The Sumter watchman. [volume] (Sumterville, S.C.) 1855-1881, 1870-07-13

not be competent to pronounce. .ar
impartial judgment as to tho justice o.
that cause. Time, with its soothing in
6uence, must elapse, and the passions
engendered by the war must cool before
tho record can be fully made up fo,
history to pronounce her final verdict
Believing that Truth, Right and Justice
were on our side, we submit our case
without one doubt as to the impartial
judgment Of posterity, reserving to
ourselves the right of appeal to tho
Great Tribunal alone where the Supreme
Judge Of the Universe, who reads our
hearts, will pronounce that decree which
will through all eternity justify or con-
demn US. We konw that the men whose
names are written on that marble be.
lieved, a. firmly as they did in the OK.
istence of God, in the justice of the
cause for which they died; we know
that they sacrificed peace, comfort, life,
to encounter war, privation, death, at
the call and service of their State and
knowing this, we place them high on
the role of those patriotic and heroic
dead who make up the great army of
martyrs Of liberty. Nor should their
memory be less dear to us, or less honor.
ed, because they fell in a cause which
God in His Providence, has seen fit to
let fall. The heathcn may defy the
conquering hero, while he condemns
those who fall to exile, chains or death,
for with him success is the only evi-
dence of merit, but not so the Christian.
Right, Truth, Justice contribute the
standard by which he measured all
things. The test he applies to the ac-
tions of men is the Law which God him
self has made. By this law, we can
distinguish the laws which decide right
from wrong, as readily as We can recog.
nize those which separate light from
darkness. We know that in the econ.
omy Of God OWL is often permitted to
prevail over good ON this earth. We
see virtue tramplcd into dust by vice.
We 500 liberty PROSTATE at the feet Of
tyranny. We see religion superseded
by fanaticism. Intillegence, virtue,
patriotism thrust aside, while ignorance
vice and sel6shness usurp the high
places of the earth. These are the op.
ponent anomalies which strike US,
when We consider the Almighty's gov.
ernmont of this world. But when
guided by the light of revelation we
look more closely into that wondrous
system, and comprehend more fully tho
schism of that faith which, springing
from Calvary, is lighting with its sub
limo truths every rrevice of the earth,
We can reconcile the difficulties which
stand iu our way. That religion taught.
by tho Saviour, which We profess, no
whore promises that we shall be reward.
ed in this world for we'll doing 1t does
not promise that virtue shall here
triumph while vice is punished 1t
does not promise that the cause of lib,-
erty, sustained though it may be by
truth, courage, patriotism, will necessa.
rily succeed when it has to contend with
unlicensed power, directed by ambition,
hatred and fear. No such promises
are held out by the Divine Founder of
our religion to his followers. On the
contrary they arc explicitly told that
on this earth they are to look for trials,
disappointments and Affections that
they will often soc the powers of dark
ness holding high carnival of crime,
where they hoped to see virtue exer-
cising her benign and powerful sway ];
that it does not come within the scope
of the Christian religion to punish evil
and to reward the good in this world,
and that not until the last trump shall
summon the quick and the dead to
judgment will tho great Judge, rccit>
ing all the wrongs, punish all the
crimes and reward all the virtues which
have excited her since the foundation
of the earth. 1t is this sublime faith
that sustains the Christian patriot, as
he struggles to bear his own Affections
or mourns over his country's loss Of
liberty; for be knows that if he
has discharged his duty to his God
and to his country, he will sooner or
later surely reap an exceeding great re.
ward.
Let US then, my friends and comrades,
cling with unrolaxing grasp and unsha-
kon confidence to the faith that is in us.
Let not the angry threats Of oppression,
or the syren voice of temptation, drive
or allure US to forsake it. Above all,
be not misled by that unmeaning jargon
which tells you that your cause was
submitted to the arbitrament of arms,
and that the sword has decided that
cause against you. The sword has
never, nor will it ever, decide a princi-
pie or establish truth. 1t can, asst it
has often done, overthrow q just cause
aDd make might take the place of right;
but it can never reverse the immutable
laws Of God, and make what is evil ap-
pear right in his sight. A noble cause,
upheld heroica!ly by honor, courage,
patriotism, may die along with its sup
portets. A great truth never dies, but
eternal as the Godhead from which it
springs, it lives forever, amid all the
changes Of dynasties, the wreck of en-
pires, and the death of nations. 1t is,
too, as false in fact as in logic, to assert
that the sword can or does decide justly
between right and wrong. With tho
sword the Goths and Vandals drenched
the fair fields Of Italy with the best blood
nf har anna 1k nouo noor1sy ho1f Tho