As another Lame Cherry exclusive in matter anti matter.
It often said that General Thomas Stonewall Jackson was eccentric. The problem in this of correcting his mistakes, living a Christian life, praying without ceasing is very much a "fault" of mine, to including guarding what I eat and the times I eat for health reasons, while not caring what my reason of doing this is not to impress anyone else.
"This same friend once asked him what was his understanding of the Bible command to be '' instant in prayer " and to " pray without ceasing." " I can give you," he said, '' my idea of it by illustration, if you will allow it, and will not think that I am setting myself up as a model for others. I have so fixed the habit in my own mind that I never raise a glass of water to my lips without lifting my heart to God in thanks and prayer for the water of life. Then, when we take our meals, there is the grace. Whenever I drop a letter in the post-office, I send a petition along with it for God's blessing upon its mission and the person to whom it is sent. When I break the seal of a letter just received, I stop to ask God to prepare me for its contents, and make it a messenger of good. When I go to my class-room and await the arrangement of the cadets in their places, that is my time to intercede with God for them. And so in every act of the day I have made the practice habitual."
" And don't you sometimes forget to do this ?" asked his friend. " I can hardly say that I do; the habit has become almost as fixed as to breathe."
His submission to his Heavenly Father's will was so perfect, and the assurance that " all things work together for good to them that love God " was to him such a blessed reality, that he always said he preferred God's will to his own; and his perfect assurance of faith never forsook him, however severely it might be tried. " He used to express surprise at the want of equanimity on the part of Christians under the pressure of untoward circumstances; and remarked that he did not think any combination of earthly ills could make him positively unhappy if he believed he was suffering the will of God."
Thomas Jackson was called a religious fanatic, but he never demanded others live by the absolutes he administered his life with."he has been called a religious fanatic. Certainly he was not less scrupulous in obeying the divine command to 'Remember the Sabbath day to keep it holy " than he was in any other rule of his life. Since the Creator had set apart this day for his own, and commanded it to be kept holy, he believed that it was as wrong for him to desecrate it by worldly pleasure, idleness, or secular employment, as to break any other commandment of the decalogue.
Sunday was his busiest (lay of the week, as he always attended church twice a day and taught in two Sabbath schools!
He refrained as much as possible from all worldly conversation, and in his family, if secular topics were introduced, he would say, with a kindly smile, '' We will talk about that to-morrow."
He never traveled on Sunday, never took his mail from the post-office, nor permitted a letter of his own to travel on that day, always before posting it calculating the time it required to reach its destination; and even business letters of the utmost importance were never sent off the very last of the week, but were kept over until Monday morning, unless it was a case where distance required a longer time than a week."
The Pharisee is one who holds themselves higher than others by religious observations and the sinner observes only that which is fitting for them. There really was nothing eccentric nor fanatical about Thomas Jackson regrettably. He was normal in an abnormal world.
"Major Jackson was twice married—the first time in 1853, August 4th, to Elinor, daughter of the Rev. Dr. George Junkin, President of Washington College, who is remembered by all who knew her as a person of singular loveliness of character; as possessed of great natural intelligence, which was developed in a family of high cultivation; while her native modesty and conscientiousness ripened, under parental culture, into a beautiful type of Christian womanhood.
Thus she had every qualification to make a happy home. But this happiness was not to be of long duration. About fourteen months after the marriage, in giving birth to a child, that never breathed, the mother died also, so that all that was dearest to him on earth was laid in the grave. This was a terrible blow, for he was a devoted husband; and his early life having been so isolated from home influences, family ties were more to him than to most persons.
But his resignation to God's will was unshaken, and his Christian character became more mellowed and consecrated by this sad bereavement."
Jackson, Mary Anna, 1831-1915. Life and letters of General Thomas J. Jackson
In Ken Burns Civil War propaganda for PBS, southern "historian" Shelby Foote droned on about the eccentric Thomas Jackson, and it is oft repeated that the General raised his hand in battle to balance himself, as proof he was prone to peculiar ideas. The problem though is the Truth in the memoirs written by Thomas Jackson's wife, Mary Anna of her husband in which she relates the following of the very prayerful Stonewall Jackson.
"Before taking this step, it was observed that he was much in prayer, but this was his custom previous to every battle. Even upon the field he was often seen to lift his eyes and raise his right arm as if in earnest prayer, and sometimes it seemed that while his soul was thus lifted up in supplication, the Lord of hosts heard and answered, giving him the victory."
Jackson, Mary Anna, 1831-1915. Life and letters of General Thomas J. Jackson (Stonewall Jackson) (Kindle Locations 4480-4482)
Lifting up his arm in prayer and in battle, is not the least associated with some contrived nonsense about balancing himself according to some science. It will be remembered that Moses in battle was ordered by God to lift up his arm, and Aaron helped keep it aloft, as when Moses arm was uplifted the children of Israel won in wars, and when it was not, the enemy prevailed.
That is not eccentric, that is Christian Faith.
agtG
