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PUBLISHED WEEKLY FOR THE SOLDIERS’ TRACT ASSOCIATION, BY ROBERT J. HARP, SUPERINTENDENT FOR THE DEPARTMENT OF THE SOUTH-WEST.
VOL. 11.
JUimt & pitrn peraltl
SD rs —> Cos
PUBLISHED BY J. W. BURKE & CO.
MAOON, GA., APRIL 6, 1865.
The Herald is published for of
the soldiers, sailors and marines belonging to
the service of the Confederate States, to whom
it is furnished by the voluntary contributions
of their relatives and friends at home. Every
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of the love of the fathers, mothers, sisters and
wives, who, unable to fight by his side in the
field or stand over his cot in the hospital, send
him a Herald bearing tokens of their love,
and supplying him with something to chase the
gloom from his mind, dicer his spirit, and as
sure bim of the interest which they feci in his
eternal welfare.
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► •«>••*
Business Department.
- All communications connected with the Edi
torial or Business department, should be ad
dressed to Rev. Robert J. Harp, Editor and Pub
lisher, Macon, Ga., and all subscriptions should
bo sent to him.
Donations.
All contributions of money for circulating the
paper in the Army and the soldiers
with Bibles, Testament's, Ilynm Books and
Tracts, should be sent to -Rev. ,T. W. Burk;*
Treasurer Sol •/krs' Tvacj
Macon, Ga., who will publish in the Herald
once each month an acknowledgment thereof.
A little error of the eye, a misguidance of
the hand, a slip of the foot, a starting of a
horse, a sudden mist, or a great shower, or a
word uudesignedly cast forth in an army, has
turned the stream of victory from one side to
another, and thereby disposed of empires and
whole nations. No prince ever returns safe
out of a battle, but may well remember how
many blows and bullets have gone by him that
might, easily have gone through him ; and by
what little odd, unforeseen chances death has
been turned aside, which seemed in a full,
and direct career to have been posting
to him. All which passages if we do not ac
knowledge to have been guided to their respec
tivs ends and effects by tlie conduct of a supe
rior and a divine hand, we do by the same as
sertion cashier all providence, strip the Al
mighty of Lis noblest prerogative, and make
God, not the governor, but the mere spectator
of the world.— South.
_.ti.
“It is Difficult for ,t|lticu Man to Enter
into tiie Kingdom of God.”—Because be wants
that important test of his own conduct which
is to be gained from 1 lie conduct of his fellow
creatures toward him. He may be going far
from the kingdom of God cu the feet of pride,
and over the spoilt, of justice, without learning
from the averted looks and the alienated hearts
of men that his way- are the ways of death.
Because he loves the kingdom of the world
too well. Death is terrible to those-who live
at ease ii their possessions. A man who is the
eternal prey to solicitude, wishes for the closing
of the scene. A constant, cheerless struggle
with little miseries will dim the sun and wither
the green herb and taint the wind, but those
who are not reminded of the wretchedness of
human existence dream they shall live forever
in the palaces they have reared, which are but
the out-houses of the grave.
Because his wealth is apt to harden his heart.
Wealth gives power, jtowev produces immediate
gratification, and this engenders an impatience
of unpleasant feelings.— Soldier's Pop: r.
Courtesy. —No woman can be a lady who
would wound or mortify another. No matter
how beautiful, bow refined, how cultivated she
may be, she is in reality coarse, and the innate
vulgarity of her nature manifests itself here.
Uniformly kind, courteous and polite treatment
of all persons, is one mark of a true woman,
and of a true man als o.
MACON, GEORGIA, APRIL 6, 1865. ,
Daily Bread.
[S' Isstions for Every Day in the. Week.]
RAIIBATH, APRIL !).
“ Hear the word of the Lord.”—Josh, iii: 89.
Again our weekly labors end,
And Wa the Sabbath’s etll attend ;
Improve, our souls the sacred vest,
Aud seek to be for ever bless'd !
It is not enough to sny, We are all present
to hear the sermon; but you must say, with
Cornelius and his company : “We are present
to hear all things commanded us of God.”
Ami in a special manner you must be ready to
hear and obey his “great command, of believ
ing on the name of his Son,” which is the
great end of preaching and hearing. Where
fore, when Christ knocks by his word at the
door of your heart., be ready to open and wel
come him in with joy. Say to him, a-. LJbnu
to Abraham’s servant: “Come in, thou
blessed of the Lord; wherefore standest thou
without ?” Though, alas ! 1 canhot say what
follows: “I have prepared the house,” yet,
Lord, come in and prepare it for thyself; and
though “I be unworthy that thou shouldst
conic under my roof,” yet a word from thee
can cleanse and repair the house, yea, and
“prepare an upper room” for thyself. Lord,
apeak th* word, and it shall be done.
1 fillitoH.
SION HI, APRIL 10.
“The' rive of God which is in Christ Jesus
our Lord.”—Rom. viii: 89.
Poor helpless souls the bounteous Lord
Relieves, and fills with plenteousuess :
He sets the mournful prisoners free—
He the blind their Saviour see.
“ Behold, how he loYed him!” could they say
When our Saviour shed but a few tears for
Lazarus ; but much more, when lie shed all the
blood in his body for our souls, we may well
'say : “ Behold, how he loved them!” Go wjtii
tistj a-is ..b Jot- j v watch an hour with
him ? TANARUS» contemplate this, go into the garden—
to the judgment-seat—to Golgotha. Behold
him on the cross—hear his strong sighs and
groans—they will break thy' heart, if anything
will; and broken it must be. “And why did
God suffer his ‘beloved Son, in whom he was
well pleased,’ to be thus tormented ?” Why ?,
God would rather afflict him for a time, than
lose eur souls for ever. “ And why did Christ,
who might have chosen otherwise, so freely
give his cheeks to the smiiers?” Why?
only lie had set his love upon our souls, which
he would not suffer to perish.— Vinkt.
TUESDAY. APRIL 11/
“ Now is the day of salvation.”—2 Cor. ai: 2.
Come, then, ye sinners,- to your Lord*—
In Clj'ist to paradise restored ;
His proffer'd benefits embrace—
The plentitude of Gospel grace.
Like a woman 1 have heard of, who, when
her house was on fire, was very busy in saving
of her stuff—carrying out with,ail her might as
much as she could. At last she bethought-her
self of her child, which was left in a cradle ;
but when she returned to look after that, she
found that the fire had destroyed it ; and there
she was, first aware of her preposterous care
for her goods before her child, running up and
down as one distracted, crying: “My child,
my child !” as David for his son Absalom. ,So,
alas! when it is too late, all that negl-ct their
soills in this life will howl out in th,; midst oi
their scorching flames : “ 0 ray soul, my soul!
] would I had died for the", my de.-tr and pre
cious soul!” Paid.
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 12.
“Whom the Lord lovoth he chasteneth.”—
Hee. xii : 6.
Wash out my stains, refine my dross,
Nail my affections to the cross;
II Glow each thought ; let all vtii#in
Be clean, as thou, my Lord, art clean!
The devil deals with unwary men, like some
cheating gamester, who, having drawn in an
unskilful and wealthy novice into play, suffers
him to win awhile, at the first, that he may, at
the last, sweep away all the stakes, and some
rich manors to boot. It is a great judgment of
G<;‘l, to punish sinners with welfare, and to
render their lewd ways prosperous; wherein,
how contrary are the Almighty’s thoughts to
theirs ! Their seeming blessing* are Ids heavy
curse, amlNhe smart of ids stripe- are a favor
teo good for them to enjoy. To judge wisely
of our condition, it is to bo considered, not so
much how we fare, as upon what terms. If we
stand right with Heaven, every cross is a bless-
ing. ; ad every blessing a pledge of figure hap
piness: li wo be in God's disfavor, everyone
of Ida benefits is a judgment, and every judg
ment makes way for perdition.— Hall.
THURSDAY, APRIL 18.
: ‘d am thy shield and exceeding great re
ward.’’--Gen. xv : 1.
He calls a worm his friend—
He calls himself my God ;
And he shall save me to the end,
* Through Jesus’ blood.
Every individual Christian hath a propriety
in a Community; as every person enjoys the
whole sun to himself, sc ever)' believer posses-
Seth whole God to himself. The Lerd hath
hi ul enough to give all his heirs* Throw a
Iliya sand buckets into the sea, and there is
witev enough in the sea to fill them; though
these be millions of saiHts and angels," there is
enopgh in God to fill them.— Watson.
FRIDAY, APRIL 14.
‘'Cast thy burden upon the Lord, he will
stif lain thee.”—Ps. lv : 22.
He has pardons to impart,
Grace to save thee from thy fears ;
j See the love that fills Lis heart,
j And wipe away thy tears !
ffiil you come to Christ, peace cannst eonso
toiyou. Christ and peace are undivided. Tou
ksfce tried other ways, you have tried duties,
an! no rest comes; why will you not try the
wi rof faith? Carry the burden to Christ.
Flavel.
SATBRDAY, APRIL 15.
”To everything there U*«p^ o n.”—EccLi9.
iii: 1 .
Seize ad occasions as they pass,
And use them for'the Lord ;
Sinners, ere now, have been aroused
By one well-spoken word.
- Though it is precept, not providence, that
n,“Sikes duty, yet providendfe points to duty—to
i -AL\ad Reason of.it, . Murk «.f owe dmtj
lies in complying with the opportunity and oc
casion that .providence gives for the doing of
this or that good work. We are never more
obliged to our duty, than when we have the
fittest opportunity to perform it; and we must
eye providence in this. It is the prerogative of
God to appoint times irnd seasons, not only for
his own purposes, but for our duty. He ap
points the day, and the things of the day—what
and whou it shall be done. Should you order
a servant to and» a business to-day, and he should
not do it till the next day, would you not count
such an one a disobedient servant, because he
observed not your time ?— Vinke.
Crime Overreatbitig Itself.
An anecdote is related of John Eyre, a man
whose name is recorded in the annuals of crime,
as possessing ,£30,•00, and yet being sentenced
to transportation for stealing eleven quires of
writing paper, which show's in a striking man
ner the depravity of the human heart, and may
help to account for the meaness of the crime of
which he’stood convicted. An uncle of his, a
gentleman of considerable property, made his
will in favor of a clergyman wiio was his inti
mate friend, and committed it, unknown to the
rest of the family, to the custody of the divine.
However, not long before Lis death, having
altered his mind with regard to the disposal of
his wealth, be made another will, in which he
left the clergyman only £6OO, bequeathing the
bulk of his large property to his nephew arid
heir-at-law. Mr. Eyi'e. boon after the old gen
tleman’s (hath, Air. Eyre rummaging over his
draws, found this last Will, and pe:ceiving the
legacy of £SOO in it for the clergyman, without
any hesitati on or scruple of conscience put it
into the fire, and took possession of the whole
effects, in consequence of his uncle being sup
posed to die intestate. The clergyman coming
to town soon after, .and enquiring into the cir
cumstances of hie old friend’s death, asked if
he had made a will before he died. On being
answered by Eyre in the negative, the clergy
man very coolly put his hand into his pocket
and pulled out the former will, which had been
committed lo his care, in which Mr. Eyre had
bequeathed him the whole of his fortune, (amoun
ting to several thousand pounds, excepting a
legacy of £2OO to his nephew.
v —— •*—*-*• ————
Repentance.—You cannot repent too soon.
There is no day like to-day. Yesterday is
| gone—to-morrow i- God’s, not your own. And,
\ think how sad it will he to have your evidences
! lo seek, when your cause is to be tried; to
! have your oil to buy, when you should have it
* to burn.— J. Mason.
The Dove of Christ.
“ Could I with ink the ocean fill,
t Were ilie whole earth of parchment made.
Were every blade of grass a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade :
To write the love of Christ to man
Would drain the ocean dry !
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky !”
j These lines, which appeared in a recent Ob
| server, suggest a. note, also a query.
| llte germ, of the idea is doubtless to he found
j in the closing verse of John’s Gospel, iu which
he declares that if the things which Jesus did
“should be written every one, I suppose that
even the world itself could not contain the
hooks that should be written.” Various author*
have borrowed this idea and amplified it, but
none of their additions are improvements upon
the charming simplicity of the beloved disciple.
Mohammed, who, in repeated instances, imi
tated the Bible, imitated it in this passage. In
chapter 18th of the Koran, we read: »
If the sea were ink, to write the words of
my Lord, verily the sea would fail before the
•words of my Lord : although we added another
sea to it as a further supply.”
Chaucer expanded the expression of the idea,
and applied it to a widely different subject, in
his “Bala.de warnynge men to beware of de
ceitful women”:
“ In sooth to saie though all the yertli so vranne
Were parchment smooth,’white and scribbabel),
And the grot see, that called is th’ Ocean,
Were teurned into yoke blackir than sabell,
Eche sticlce a pen. ech.e man a scrivener able,
Not could thei writin woman’s treacherie.”
In the “ Remedie of Love,” the name lines
"Do-ht alterations.
A Chaldee ode, by 8a - ~ v „„ lsaae
on the attributes of God, contains four lit.
which very succinctly express Hie idea as con
tained in the verses at the head of this article.
A sufficiently literal, though metrical version
of those lines is as follows :
“ To write the eternal power of God, no effort
would suffice;
Although, such writing to contain, the volume
were the skils ;
Each reed a pen ; .and, for the ink, the waters
of the sea ;
And tho’ each dweller on the earth an aide
scribe should be.”
In more modern and prosaic writers the same
idea occurs. It is found in “Modern Universal
History;” vol. iv ; p. 430:
“He was succeeded by Joclianan; • not in
right of descent, hut of his extraordinary
merits; which the Rabbis, according to cus
tom, have raised to so surprising a height,
that, according to them, if tlie whole heavens
wore paper, all tire trees, in the world pens,
and all the men writers, they would not suffice
to pen down all his lessons.”
It also occurs iii Miss Sinclair’s “Hill arid
Valley,” p. 25 : *
“ If the lake could be transformed into an
inkstand, the rnouutafns into paper; and if all
the birds that hover on high were to subscribe
iheir-wings for quills, it would be still insuffi
cient to write half the praise and admiration
that are due.”
A single query. Who is the author of the
lines in* their present popular form? They
have been attributed to Smart, the translator of
Horace. It has also been asserted that Watts
uttered them impromptu at an evening party.
Grose’s “ Olio ” says they were written on the.
walls of a lunatic asylum by one of its unfor
tunate inmates. Which of these statements is
correct, or if neither, who really was the
author ? P. 11. \l.
Christian Observer.
Clerical Humor. —One of tlie early Wes
leyan preachers had his sense of modesty aud
propriety frequently offended by hearing his
brethren speak of their sacrifices, and leaving
all to become itinerant- preachers several of
whom, to his knowledge, had bettered their
worldly condition thereby. Our hero had been
brought, up a shoemaker. Sail he, in a Con
ference free talk, “I have made my sacrifices
also: I left two of the best awls iu England, to
become a preacher and be made a gentleman.”
Here is another, equally pointed, but not with
so good a moral. In Bunting’s Life, speaking
of William Atherton, a most characteristic
anecdote is given of him. He was a noted wit,
and had a great aversion to women preaching.
One day, preaching a funeral sermon for some
good brother who had recently died, he said;
“ The sometimes uses strange instruments
for carrying on Lis work. Thus Balaam was
converted' by the braying of nn ass, Peter h J
the crowing of a cock, and our late brother by
the preaching of a woman, one good Friday
morning.”
NO. 14.