The Christian Soldier
- The True Hero -
Originally published by the South Carolina Tract Society during the War Between the States
[size=-1]and printed by Evans & Cogswall, No. 3 Broad Street, Charleston, S.C.[/size]
[size=-1]By Mrs. L.N.B. of Macon, GA[/size]
[size=-2](edited by Rick Williams from
The Virginia Gentleman)[/size]
SOLDIER - A friend presents to you these little leaves. Now, while the peaceful Sabbath is wooing you to thought and contemplation, or while the soft twilight invites to quiet and repose, or while the faintly gilded East allows you a leisure hour before the arduous routine of the day; take them and bind them to your heart, and emulate the picture therein portrayed.
For what have you left your sunny home? For what do you uncomplainingly submit to the hardships of the camp? For what do you willingly expose your life on the dread day of battle? Do you simply seek the "bubble reputation at the cannon's mouth:" is your ear charmed by the hoarse din of war and the clang of arms; or, rather, does the pure flame of patriotism impel you to vindicate the cause of honor, virtue, liberty, and the South? We will not insult your manhood by supposing that another or a baser motive than this has called you to the field.
This holy impulse can make you dare and do great things. It is heaven-born. It is the sublime gift of God. It is akin to the divine mind from which it springs; and he who is imbued with it recognizes the Almighty Hand in the direction of the affairs of nations and of peoples, and to its sacred keeping entrusts his life and the fortunes of his country.
With the glorious motto, "God and my native land," glowing and burning upon his heart, the soldier can seize his country's standard and, shouting to his followers to defend it, can, with steady hand, plant it upon the exposed parapet. He can unflinchingly bare his breast and, like the solid rock that Omnipotent Power alone can shake, confront the thousand deadly missiles of an embittered foe. He is prepared for the destiny that has been foreordained for him by a righteous God.
When the loud clarion peal of "CHARGE" sounds in his expectant ear, he lifts his heart in an audible prayer to the Throne of Grace, and with a whispered "Thy will be done," he rushes forward to the deadly struggle.
This is not the bravery of brute force, which makes a man delight to steep his hands in the blood of his fellow-man, or stride untouched over the unburied corpses of a fallen foe. Nor is it the fictitious bravery caused by the delirium and wild excitement of the occasion and circumstances, that impels him, like the madman upon the brink of a precipice, to leap eagerly to swift destruction. Nor is it yet the bravery that knows no fear. That is stupid and irrational.
He fears the just wrath of his God. He thinks with apprehension of the dread Tribunal before which he may be called suddenly to appear; but he subdues his fears, and recalling the boundless mercy of the Great Judge, faces the shock and meets his fate - a hero. His is the genuine bravery, the moral courage of the martyr. It is the firm and heroic resolve of virtue and of reason. Invoking the aid of religion and patriotism, he supports his fainting heart, and is enabled, with these alone, to give up his life with solemn composure and patriotic resignation.
Life becomes a small sacrifice for the Christian patriot. With the life-blood slowly dripping from his torn and wounded heart, his eye can still beam with a beatific and heavenly gleam; and the lips that ne'er profaned his Maker can wreath themselves into smiles of blissful satisfaction. Thus, the true type of a soldier yields up his life for his country.
Is it not plain whence comes his bravery, his courage, his exalted manhood? It is even from the nursery where first he lisped an infant prayer upon his mother's knee; it is from the reverential regard he maintained for all things holy and divine in his youth; and from the abiding and simple trust in an almighty Saviour and in an overruling Providence, that, in his more mature years, has marked and directed his footsteps.
So, dear Soldier, while the purest "
Amor patriae" may swell your noble bosom, trust not that, without the faith of the Christian, it can carry you triumphantly to the end. You will shudder at the thought of a ball stopping for ever your heart-throbbings; a depressing foreboding will cover your face with palor in the hour of dreadful battle; clinging affections and regretful aspirations toward this beautiful earth will annoyingly tug at your heart-strings; and, indeed, all bravery and valor may desert you in the dying moment. But a firm, supporting faith in your God and Redeemer must drive all such feelings from your mind, and make you, to the last, the true soldier, the patriot, the "blessed martyr."
Amid the smoke, the din and the confusion of the ensanguined field, your gentle and disembodied spirit will mount to the regions of bliss and peace, and the lovely sod will bow to do reverence, and where a gentle and appreciate woman will linger to plant a flower or drop a melancholy tear.
Thus we see that the Christian soldier is the true hero - a sublime and beautiful model, worthy of your emulation and imitation.
Soldier, would you aspire to it? Then take for your teacher and friend the great Book of books. There is no more invulnerable breastplate than the written word of God's eternal truth. Within its sacred leaves are wisdom, counsel, and heavenly consolation. There is to be found the imperishable pearl, the priceless gem of salvation. Its voice emphatically bids you fight for the cause of religion and truth, and declares that the mighty God, the "God of war," will always smile upon that cause. Its holy unction will bring peace to your spirit, and its blessed hope will strengthen your arm and nerve your heart. In the camp or the bivouac, let it be a pillow for your head; and when summoned to battle, let it be enshrined near your heart, where its sacred lids may e'en avert the threatening ball - and at all times, let it's truths and warnings be a light to your feet and a restraint upon every unholy impulse.
Writings are at:
http://www.touchet1611.org/TrueHero.html
