Army and Navy herald. (Macon, Ga.) 1863-1865, March 30, 1865, Page 2, Image 2

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2 %xm itwd savi» Mrvali feb ~ ; . _ ROBERT J. RARE, Editor. MACON, GA , MARCH .‘SO, 1865. Acknowledgment--A New Hat. The Editor of the Herald has been brought under many obligations by the receipt of & fine new hat —a present from Miss of New Orleans. It came safely to hand. The ladies seem to hare an intuition of just what a man needs. *lf the kind donor meets with this ac knowledgment before returning, we send greet ing to oif old friends of the Crescent City. Got) Bi.kss Them ! —, , M.oreh sth. 1865. Mr. Editor r i take up my pen with a. query right on the #nd of it. • Pray tell me the. author of those exquisite lines, “The Bachelor’s Ele gy” (not soliloquy), which appeared not long since in the 11, raid. Were they effusions from some modern pen‘l or were they gems of thought from some of tin old poets? What a truly poetical theme ! and how artistically the author ha* woven his thoughts into a beautiful garland *of poesy. But I’m n® critic: let it suffice that i;.’s fir.-1-rate for the material. llcally, my curiosity—of which 1 ve no ordi nary share—is-quite excit-d to know the au thor, an 1 you w net he so impoli'ic and incon siderate as to refuse so modes' a request from a young lady, will > m . Ah ! you 11 ted me, I know. And again, Mr. KJitor, what say you to an occasional pen an I ink chat with yourseli and the soldier.- upon the state of the country, the war, our finances, and matters and things generally through the columns of the Ai mg end NavySb raid ? Could you possibly spare time from your numerous and arduous tasks to listen? (I’d do the talking., or would you deem it an encroac?'-nt- upon your bachelor solitude to have a -stray visitor now and then to your sanctum, and bo forced, nolens volcns, to listen to what men, learned in tlieir owlt estimation, m-pht; iu tin- .ce.-.s of t heir vanity, term the meaningless prattle of a modern younj 1-rdy ? However, this is hardly ft fair question. Vet, under the eircmnsUntcc*, you’d l-e id ; ••nr.?': of a •.rategist. to answer in the liege tv , T know; but nans verron, as the Frenchman says, wo shall see. And now, with asking portion for this iui.rmiou upon your valuable tint , adieu! Believe mo, with all conceivable admiral ion, respect- and sstcetn, tho bachelor s friend, Hosts Rattlh. ANSWER. , A “young lady”-is never more beautiful and interesting than when laboring under t lie excitement of curiosity ; there is an enchant ment, a resistless witchery, in the upturned eye of anxious inquiry. While, therefore, the Editor could plead professional precedent, which with all the force and sanction of law, enjoins reticence upon the medical, legal and editorial fraternities iu certain cases, with reference to their patients, clients and contribu tors, he is sure that the •‘■bachelors' friend" will more hi-ghly appreciate, as a reason for declining* what may seem to her to be “so modest a request from a young lady,” that the consequence of gratifying her inquisitive ness, if not as disastrous as in the case of a certain young lady in the garden of Eden, of historical celebrity, might, at least, leave her less attractive, than when under the inspira tion of “wo ordinary share of curiosity.” In deed, he is sure she will accept the declination as an act-of the most genuine “gallantry," when informed that iu ali probability further knowledge of the “author” would rob the “Elegy” of that admiration 'which pronounces it “ exquisite .” The Editor further assures his fair corres pondent, that if lie were one of the fraternity of elves, which furnished the “ material ” for the “Elegy” and for her contribution, he would feel himself much’complimented by the avowal of “admiration, respect and esteem" so euphoniously Rattled upon the untuned strings of a discordant nature. But ho suspects that Miss Battle is laboring under some mistake in reference to the editorial management of the Herald. He can assure her that there is no such place as “ bachelor's solitude '' iu connec tion with the department; the Editor is not prone to mental ab.-traqtiou and inclir.-*s to the opinion that an editor who is so abandoned as to give himself up to “solitude” in suolt stir ring times as the present, (especially if he is a bachelor,) would “ regard all visitors as intru ders” except the daily [ftipers and the devil. In conclusion, the Editor congratulates the “ Superfluous man’’ upon the flattering in terest manifested in knowing his name. If Miss Rattle could enter his solitude (incog.,) be hold his hoary locks, upon which rests his ancient hat, well worn and mashed iu with THE ARMY & NAVY HERALD, time; survey his once grey coat, representing the many d:awn battles between grease spots and tortt places, the latter, haif-clo-cd with hideous stitches that grin like the teeth of the slain ; his ti owsers, made in the minimum style and all shaded about the knees like the varying colors in the backgr und of a winter scene: his feet shod with one slipper and one disabled boot, and suspended.by ins venerable lower ‘members to some resting place above ihe fire grate, and his eyes ever turned upward, as if t.o gnze.upon the moon through the dingy •pil ing of his dilapidated house, it is n®t unlikely that she would consider the “ material ” not. very tempting to a poet or a fi*tr artist, except upon the supposition that, the exigencies of war have enforced an economy which drags out, “ nolens nolens," many garments rejected in our belter days, and after subjecting them to the processes of renovation, reconstruction, dyeing and trimming, dons them wi.ii as much nonchalance as if they were of the freshest “ material." [For the Army and Navy Herald.] To the O Dicers and Soldiers of the Confederate Army. 15Y KEY. L. riKKCB, [ Continued. ] “Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord: and the people whom he bath chosen for his own inheritance.”- —Psalms xxxiii: 1” We come now to inquire wherein we are to find the true meaning of the remarkable words, “ Whose God is Hie Lord.” They surely allow the idea, that a nation might have a God, and yet that God might not. be the Lord. Al most any nation that has ever been chronicled, has had a national God—most of them many gods. It looks as if the apprehension of a Supreme Intelligence was inseparable from our race. Man must have a Ihiiy. Indeed, man is, by a sense that may be not inaptly called his religious in-tmot, a worshipping creatiu-o. To such .a creature, nothing was so needful as a reliable revelation, making known to man the true and living God. And it, is worthy of special notice, lift from the very point, where the Jehovah Godot the Old Tes tament, commenced an immediate revelation of liittrse'.f to the chos a i- d> m sivauve acis, that be did so i . 1-f/ypi. fti the court of Pharaoh ; and that, by ien successive miracles, all of them intended to show, in the most sensible manner, the iinpofency of the gods of the Egyptians on the one hand, and the all-sufficiency of the God of Abraham to deliver and to save on the other. And here let me enlarge, enough to engage the reader’s at tention to the great doctrinal fact, that after lids immediate revelation of himself to man, as Jehovah in covenant with him, he never spoke of himself as the God of creation, or as the Go<l of the flood, but always as of the God of Abraham. This is because, is. is in the com muning of the angel of the coveuant, with Abraham, that, we begin to be introduced into a more manifest knowledge of Jesus Christ, in the person of the Jehovah of the Old Testa ment, and of Christ Jesus ip the New. This is put beyond (lie reach of cavil, by Christ, him self, who said of Abraham, that he rejoiced to see his day—that be did see it, and was glad. Sec John viii: 56. This seeing of the day of Christ, refers to the occurrences recorded in Genesis, 18th ch. In this history of divine com munication, there are three personages men tioned, but only one of them is recognized as a divine person—called by eminence the Lord. He, by this eminence, was doubtless recognized by Abraham in all this wonderful history as a divine person, fbr the divine exposition of these revelations of himself to the apprehen sion and comprehension of the patriarchal fathers Abrah tut, Isaac and Jacob—see Exodus vi: 1,2, o. To these fathers he says lie had appeared under his more generic title, God Al mighty ; but had not been known to them under his specific title of Jehovah, as he was about now to make himself known to Moses, and his church and people forever. It is under this august title, that God reveals to us his eternity. Tiic title conveys the idea of continuous, self dependent life. Hence-, when Moses so belli - titigly inquired what answer he should return, when the people demanded of him from whence he received his commission, was told to say: “I Am hath sent me unto you.” The whole ot God’s mysterious name, as given to Moses, is intended To convey to us mortals, the over whelming conception of a sell-existent, self dependent being, wito, if I may venture the term,'is also only self-responsible. Christ, in order to show liis personal presence in all these incipient revelations of himself in the times of Abraham, in his reply to tire quibbles of the Jews, said, “Before Abraham was, I Am.” As I believe, declaring himself to be the I Am of the Old Testament, claiming eternal affiliation. These evidently designed manifestations of the Christ of the New Testament, in the Jehovah of tlic Old, is proof as clear as God could make j if, that the “ Herd that was wit It God was God.” ; But as God’s general name signified l all-suffi- ! cient. it i3 most likely he meant by this par- J tacular title, at this particular time, mainly to suit it demonstratively to the fulfilment of his promise, to bring his covenant people out of Egypt and into the premised land by the em ployment ®f bis own almighty arm. In this way—by manifestations ®f his all-suffi ciency in various test issues, he fully estab liilied bis indisputable right to be believed in and to be worshipped as the only true God. In this way he was by eminence distinguished from all idol g«ds. by the affix of the God of the Hebrews, the God of Daniel, etc. Whose God is the Lord: That is, in my opinion, whose God is Jesus Christ the Lord. This appellation. Lord, is everywhere applied in the Old Testament Scriptures to, that divine personage engaged in the conditions and prom ises of the Abrahamic covenant, which cove nant St. Haul says was confirmed of God in Christ. There is no one article in the doctrines to ho believed, that is more emphatically en forced, than the doctrine of Christ s absolute right to the disposal of thrones, of principali ties, of powers, and of all issues dependent, either on the right of creation or on the right, of redemption—see Col. i: 15, 16. Did you never feel yourselves called on to pause, and inquire why it was that Christ gave the dis ciples such particular notice, after his resur rection, of the plenary power with which lie was clothed in all the pending issues of heaven and of earth ? These terms, heaven and earth, may fitly represent his jurisdiction over both Church and State When he said all power was given into his hands, he must, have meant, civil power, as well as ecclesiastical. He is declared to be “The blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings; and the Lord oTiovds, wh* only hash immortality, and welling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no until letih seen nor can see; to who** be honor and power everlasting. Amen.” The want of this amen, the spirit and the will to say, so let it l»e, is, in my opinion, the deleterious consti tutional taint that has, and will, and i* Divine . to stamp v. ith the seal < bation every government that spreads its shield oTcr a, Knd trHero revelation is «, iantp to our feet. It is the decree of lleAvon, that been use Christ iu his crucifixion waived all cldim to exemption, either from its infamy or its agony, on account of his being in the form of God, and designedly made himself of no reputation—that being found in fashion as w man, he might humble, himself, not only low enough to die,-but to die the death of the cross, that she should be highly exalted and receive a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus “every knee should bow of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ, is Lord, to the "glory of God the Father.” Here, then, ye officers and privates of our armies, you can see the theological reason why the text says, Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord—the nation that openly and believing ly acknowledges Jesus Christ as the Son of God and the Saviour of the world. There is sure enough in this case only one Lord and one faith; and as according io Daniel's visions and revelations, the mysterious stone which he saw smite tho image and break it, was to grow on until all the kingdoms of the world were to be swallowed up in it, and to tieeome the king dom of God and of his Christ, I take it for granted that this leaven—that is to leaven the whole lump—must and will become a national leaven before the earth is tilled with the knowl edge of God. This Confederacy can never be blessed of God until it makes Jesus Christ its Lord, not merely' as a national sentiment, but truly as a national faith. Guerrillas in Kentucky.-— The Louisville Journal, of the 20th February, soys : The passenger train which left Nashville on Thursday morning, on the Nashville and De -eatur • Railroad, was captured by a squad of rebels at Spring Ilill, twelve miles below Franklin. No particulars have been transmit ted.* The telegraph along the line of the road is in working order, not having been molested. A party of guerrillas, Thursday, made a de is in wogking order, not having been molested, wood on Murrell’s lands, near the Murfrees boro’ pike, about seven miles from Nashville, they robbed ihe negroes, and set fire to and destroyed thirteen wagons. A general stam pede followed the surprise, and the negroes went rushing pell-mell into the city. Upon ar riving on the Square, one of the darkies, speak ing to a companion, .said, “ Dar, by golly, 1 just thought of it, 1 left anew pair of boots on a stump.” The negroes had but recently* been employed by Mr. James Calvert. [For tho Army and Navy Herald.] Dines Written on tYe National Fast Day. To thee, O Lord, we render now Our willing tribute, love and praise ; Wilt thou, to whom all flesn must bow, Accept our bumble, grateful lays ? Thy providence has kindly led Our nation through its perils past, And “lifted up” her fainting head— Be still her strength, thou First and Last. 0 see *ur infant nation bow, A trembling suppliant, at thy feet.; A deadly pallor clothes her brow. Her life is now with woes replete. Her enemies now fiercely wage A cruel war on all things dear, And heed not iu their fiendish rage Tiie old man’s groan or woman's tear. Our foes are strong, and madly rave : Our trust is in Thy arm alone ; Wilt thou not from their malice save And still our nation bless and own ? Sharon, Miss., March 10, 1865. [Special Correspondence Army A Navy Herald.] Froan Tallahassee. BATTLE AT NATURAL BRIDGE. TIIPEE CHEEKS FOR LADIES AND CITI ZENS OP FLORIDA. Ur. EH tor: You have no doubt heard of the battle below Tallahassee, at Natural Bridge, | (not “National” Bridge, as ono of th* paper* jin your city lnvf it). It wai a complete rout of : the enemy, and came near being x complete ®*ptu » of their-army. Never w*s a thing mors handsomely, more nobly done, and never wa* Providene ■ more strangely manifested in ! our behalf. Tho signal guns eollec?ed every | thing, from tin* Meih-usalem Grays to the young ! Cadets nt. school. Never was there a more j hearty response. From Quincy, from Baldwin, j from Tallahassee, Madison, Monticelio, and I from the c> uti:vy, as if moved by electric fire, | weve thrown together by the first Shock of alarm. Wealth and poverty, vounc men and | r j ’ j a i maidens, old men and children exposed their lives iu the conflict. It makes my hair vise on my head and my heart flow warm when 1 think of it. Actually, the heroic young ladies at. Newport exposed themselves in carrying food to our soldiers in the trenches while the missile* of the enemy were flying round them. Li forcibly reminded me of the song of Debo rah (Judges, 5 eh.) “when the people willingly offered themselves." I will not stop to carry out the simile, but “ Merez,” in this instance, was not left behind. Gen. Miller was therewith his clear head and brave soul, watching dili gently every movement of the enemy*, and moving rapidly to every place where his pres ence was needed, fearless l of danger. Long will he live in the hearts of his comrades in this battle. Col. Scott, with his eagle eye and indomitable will, working like some secret, power, only known by* its effects, performed (next to) miracles in his movements; and a like spirit moved our subordinate officers and men ; and last, but no? least, Kind Providence directed all to a happy issue. I cannot forbear io mention one circumstance: John Williams, the circuit preacher , and four others, fighting behind our breastworks, kept back one hun dred Yankees from entering Newport for three hours, and finally drove them from their en trenchments. Our loss was one killed and about twenty wounded—wounds mostly slight. The Yankee loss was four hundred killed, wounded aud cap tured. Yours, very truly, E. B. Duncan An Irishman being lately asked by his priest, a curate, why he did not come to confession, said to him, “Please your reverence do you ever confess?” “ Yes, I do, to the rector,” “And do you pay?” “Yes.” “And to whom does the rector confess ? ” “To the bishop.” “ And does lie pay him ?” “ Yes.” “ And to whom ; does the bishop confess ?” •• To the vicar*gen eral.” ‘’And pays him?” “Yes.” “And to whom does he confess?” “To the Pope.” “And pays?” “Yes.” “And to whom does the Pope confess?” “ To Jesus Christ.” “And doeshe pay anything ?” “No.” —“Then please your reverence,” said the man, “ as I am very poor, 1 think 1 shall go to Christ,” “Boast not Thyself of To-morrow.”—At a Christmas party one observed, that if they should ever meet again, something was to be done. Another exclaimed : “If we shall meat! —we will meetbut he was the only one who died in the interval!