The central Presbyterian. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1856-1908, 1875-10-27

men may chae at the restraints which piety i'm
poses or be Indifferent to Its obligations yet there
is a sentiment in the popular heart which compels
it's homage for those whose character and lives
most faithfully reflect the beauty of the Divine
Image.
When man, already eminent By great virtues
and services. attsins great amoense 10 piety and
wears the eorona of heaven 90 his brow, because
the shirt of heaven has found its home in his
heart then the world, involun,ary, or with hearty
readiness, places him on higher pedestal, because
with their love and admiration for the attractive
qualities of the man. there is mingled veneration
for the ennobling Rraces of the Christian.
do not agree with those who ascribe all that
was admirable in the character of Jackson, and all
that was splendid in his career, to his religious
faith. He was distinguished before faith became
an element 10 his life, and even after his faith at.
tanned its fullest development, it did not secure the
triumph of the cause to which his life was sacri
fce But this | say, that his piety heightened
every virtue, gave direction and force to every
blow he struck for that cause, and then consecra-
ton to the sacrifice when he laid down his life on
the altar of his countrys liberties He was purer,
stronger, more courageous, more efficient because
of his pety; purer, because penitence strains the
soul of the corruptions which detile t-stronger,
because faith nerves the arm that takes hold on
omnipotence, more courageous, because faith
gives exultaton to the herosm of one who fights
with the crown of life ever in vew-more efficient,
because religion which is but another name ior the
right use of one own faculties, preserves them all
in harmonious balance, develops all in symmetrical
proportion, aud by freeing them from the varying
power of prejudice, the binding power of passion,
and the debasing slavery OF evil habits, gives them
all wholesome exercise, trains them all to keep step
to the music of duty, and inspires them with an
energy which is both intense and rightly directed
1t was thus that he gave to the world an Illus
traton of the power which results from the union
of the loftiest human attributes and unfaltering
faith in God.
To attempt therefore to portray the life Of Jack.
son while leaving out the religious element, would
be like undertaking to describe Switzerland with.
out making mention of the Alps; or to explain the
fertility of the land of the Phsrajh without taking
into account the enrichnQ Nile.
If what comes from the speaker to-day loses
aught of Its force because it is regarded as pro.
fessonal, he will deeply regret it, The same test-
mony might have more weight from the lips OF
many statesman or soldier on these grounds to day.
but it would not be whit more true. Sturdy old
Carlyle, at all events, not speaking profession.
ally when he said. A man religion is the chief
fact with regard to him. 1.-The thing a man does
TO this mysterious universe, and his duty and des-
tiny there, that is in all cases the primary thing
for him. and determines all the rest p"
1t was surely the primary fact-the supreme
fact in the history of General Jackson-and | can
not leave the subject without adding that those
who confound his faith in Providence with fatasm,
mistake both the spiritual history of the man, and
the meaning of the very words they employ. Those
who imagine that his faith savored of bigotry do
not know that characteristic OF his religion was
its glorious catholcity as well might be inferred
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instructions he sought we're members of commun
ions widely different in doctrine and polity; that
when he connected himself with the church OF his
choice it was with doubts of the truth of some OF
its articles of doctrne-doubts ultimately and ut
terly removed indeed, but openly avowed while they
possessed him that nothing so rejoiced his heart
during the war as the harmony existing between
the men of all religious faiths and that in selecting
his personal staff, and in recommending men to
promotion, merit was the sole ground, and ecclesi-
astcal relations never even considered that with
the charity which embraced all who held the car
dipa truths of revelation, he ardently desired such
a unity of feeling and concert of action among all
the followers of the same Divine Leader, as would
constitute one spiritual army, glorious and nvincl
Bile.
1t is refreshing too to note that at this day when
political economists abandon the weaker races to
the law of natural selection, and contemplate with
compacency the process by which the dominant
races extirpate the less capable, he sought to
place the gentle but strong sustaining hand OF
christianity beneath the African population of the
South and so arrest the operation of that law by
developing them, if possible into self sustaining
people
1t is still more refreshing to note that at this
day when scientific men assert such an uhvarying
uniformity in the operations of the laws OF nature
as to discredit prophecy, and deny miracles, and
silence prayer, that he whose studies had lain al
most exclusively in the realm of the exact sciences
was firm believer in the supernatural Well did
this humble pupil in the school of the Great
Teacher this diigent student in the school of phys
ica science, know that true progress was not mere
advance in inventions and in arts, or in substituting
the forces of nature to human uses, but that true
progress was the progress of man himself-man as
distinct from anything external to himself. Well
did he know that there is a celestial as we'll as
terrestrial side to man nature, and that although
the temple of the body has its foundation in the
dust, it is temple covered by dome which opens
upward to the air and the sunlight of heaven,
through which the Creator discloses himself as the
goal of the souls aspirations, as the ultimate and
imperishabe good which satisfies its infinite desires.
Those were true and brave words of the British
Premier when he said, Society has soul as we'll
as body the traditions of nation are part OF
its existence; its valor and its discipline, its reli
gious faith, Its venerable laws, its science and
erudition. its poetry its arts, its eoquence aud lis
scholarships, are as much a portion OF Its exist.
ence as its agriculture, its commerce and its en-
cheering skill. y
The death of every soldier who fell in our Confed
crate war is protest against that base philosophy
which would make physical good mans highest
good. and which would attempt to rear noble
Commonwealth mere material foundations. Every
soldier who offers his life to his country, demon
strates the superiority of the moral to the physical
and proclaims that truth aud right aud honor and
liberty are nobler than animal existence, and worth
the sacrifice, even when blood is the offering.
And now we recognize the providence of God in
giving to this faithful servant the illustrious name
and fame as leader of armies, which brought the
very highest development OF his character to the
notice of the world. Ii was his renown as a SOL
der of the country which made him known to men
as a soldier of the cross. And since nothing so
captivates the popular heart or so kindles its en-
thusasm as military glory, Providence has made
even that subservent to higher purpose. Men
cannot now think of Jackson without associating
the proves of the sJldier with the piety of the
man. Thus his great military renown is the gol-
den candelstick, holding high the celestial light
which is seen from afar and cannot be hid.
Such was the man who was second 10 command
in our Confederate armies and whose success as q
leader during the bright, brief career allotted to
him was second to that Of no one of his ilustri-
GUS comrades in arms
And yet the cause to which all this valor was
consecrated, and for which all these sacrifices we're
made, was not destined to triumph. And here,
perhaps, we learn one of the most sautary lessons
of this wonderful history.
Doubtless all men who have ever given their Ia
bors and affections to any cause ferventy hope to
be the witnesses of its assured triumph Nor do
deny that success makes the pulses of enterprise
beat faster and fuller. Like the touch Of the god
dess, it transforms the still marble into breathing
life. But yet all history sacred and profane, is
filled with illustrations of the TRUTH that success
and especially contemporary success, is not the test
of merit. Our own observation in the world in
which we move proves the same truth. Has not
popular applause assembled like incense before
tyrants who surrendered their lives to the basest
and most degrading passions? Have not reproach