The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1864-01-15

h Reward - virsas.
The sagss and moralists Of ancient - well
- modern heathendom, amidst their vague
aAd conflicting ideas Of religious truth,
have held In common An idea which Chris.
tiAaity nore definitely and Gathoritatis ely
teaches, that thersIfs future GtAte, In which
virtue receives those rewards and Woe those
Danishments which are not the unvaEytnS
soassqusnces Of either In tho present cen.
dition Of thingA This universal sentiment
Of humanity, this insradicable Instinct Of
sve5 human soul, must be founded in truth
Ind have been Implanted In the mind sf
nan BY his Creator to stimulate him In well
DOING and deter him from evil. Yet that fl.
eure, which u % near, seems 90 distant that
A&hemless ocean. stre!n with . million
wrecks, nom which only plank separates,
Looks % Ike remote Armament that It 10
hssesaAzy ever to remind men, from the
schools Of the philosophers and the pulpits
Of the sanctuary, that this earth II not his
abiding place, and that the greatest business
ollie u to know how to die
There n no such consolation tos00ggllng
virtue, there Il no ray Of illumination to the
niad which brosds Adly over tho evil in
the world, like that which the hopeof
oomp0sating future casts over the perplexi.
tiss and woes Of the present-~ 1t 10 the
lishthouss ct the entrance to the harbor,
which guides and welcomes the storm tost
mariasr, and Rives him assurance Of fost-
hold whore the trescherOus elements against
which hs has struggls6can no longer dis
turb his security and peAcA. In times Of
great public eonvulsions, whsn the waves
and hurricanes Of human passion are let
loose to work universal havoc and destrac-
Con, tho stoutest soul might recou In help
les despair but forths sustaining conviction
that Righteous Judge occupies the throne
q the universe, and that hereafter, If not
here, virtue will receive its reward and
vies it, punishment. There are tmeA
any man to do his duty; when selfsachnce,
toll, privAtion, and peril receive not oven the
miserable reward Of cphemsral praise; when
alone, unnotissd, unknown, men Of whom
the world Il not worthy, walk the earth,
feeding ON husks that swine would reject,
ald performing the deeds of angels. There
~ in the Confederate ranks, and have been
Shsre for three long yeArs, thousands
And tens Of thousands OF pure and
Aoble mon, who have given up home,
and every earthly comfort at the call of dlty;
Who have been burned by the summer SUE,
and tread barefoot the winter snow, and
$scsd fearlessly the carnage of hundred
bsttle fields without the hope or expectation
a. smolument, Of promotion, Of distinction
pm the great mass to which they arc At
1oched, or Of any human reward In any shape
o, form. No one knows them, no one hears
q: them, their ragged garments are pot even
d>soated withA badge Of honor, and when
fasir war.worn bodies fall, they sometimes
1.nain .nburisd, and the forms which were
oass 20 dear to mother, sister, wife md chill
drsn, and 80 long were the living bulwArk Of
4hsir country, become the prey Of ravsnous
birds and beasts. And whilst the good and
valiant thus suffer, the selfish, the corrupt,
the mercsnAry and ambitious, are rioting In
1ishss, indulgence, and glory! How dark
and mysterious all this, when Viewed apart
from the light which the Future Life Of Man
throws upon his present existence!
Let the Inspiring thought that the reward
will one day come, and animate tho humblast
soldier that shoulder muskst In the a.
mics Of his country. He who holds inst his
integrity amid trials and temptations like
these which bsset tho privates Of great
army; hswho preserves the purity he learned
ct his mothers knee, and can respect with q
shild's dooility the prayers of his childhood;
he who can do and die for others without
reward, and scarcely gratitude, he, above all
Others, above Generals, Presidents, and
Kings, may claim . country hereafter better
than that which be fought for here, and re-
wards, compared With which, Ill tho trea.
surAs and lAurals Of earth are worthlsss
stubble