As I was sitting around a campfire on a night with a full moon and the skies filled with shining stars, I couldn't help but wonder if perhaps men like Gen. Robert E. Lee, Gen. Stonewall Jackson, and their troops enjoyed the peace and solitude that I often enjoy or were they more concerned with their fate of what tomorrow will bring; will tomorrow be a victorious day - or will they go down in defeat??
This brings me to the words of the famous hymn found in the United Methodist Hymnal, "Battle Hymn of the Republic." Verse 2 goes like this. "I have seen Him in the watchfires of a hundred circling camps; they have builded Him an altar in the evening dews and damps; I can read His righteous sentence by the dim and flaring lamps; His day is marching on."
Verse 3: "He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat; He is sifting out the hearts of men before His judgement seat; O be swift, my soul, to answer Him, be jubilant my feet! Our GOD is marching on."
And finally Verse 4 - "In the beauty of the lilies CHRIST was born across the sea; with a glory in His bosom that transfigures you and me; as He died to make men holy, let us die to make men free; while GOD is marching on."
Refrain: "Glory, Glory, Hallelujah! Glory, Glory, Hallelujah! Glory, Glory, Hallelujah! His truth is marching on. - Amen."
SFC (ret) Paul S. Riggs
1 comment:
I wonder if Ulysses S. Grant had those thoughts as well.
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