before he had to march to the town where the conscripts' names were called over, and their clothing and weapons given them for the campaign, young Mr. Durham, a neighbour, came, saying, "Farmer Blake, I will go instead of you." The farmer was astonished so much so as to be unable to reply for some time. He stood leaning one hand on his spade and wiping the sweat from his brow with the other. It seemed too good to be true! At length he took in the deliverance, as if it were an angel of light in a dark dungeon, and he grasped the hand of young Durham and praised God. The young fellow went, feeling that he was doing a noble thing, and all the village came out and bid him "God speed." It may be that he had "glory" before him — the sash of a general, the chair of the President. Whatever his ideas, he nobly took the place of his fellow man; but alas! in the first battle he was shot and killed! When the farmer saw in the newspaper the name of Charles Durham in the list of "missing," he at once saddled his old horse and went off to the battlefield, and after searching for some time, found the body of his friend. He brought it to his village, to the little churchyard in which they had so often walked together to the house of God; and from the quarry up on the hill he cut out a plain marble tablet, on which he carved an inscription with his own hand. It was roughly done, but with every blow there fell a tear from his eyes. There, in the little churchyard, he placed the body of his devoted friend and substitute, and covered the grave with grass sods from his garden. Then, while his tears dropped, he put the marble tablet on the grave, and when the villagers stooped to see the little monument they also wept. It did not say much, but it really touched them; it said, "C.D. He died for me." (New Testament Anecdotes.) Parallel Verses KJV: Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.WEB: Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. |
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