Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1866-10-30

camps, or marches, or trenches. OF battle-
fields. We have need of preternatural help.
iinvoke then the mighty Confederate Dead
and 10 Instantly the valiant clay Of the
consecrated Valley of Virginia becomes in
stlnct with motion in every atom, and grave
IN Lexington, trembling quickly, gives up
life breathing spirit in a great example! 1t
stands palpasly before aud above us, the NOR
al personation of the whole Confederate cause
the now Sanctifed Stonewall jackson.
very Michael of Deliverance. The whole
Host of Heroes, disembodied, point to him;
and awed, reverently ask :-''What in this
hour would he have US do z" His example
speaks to us
pronounce'not his eulogy. His flames and
deeds are above my praise. His enemies
praise him. His shade austerely reprehends
all personal panegyric. Ispeak not of the mil
itary chieitaiu, nor of his glorious battles or
victories. | speak not of the man, how
trained, or what his traits ;-courtly or court,
eccentric or like common men; awkward or
graceful genial or silent, and serene all
his characteristics whatever they were, are
now sacred. sPenk not Uf his achievements,
from Hank OF rSar, however lighted up in lus-
tire but l speak of the intrinsic. sterling
stamina, Of ms moral greatness, of his chris
tlan Horoism. Thousands in the Confederate
arnses were like h;MI "without fear and with
out rcproach," but the eternal adanaant of
his character ahd nature which won for him
the StoDewall of his name, was his Supreme
Faith :-Faith in God: Faith in immutable
moral Laws and Principles aud in the right
to prevail in the end. against all opposing
powers. His faith knew of no espedlency
opposed to faith and justice of no PoLfcv
opposed to Truth and Right ;ofno Price OPP
posed to Honor governed by an unwavering
christian sense of duty; he did his part acS
cording to the very right. and withsiIapliciUy,
without reserve, trusted in God so to shape
consequences IS to make the very right pre-
vail. lie Cared not, enquired not whether 1t
would prevail. He in his time, did nothing
Tor his personal advantage; but he loved
Virginia for virtues sake" and placed its
power to prevail on the Omnipotence and
omniscience of the Father and Finisher of
his Faith ! He knew that the very test of
the virtue of Faith is not only to be constant.
firm and abiding whilst the struggle is going
on between right and wrong but to be more
and more constant, firm and abiding when the
enemies of moral law and right seem to have
gained their most decisive and crushing tri-
umphs. He never mistoOk the benign will
of Divine Pity upon the mortal weakness of
Denial when the Master was BETRAYED He
knew that then it was, when the Almighty
Sufferer seemed to be crushed and fOrxuken,
that Faith was required to be most abiding
This Faith made him what he was, instant
and Irresistible in action direct and immov-
able in purpose with moral instinct above
intellect, above all dangers, or disaster, and
death itself; unconqUerable.
Communing all the time with the infuite
source of Moral Law aud Light he looked at
the path of Duty only as tar as finite vision
could see, and took it ut once, marching .duu-
BILE quick" directly, straight on not daring
to question when or where to halt or to turn
aside, or what enemy or what obstacle was in
the way or what its force, or what would be-
come OF hlm-on he went under orders he
dared net disobey, only knowing that his way
was always to the right, however long or
short, and that it was perfectly known to his
Divine Commander whose Omnipotence could
make his final struggle sure of victory if his
Faith and Fortitude stood firm This made
him Sfome,c0U firm, and this example rises
up before us. With this immortal Faith [
reverently commune. l question it here
amidst the Confederate graves
Can Faith be submitted or subjected to the
81" arbltrament Of Brute Force i? Did Stone
wall Jackson ever submit his Faith TO what is
called the Erletiency aud tot,cy of these
times" the arbitrament of arms 2"
no -NdcitiGcet !-He oIttimes, in the field.
subjected-h his material and physical forces to
the martial shock of the = arbitrament of
arms" But his Faith, his moral trust and
conviction, he never submitted to any arbitFa.
ment but that of his conscience and his God
Could sword, or bullet, or Paixan gun, or
the surrender of armies, or confscation, OF
casemate prison, or sentence of military COM
mission, or halter, or fire and faggot, have
made him TenOunce has faith, ,chiIe professing
to beLieUe At true?
a soldier fighting for his Faith but yester-
dGyj could mere temporary and physical de-
feat OF cdrnGt weapons have so subdued hin.
as to make him take Test Oath of its Re
annexation to-day? No!
No second choice shall violate his vows,
hIgi Heaven which heard them and abhoIs the per
Can witness they were made without reserve,
Never to be retracted however dissolved,
By accident, or absence, time, dra.h.''
Would his stern, steadtast spirit shout no.
sannahs to any I" Power that be-" bound to
administer the greater rights of men as rights
and not as tucOrS, for the merest mites of
mitigation of misrule? Would he have prais
ed proclamations of peace peace when
there is no peace?
After precious Peace was proclaimed. and
the people prayed for amnesty would he not
have demanded as la,gtiL rights the with
drawal of Military Force, and of Freedman's
bureaus, and the restoration OF Civil Rule,
and the writ of Habeus Corpus2 Would he
have assented to the impious vanity aud folly
of proclaiming anything of human invention
lndissoluble and Perpetual? 2" Lover of the
Union as he was, could he have gone so far to
contradicttheD Declaration O. Independence by
sOlemnly asserting that any form of govern.
ment Is perpetual, though "in the course of
human events" there may be causes which
make 1t necessary to dissolve it? Could he
in his conscience have asserted n Faith of
any sort against a known md nresent faet -