Army and Navy herald. (Macon, Ga.) 1863-1865, February 09, 1865, Image 3
Daily Bread.
[Selection s for Every Day in the Week.~\
FRIDAY, FKB. 10.
“Rejoice in the Lord alway.”— Phil. iv. 4.
Rejoice, believer, in the Lobd,
Who makes your cause his own;
The hope that’s built upon his Word
Can ne’er be overthrown.
The true comforter in all distress is only God,
through his Son Jesus Christ; and whosoever
hath him, hath company enough, although he
were in a wilderness all alone ; and he that hath
twenty thousand in his company, if God be ab
absent, is in a miserable wilderness and deso
lation. In him is all comfort, and without him
is none.— Cranmer.
SATURDAY, FEB. 11. .
“Rejoice with trembling.”—Ps. ii. 11.
Though much exalted in the Lord,
My strength is not my own ;
Then let me-tremble at his word,
And none sjjall me cast down.
There is a fear without diffidence, and a
trembling that may consist with joy. Trem
bling is an effect of fear; but this fear, which
we must effect, is reverential, not' slavish, not
distrustful. Indeed, when we look upon our
selves, and consider our own frailties and cor
ruptions, and God’s infinite justice, we have too
just cause of doubt and dejection, yea, were it
not for better helps, of utter despair-; but when
we cast up our eyes to the power of him that
hath undertaken for us, and the faithfulness of
him that hath promised, and the sure mercies
of him that hath begun his good work in us,
we can fear with confidence, and rejoice in our
trembling. For what are our sins to his mer
cies—our unworthiness to his infinite merits—
our weaknesses to his omnipotence?— Flail.
SABBATH, FEB. 12.
“ Call the Sabbath a delight.”—lsa. lviii. 13.
Thanks to thy name, O Lord, that we
One glorious Sabbath more behold ;
Our Shepherd, let us meet with thee
Among thy sheep, within, thy fold.
Philip Henry would often say, at the close of
his Sabbath devotions—Well: if this be not
heaven, it must be the way to it. Yes; it is
then Christians often feel themselves, like Ja
cob in his vision, at the ga e. They have earn
ests and foretastes of the glory to be revealed.
Perhaps they are never so willing as then to go.
Many of them have wished to be released on
this day ; and many have been gratified. But
if they do not leave on the earthly Sabbath,
they enter on the heavenly one. For there re
maineth a rest to the people of God.— Jay.
MONDAY, FEB. 13.
“Thou hast a name that thou livest, and art
dead.”— Rev. iii. 1.
To walk as children of the day,
To mark the precept’s holy light;
To wage the warfare, watch and pray,
Show who are pleasing in his sight.
Not words alone it cost the Lord,
To purchase pardon for his own ;
Nor will a soul by grace restored,
Return the Saviour words alone.
An empty name of religion is but a poor and
pitiful business. What though men and women
have the largest-testiiqonial drawn up, in the
most ample form, and subscribed by the hands
of all the most eminent, godly, and discerning
ministers, and private Christians of the city or
country side wherein they live—what will it
signify or avail if Christ’s hand be not at it, or
if he shall subscribe aft er all their subscriptions,
a plain contradiction to, and a downright deni
al of, what they affirm. ’O! when shall we once
look more seriously and concernedly after real
religion and godliness, and be less concerned,
and more holily indifferent, as to the name ?
Durham.
TUESDAY, FEB. 14.
“ Call upon me in the day of trouble : I will
deliver thee.”—Ps. i. 15.
In every trouble, sharp and strong,
To God my spirit flies ;
My anchor-hold is firm in him,
When swelling billows rise.
This is the only effectual path out of sorrow.
And this is effectual to deliver us from.every
sorrow—the deepest and the worst. If we
catch at worldly things for help, we shall find
them but as straws, that mock our grasp. If
we cling to men around us, they can hold us up
but for a moment; nay, perhaps drag us with
themselves, into a deeper sorrow. If we de
pend upon ourselves, our strength is momently
diminishing. But if we turn to God, in peni
tence, in faith, with all the earnestness of
drowning agony, he can, he will, he does, de
liver us from the lowest deep. The Lord is a
refuge and strength, a very present help in
trouble.— Griffith.
WEDNESDAY, FEB. 15.
“ Adorn the "doctrine of God our Saviour in all
things.”— Titus ii. 10.
0 Lord I would be thine alone—
Come take possession of thine own ;
For thou hast set me free.
Released from Satan’s hard command,
See all my powers waiting stand
To be employed by thee.
Consider for your encouragement, that if you
adorn the doctrine of Christ, it will for ever
adorn you ; and as you have made it glorious
in the world, it will make you for ever glorious
in heaven. This is the reward which it promis
eth. It will put a wreath of beams, a diadem
of stars, a crown of glory upon your heads.—
“ Then shall the righteous shine forth as the
sun in the kingdom of their Father.”— Hopkins.
THURSDAY, FEB. 16.
“A better country, that is, an heavenly.”—
hkb. xi. 16.
Sorrow and pain, and every care,
And discord there shall cease;
And perfect joy and love sincere,
Adorn the realms of peace.
The heavenly Canaan, Immanuel's land, a
county better than the best of this world, where
nothing is wanting to complete the happiness of
the inhabitants—that land enjoys an everlast
ing day ; “for there is no night there.” An
eternal sunshine beautifies this better country ;
but there is no scorching heat there. No clouds
shall be seen there for ever; yet it is not a land
of drought. The trees of the Lord's planting
are set by the rivers of water, and shall never
want moisture ; for they will have an eternal
supply of the Spirit, by Jesus Christ, from his
Father.— Boston.
A Day of Fasting and Prayer.
Joint resolutions adopted by Congress, re
questing the President to appoint a day of
Fasting, Humiliation and Prayer, with
Thanksgiving.
Whereas, We regard it at once to be the duty
and privilege-of the representatives of a Chris
tian people, at all times, to avail themselves of
that moral power which is indispensable to the
welfare of the State, and which the grace of God
can alone" supply ; and, whereas, we regard the
war in which we are engaged as, on our part,
defensive of those principles which have the
sanction of the word of God ; firmly persuaded
that while we desire to secure obvious rights,
to protect sacred interests, to vindicate just
principles, to “ seek peace and pursue it,” we
may confidently ask the blessing of Heaven ;
desiring in all the departments of the govern
ment that wisdom which the “Father of Lights”
alone can inspii c ; assured that honorable peace
is only possible through the grace of Him who
can at will control the hearts of our enemies or
defeat their plans ; believing that at the com
mencement of another year it is becoming and
appropriate to invoke the favor of Heaven be
fore entering upon the untried realization of
that time, which may yet remain to this solemn
conflict; wishing to unite all the people of the
land in that repentance to which the tfump of
I’rovidence still summons us by war, and in
that expression of gratitude which marvellous
mercies should, even amid sorrows, inspire:
Therefore, Resolved by the Congress of the
Confederate States of America, That the Presi
dent be respectfully requested to appoint the
22d day of February next as a day of fasting,
humiliation and prayer, with thanksgiving.—
And we hereby request all denominations of
Christians throughout these Confederate States,,
and all the soldiers of our armies, and all other
citizens, to observe in some appropriate manner
that day; remembering the great goodness of
God, to which our achievements so impressively
refer; supplicating the mercy of Almighty God,
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
that our manifold sins may be blotted out, the
righteous anger of the King of Kings be turned
away, the days of evil be shortened, sustaining--
grace be given to our people in their protracted
trials, the shield of Omnipotence be extended
over the heads, and unfailing virtues inspire
the hearts, of our soldiers, wisdom from on
High be imparted to all in civil and military
authority, that our armies may be directed by
th£ Lord of Hosts, our Executive and Legisla
tive departments may be guided by the Judge
of all the earth, and that He who is God over
all, taking graciouily into His own hands all
our affairs, may in that way and at that time
which will be most merciful to us, ordain such
a peace as shall at once secure our interests and
independence, and reflect His glory, so that all
men shall ascribe the praise to the God of our
salvation.
♦-
The Power of Reading.
Benjamin Franklin tells us, in one of hi? let
ters, that when he was a boy, a little book fell
into his hands entitled Essays to do Good, by
Cotton Mather. It was tattered and torn, and
several leaves were missing. “ But the re
mainder,” he says, “gave me such a turn of
thinking as to have an influence on my conduct
throffgh life: for I have always set a greater
value on the character of a doer of good than
on any other kind of reputation ; and if I have
been a useful citizen, the public owes all the
advantages of it to the little book,” Jeremy
Bentham mentions that the current of his
thoughts and studies was directed for life by a
single phrase that.caught his eye at the end of
a pamphlet, “The greatest good of the greatest,
number.” There are single sentences in the
New Testament that have awakened to spiritu
al life hundreds of millions of dormant souls.—
In things of less moment reading has a w*on
drous power. George Law, a boy on his father’s
farm, met an old unknown book, which told
the story of a farmer’s son who went away to
seek his fortune, and came home after many
years absence a rich man, and gave great sums
to all his relations. From that moment George
was uneasy till he set out on his travels to im
itate the adventurer. He lived over again the
life he had read of, and actually did return a
millionaire, and paid all his father's debts.—
Robinson Crusoe has sent to *sea more sailors
than the press gang. The story about little
George Washington telling the truth about the
hatchet and the plum tree has made many a
truth-teller. We owe all the Waverly novels
to Scott’s early reading of the old traditions
and legends ; and the whole body of pastoral
fiction came from Addison’s Sketches of Sir
Roger DeCoverly, in the Spectator. But illus
trations are numberless. Tremble ye who write,
and ye who publish writing. A pamphlet has
precipitated a revolution. " A paragraph may
quench or kindle the celestial spark in a human
soul—in myriads of souls.
From the Christian Index.
Restoration to Favor.
Restore unto me the• joys of thy salvation. P*.
51: 12.
(adapted.)
Christian, have you not, as a lost sheep,
erred and strayed—wandering from the home
of your God? Have you not been seeking
happiness in the shadowy and unreal—prefer
ring the world and its delusive hopes to the
pleasures of religion ? Has not your heart,
which ought ever to be a little altar and sanc
tuary of praise, been burning with false in
cense? Have not the world and pleasure and
wealth and gratification usurped that place in
your affections where the love and glory of
God ought to have been paramount? And is
it not a marvel that God has not left you, as a
wandering star, to drift onwards and onwards
to the blackness of darkness forever? Is it
not a wonder that he has not entirely given
you over to a reprobate mind, to work out all
uncleanness with greediness, and to effect your
own everlasting shame, disgrace and misery ?
Instead of which h i is calling you, and is
working upon your mind, and bringing sor
rowfully to your remembranee the blissful
hours of his favor you once enjoyed, so that
from your mourning heart goes forth the sad,
sad refrain, “Oh, that it were with me, as in
months past, when the candle of the Lord did
shine! ”
Come, Christian, return to the Lord that he
may have mercy upon you, and to our God
that he may abundantly pardon. Beg him to
“ restore unto you the joy of his Salvation.”
Let your petition be, “ 0 Lord, I beseech thee
deliver my soul. Snap these chains of earth
liness that are still binding me to the dust,
that, upon the wings of faith I may soar up
wards and find rest and quietude where alone
it can be found—in thy renewed love and fa
vor. May my past baekslidings drive me
more to thy grace. Nothing in myself, may I
feel and find that my all in all is in thee. Dis
cover to me my own emptiness and the over
flowing, fullness of Jesus. May I every day
se# snore of his matchless excellences —more
of his incomparable loveliness—more of the
sweets of his service—that I may never feel
ter ipted to wander from his fold, and carefully
avoid all that would risk the forfeiture of that
favor which, indeed, is ‘life.’ Lord, let me
this day know something of this happiness.
Let me not be content with the name to live.
Let religion be with me a real thing—let it
be everything—life-influencing, sin-subduing,
self-renouncing. Let there be diffused all
around me the happy glow of a spirit that feels
at peace with God.” Offer this prayer, Chris
tian, in sincerity and penitence, and peace, as
a river, will flow into your soul.
Can’t Help Ht.
A little girl often followed her father round
when he came into the bouse with this question :
“ Father, what can Ido for you ? ” And never
was she happier than when he gave her some
thing to do for him. Once he said, perhaps
tired with her asking : “ Child, why do you ask
that question so much ? ” “0, father,” she
answered, with two tears swelling in her eyes,
“ because I can’t help it.” It was love that put
the question; and her readiness to undertake
whatever he set her about, was proof of the
genuineness of that love—she wanted always
to be doing something for lier father.
People sometimes are in doubt whether they
love God or not. I will tell them how they can
find out. Are you often asking your Heavenly
Father the same question this little child was
asking her carthiy father? Is it one of your
first thoughts : “ Lord, what wilt thou have me
to do ?” and do you keep on asking because you
cannot help it ? It so fills your heart that it
must come out. And you not only ask, but are
on tli e lookout all the time to hear what he says,
and to do what he bids. This is the way to
know whether you love God or not. And if we
love him, and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ,
who died for us, we shall keep his command
ments ; that is, do whai he says. This is the
proof of the genuineness of our love. Children,
will you try yourselves by this test ?
.<».
The Spirit of the People:
A call for a meeting of the citizens of Troup
county, to assemble on the first Tuesday in
this month, is published in the LaGrange Re
porter, and is signed by the most prominent
people to “assemble together and take counsel
with each other, and tell our brave soldiers
in the field that we are prepared to stand by
them in this dark hour of our country’s peril;
that while they are so manfully battling for
Southern liberty, we, who are at home, extend
to them our warmest sympathies—pledging that
all we have and all we are, are staked in this holy
cause.”
“My Times are in Thy Hand!”
[Selected for the Army & Navy Herald, by a
Lady in Leon co., Fla.]
“ My times are in Thy Hand ! ”
I know not what a day
Or e’en an hour may bring to me,
But I am safe while trusting Thee
Though all things fade away,
All weakness I
- On Him rely
IVho fixed the earth, and spread the starry sky.
“My times are in Thy Hand! ”
Pale poverty or wealth
Corroding care, or calm repose
Springs balmy breath or wintry snjws,
Sickness or bouyant health,
Wliate’er betide
If God provide
’Tis for the best—l ask no lot beside.
“ My times are in Thy Hand ! ”
Many or few my days
I leave with Thee—this only pray
That by Thy grace, 1 every day
Devoted to Thy praise
May ready be
To welcome Thee
Whene’er Thou com’st to set my spirit free.
“ My times are in Thy Hand ! ”
Howe’er those times may end—
Sudden or slow my soul's release,
Midst anguish, phrenzy or in peace,
I’m safe with Christ, my friend ;
If He is nigh
Howe’er I die
T’will be the dawn of Heavenly ecstacy.
“ My times are in Thy Hand ! ”
To Thee I can entrust
My slumbering clay, till Thy command
Bids all the dead before Thee stand,
Awaking from the dust;
Beholding Thee
What bliss ’twill be
With all Thy saints to spend eternity.
To spend eternity
In Heaven’s unclouded light;
From sorrow, sin and frailty free,
Beholding and resembling Thee ;
Oh ! too transporting sight!
Prospect too fair
For flesh to bear ;
Haste, haste, my Lord, and soon transport me
. there.
“ God with Us.”
God with man ! with ourselves ! How inspi
ring the doctrine ! Art thou a pilgrim, walk
ingin perplexed ways. He is thy guide. “In
all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall di
rect thy paths.” Thou art a creature of afflic
tion and sorrow, lie is with thee as thou pass
est through the water and through the fire.—
“Call upon him in the day of trouble ; he shall
deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify him.” Thou
art tempted. But he is thy shield and thy
strong tower. “In that he suffered, being
tempted, he is able to succour them that are
tempted.” Dost thou feel thine own littleness
and insignificance? Thy God thinketh upon
thee. “The hairs of your head are all num
bered.” “\ e are of more value than many
sparrows.” Thou mayest.be little and unknown
among men, but a precious diadem in the hand
of thy God. “He is nigh unto thee, in. all that
thou callest on him for.”
Various and changing may be the scenes
through which thou passest. But all shall be
tempered by his wisdom for thine own advant
age. “ All things work together for good unto
them that love him.” Thou shalt die. But
when thou walkest in the valley and shadow of
death, he shall be with thee. Thou shalt moul
der iD the dust. But thy “flesh also shall rest
in hope;” for “in his book of thy members are
written.” And while adoring “Him that sit
teth upon the throne,” and “ the Lamb in the
midst of the throne,” God with us shall be the
burden of thy song forever.
Is Christ our Emanuel? God is with us?—
Then let us take care that we are with him—
coming to him habitually in acts of faith and
love—walking with him—and before him—so
shall he to us be alband in all, the strength of
our heart, and our portion forever.
Watson’s Sermons.
Wishing to Fight, and Fighting.
A battle was going on. Firing was furious
and rapid. The ambulance committees were
not all busy, as not many wounded had been
brought to the rear. As the combat deepened,
one of the able bodied “ambulance” exclaim
ed, “Oh, for a gun to join them!” Old. Con
fed, just “ come out” with minnie hole in arm,
leaning against a tree, took compassion on chiv
alrous “Southern rights,” and drawled out,
“ Mister, if ycr wants to fight, here’s yergun,”
extending with his unwounded arm his musket.
Ambulance on the instant looked straight into
another direction and of course didn’t hear
“ ragged britches.” •
There’s a heap of difference between wishing
to fight and fighting, and by words you can’t
play “brave” on* an old soldier.