The following beautiful story is related concerning Wesley’s hymn “Jesu, Lover of my soul.”
Two Americans who were crossing the Atlantic came in the cabin on Sunday night to sing hymns. As they sang the last hymn, “Jesu, Lover of my soul,” one of them hearing an exceedingly rich and beautiful voice behind him looked around and, though he did not know the face, thought he knew the voice. So when the music ceased he turned and asked the man if he had not been in the Civil War. The man replied that he had been a Confederate soldier.
“Were you in such a place on such a night?” asked the first.
“Yes,” he replied, “and a curious thing happened that night which this hymn has recalled to my mind. I was posted on sentry duty near the edge of a wood. It was a dark night and very cold, and I was a little frightened because the enemy was supposed to be very near. About midnight, when everything was still, and I was feeling homesick and miserable and weary, I thought that I would comfort myself by praying and singing a hymn. I remember singing this:―
‘All my trust on Thee is stayed,
All my help from Thee I bring,
Cover my defenseless head
With the shadow of Thy wing’
“After that, a strange peace came down upon me, and I felt no more fear.”
“Now,” said the other, “listen to my story. I was a Union soldier, and was in the wood that night with a party of scouts. I saw you standing, although I did not see your face. My men had turned their rifles upon you, waiting the word to fire; but when you sang out:―
‘Cover my defenseless head
With the shadow of Thy wing,’
I said, ‘Boys, lower your rifles; let us go back.’”