Similar letters were also written to otherS; engaging their assistance to further the repeal of the law. To his friend; Colonel Preston; of Lexington an elder of his church, he wrote to the same effect, seeking to enlist his pen ; and afterward to secure through him, the weight of the General Assemby of the Presby- terian Church, at its approaching meeting. To Colonel Preston he wrote thus : —
" I greatly desire to see peace, — Blessed peace. And I am persuaded, that if God's people throughout our Confederacy will earnestly and perseveringly unite in imploring His interposition for peace, we may expect it. Let our Government acknowledge the God of the Bible as its God, and we may expect soon to be a happy and independent people. It appears to me that ex- tremes are to be avoided ; and it also appears to me that the old United States occupied an extreme position in the means it took to prevent the union of Church and State. We call ourselves a Christian people ; and it seems to me that owe Government may be of the same character, without connecting itself with an estab- lished Church. It does appear to me that as our President, our Congress, and our people have thanked God for victories, and prayed to Him for additional ones, and He has answered such prayers, and gives us a Government, it is gross ingratitude not to acknowledge Him in the gift. Let the framework of our Gov- ernment show that we are not ungrateful to Him."
. His own chaplain was a bond of union also between himself and the others, through which they were encouraged to visit his quarters more unreservedly, and to know and love him, not as a commander only, but also as a Christian
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and on the part of the so called Union population, a disgusting brutality. ; and to return, though with reluctance; to the creed which founded the Union on the consent of the sovereign States. .
Our answer is in the question: Have they been able to protect their own rights in that Union ?
Our system has created an affec- tionate union between the two races, elsewhere so hostile, which has astounded our enemies and the world, with their quietude in these times of convulsion.
not to enforce by violence a union which, in its very nature, can only be volun- tary.
It has been urged, that if the right be denied to the United States to coerce a seceding State, it is equivalent to the absurd proposition, that the Union never had any other title to the alle- giance of any State than its own caprice chose to yield it ]
" I take special pleasure in the part of my prayers, in which I beg that every temporal and spiritual blessing may be yours, and that the glory of God may be the controlling and absorbing thought of our lives in our new relation. It is to me a great satisfaction, to feel that God has so manifestly ordered our union. I believe, and am persuaded, that if we but walk in His commandments, acknowledging Him in all our wayS; He will shower His blessings upon us. How delightful it is, to feel that we have such a Friend, who changes not ! I love to see and contemplate Him ha everything. The Christian's recognition of God in all His works, greatly enhances his enjoyment." "Life Campaigns of Stoneall Jackson" by Robert Dabney (Stonewall Jackson letter)