The Sound of Flies

How tragic that the "breath of life" which God put into man to make him live has today turned more lofty, a 'shared breathing' of enraged conspirators who together defile and pollute the air with their amoral, anti-law, and anti-Christ foundations, beliefs whereon if men build, they will surely fall. Our world is full of such agitators - members of secret organizations and combinations who eschew the good in favor of wickedness and perverse conduct. In their plotting, they seek the same vengeance and retribution as "the Avenger" first did in Henry Van Dyke's short story, Ashes of Vengeance, when he declared after his long imprisonment, "I ask only the right to revenge my sufferings upon those who have inflicted them." The tragic irony is that the pagan political elite are the ones who bring suffering upon themselves because of the eternal principle that wickedness never leads to happiness. Yet in order to understand the roots of their deception and hatred toward God, free enterprise, and individual sovereignty, one must be able to discern and recognize the illusory tactics of the politically occult.

"And it came to pass that there were sorceries, and witchcrafts, and magics: and the power of the evil one was wrought upon all the face of the land...for behold no man could keep that which was his own, for the thieves, and the robbers, and the murderers, and the magic art, and the witchcraft which was in the land." (Mormon 1:19, 2:10)
"For those who did not belong to their church did indulge themselves in sorceries, and in idolatry or idleness, and in babblings, and in envyings and strife; wearing costly apparel; being lifted up in the pride of their own eyes; persecuting, lying, thieving, robbing, committing whoredoms, and murdering, and all manner of wickedness; nevertheless, the law was put in force upon all those who did transgress it, inasmuch as it was [still] possible." (Alma 1:32)

Our own nation is being infiltrated by proponents of occultism and dark action. Their secret works are hidden behind such codified headings as secular humanism, postmodernism, rationalism, or the more widely accepted term of progressivism. In these views, there is little to no room for God as the physical laws of the universe cannot be superseded by any non-material or supernatural entities. Because of this, there is no basis for law or for man as unique and important because no God means the wages of sin are without consequence. Consequently, man is left spiritless and undifferentiated, part of the same collective ego mass by which we are but cogs in a machinelike universe. How devilishly devised for enslavement! Such absurdity reduces "we the people" to mere aggregates of matter, void of shape, personality, and purpose whereby salvation can only come through collective means rather than by the individual's own free will and choice. Advocates of this same deluded stink-mix send away any belief or notion about God from their lives as they would a fart. Believing themselves to be the gods of men they rely solely upon the application of reason and methodology of science to explain the origin of man and his finite potential. Sadly, such foolish doctrine has been swallowed whole by our court system where morality is more fit to be legislated from the bench rather than taught by scripture reading and righteous family influence.

James Billington, in his work Fire in the Minds of Men: Origins of the Revolutionary Faith, revealed that the "rational" socialists and revolutionaries of "the left" were from the beginning "deeply mixed up in such things as occultism, irrationalism, and pornography." In it he exposes "progressives" for who they really are - immoral anti-Christ's who worship themselves as gods, thus denying their actions as evil in their own right. Like the honeybee, they attempt to cross-pollinate their standards for rule and dominion onto others, preying on the weak and unassertive. But in their scheming, they become prisoners of their own cosmically-inflated egos, afflicted by paranoia, evil fantasies, and peculiar ideas.

"If you are corruptible and your imagination is confined to worries about loss of power, you exist in a self-destructive system. Eventually, as all life does, you must encounter something you did not anticipate, and if you have not strengthened your creative resources, you will have no new ways for adapting to change. Adapt or die, that's the first rule of survival.
The limited vision of noncreative people is not difficult to understand. Creativity frightens the unimaginative. They don't know what's happening. Things new and unexpected arise from creativity. This threatens "things as they are." And (terrible thought) it undermines illusions of omnipotence." -Frank Herbert
                                                                                     
When these materialized souls speak of a god, he is not a person, but a collection of forces. And when they profess themselves to be speakers of the truth they lie, for their words have no real fixed meaning. Sorceries, witchcrafts, and magic, then, become the mediums by which they strive to deceive the souls of men. Through the dark arts they attempt at obtaining godlike powers in order to unmake reality in an effort to recreate a second one, which is devised as an illusion. They accomplish this by attacking the natural order of things, such as marriage being between a man and a woman, in favor of the unnatural - same-sex marriage (2 Timothy 3:1-5). They care nothing for the opportunity for same-sex couples to be married only at the satisfaction that comes from reducing God's influence even more on the earth. Sophistry, then, is the spell of choice cast by today's magicians, verbal charms meant to deceive and steal the hearts of men heard as intellectual sounding names to dupe the gullible. Here's a list of spells: postmodernism, epistemological relativism, antifoundationalism, pragmatism, situational ethics, sensitivity training, pluralism, mulitculturalism, interfaith, evolutionary humanism, transhumanism, positivism, rationalism, and progressivism. In their totality, these modern-day enchantments are all the revolutionary ideals of the void that is the American Political Left, with Obama himself playing the part of Merlin. 


"In short, the age of irrationalism, lawlessness, hedonism, megalomania, and utopia-madness commenced when the rational personal God, His Revelation, unchanging Truth and Universal Moral Law were cunningly displaced by naturalistic evolutionism, astral-plane spirit-revelations, pantheistic-conceptions of god-forces, christ-consciousness, animated 'thinking' dead matter , 'force and voice ideas,' inverted morality and moral relativism, Orwellian doublespeak, and terrible-willed megalomaniacs claiming to be supermen and god-men. These are the unifying factors of Bolshevism, Nazism, and America's Progressive Liberalism." -Linda Kimball


On the same note, President Calvin Coolidge, in his speech delivered on the 150th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, July 5, 1926, warned of the dangers of 'pagan materialism':


"Here was the doctrine of equality, popular sovereignty, and the substance of the theory of inalienable rights....When we take all these circumstances into consideration, it is but natural that the first paragraph of the Declaration of Independence should open with a reference to Nature's God and should close...with an appeal to the Supreme Judge of the world and an assertion of a firm reliance on Divine Providence...In its main feature the Declaration of Independence is a great spiritual document. Equality, liberty, popular sovereignty, the rights of man — these are not elements which we can see and touch. They are ideals. They have their source and roots in the religious convictions. They belong to the unseen world. "

Now, as Christianity continues to be attacked at all fronts, our resolve ought to be even greater, to defend our principles and our God without reservation or fear. If we choose to do nothing, then the hideous specters of madness, wickedness, unnaturalness, and blasphemy will haunt every level of society, including our own homes to our eternal detriment. Or, as has been described, "...under the guiding hands of legions of daydream-believers, barbarian true-believers, megalomaniacs, and the outright possessed, the West is falling through a rabbit hole into a dark fantasy realm located on the other side of the Looking Glass — a kingdom of madness, horror, murder, and mayhem run by Red Queens, Mad Hatters and barbarians."

Obama and the sinister left are as the corruptible kings of old, who, in Psalms 2:2, "set themselves and the rulers to take counsel together, against the Lord, and against his Anointed." In their willful blindness, they have anointed themselves as rulers of men with the same specious spells and incantations that deceived Cain before his committing the first murder. Crowing with pride, today's "wizards of smart" are more airy than solid in their convictions, choosing darkness rather than light, evil for good, reputation over character. Made dizzy by political spin and excessive compromise, these occupants of government buzz around as flies over a dungheap, happy in their filth and at the refuse of surrendered freedoms. Justly, the Lord has promised that in their willful transgressions, "their hope shall be blasted, and their prospects shall melt away as the hoar frost melteth before the burning rays of the rising sun." And also "because their hearts are corrupted, and the things which they are willing to bring upon others, and love to have others suffer, may come upon themselves to the very uttermost." (D&C 121:11, 13)

None of these things are new nor should they cause any of us to fall to the floor in utter astonishment as they have existed among men since the beginning. Occultism is not some strange thing studied only by rebellious teens during sleepovers. The art of politics is the ability to deceive, amass power, and obfuscate the general public into believing that their best interests are in mind while the wool is carefully and craftily pulled over their eyes. And, like every great magic trick, the magician is only as powerful as the audience believes him to be. In magic terms, Obama showed us "the pledge" in 2008 [hope and change] followed by "the turn" [uncontrolled spending, submission to foreign leaders, and government growth] and then "the prestige" or grand finale [government control over property rights, personal defense, and religion] by which he hopes to hold his inanimate ilk in submission by keeping back any explanation into what made his presidency, or "trick", so successful. In truth, the doing away of religion provides a new powerful pull in the direction of the black arts from which tyranny, secret societies, and master magicians the world over arise as saviors during times of economic and geo-political crisis. And in place of Christ who said, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest," many choose to lean toward nihilism, spellbound by the easy voice of the adversary who says,

"Hearken unto us, and hear ye our precept; for behold there is no God today, for the Lord and the Redeemer hath done his work, and he hath given his power unto men; behold, hearken ye unto my precept; if they shall say there is a miracle wrought by the hand of the Lord, believe it not; for this day he is not a God of miracles; he hath done his work." (2 Nephi 28:5-6)


Following are two excellent statements made about the need for wholesome religion and obedience to God and His commandments:


"Those who hope that a decline in traditional religion would inaugurate a new Age of Reason ought to think again....Apparently, when Christianity loses its grip on large numbers of people, deviant religious alternatives arise, and get hold of some of the unchurched... Persons with no religious affiliation are often among the first to toy with novel or exotic supernatural notions and are not the secular rationalists we might want to think them. Cults flourish precisely where the conventional churches are weakest...(also), numbers of unchurched people seek private contact with the supernatural....a further decline in the influence of conventional religion may not inaugurate a scientific Age of Reason but might instead open the floodgates for a bizarre new Age of Superstition." - Bainbridge and Stark


"If we and our posterity...live always in the fear of God and shall respect His Commandments...we may have the highest hopes of the future fortunes of our country.... But if we...neglect religious instruction and authority; violate the rules of eternal justice, trifle with the injunctions of morality, and recklessly destroy the constitution which holds us together, no man can tell how sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound obscurity."  -Daniel Webster


As I mentioned earlier, many occupants in government are as the fly, spending their time among the spoil of man's surrendered freedoms. And throughout history, the fly has been known to signify the devil. Urbain Grandier, a French Catholic Priest sentenced to death because of witchcraft and sexual whoredom, was burned at the stake for his dark actions. Appropriately, during the delivered sentence, one attending monk asserted that he had seen "a huge fly buzzing around Grandier's head" as if it was "that demon himself who, after taking the form of one of his subjects, had come to carry off the magician's soul." Remember that men's hearts are easily deceived by pretended piety and good intentions in the same way King David's third son, Absalom, stole the masses by painting himself as a dear friend and righteous judge of the people, kissing any man who came nigh to him to do him obeisance - all while plotting to overthrow his own father for the throne. (2 Samuel 15:2-6) 


The obvious question then is: How can we permit ourselves to elect, let alone be overrun, by such malignant egoists without offering resistance? With open eyes have we let ourselves be dragged down into this present national disaster. Similar to the German disaster that was World War II, Hans Bernd Gisevius, former diplomat and covert opponent of the Nazi regime said this about the self-enslavement of so many of his people under Nazi rule:


"All of us, and not alone the Nazis, strayed into dangerous, evil ways. Passive acceptance, intellectual subservience, or, in religious terms, failure to pray against the evil, may constitute a kind of silent support for authoritarian rule. We were guilty of failure to understand, of willful blindness, of misguided obedience, of paltry compromising, of exaggerated caution or of persistent shirking of the logical conclusions. One of the vital lessons we must learn is the ease with which a people can be sucked down into the morass of inaction; let them as individuals fall prey to overcleverness, opportunism, or cowardliness and they are irrevocably lost."


Nowadays, fatalism is fashion. The soul, mind, free will, conscience, are all considered rights of the past. Let King George III's disease, porphyria, the fitting pathological condition for the wicked, blister and scar the skin of the ungodly until they are forced into a stupor by the direct sunlight of revealed truth; to serve as reminders that there exists above them a just and even still merciful Father whose Firstborn Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, alone paved the way for man's redemption. So, the grand question remains: In whom do we place our trust? In God or man? Over the last 70 years (and throughout earth's history), we have had signs enough. If we are attuned to the truth and receptive of it, then the answer to the above question becomes even more apparent...and audible.

May we not let our hearts be deceived by the grand flair of the magician's robe or his showy manipulations. Rather, let us give ear to the buzzing of the fly.


Long live the fighters

Standard and Poor

So Standard and Poor's ( S&P) have finally acted and downgraded the United States Economy and credit rating from a AAA rating to an AA+. What this means is that our ability to issue debt will come at a much higher interest rate, compounding the debt burden on us and the nation's total debt, which already exceeds $15 trillion dollars! In other words, spending more will require significant spikes in interest rates (perhaps even greater than Obama's ego). And throughout this present economic turmoil, our own President looks on amorously at his own reflection in the dirty pool of apathy, self-aggrandizement, and the refuse of consumed "Prez Obama" hamburger wrappers. How tragic that so many people still choose to live and learn the hard way. Like the famous poem by Joseph Malens, "The Ambulance Down in the Valley," our painted government represents the same deluded ego mass who prides itself in repairing the results rather than stopping the cause. Such foolish thinking is the very reason why our nation is in such dire straits at this time. Preferring the ambulance to sit below in the valley rather than to construct a fence from above as a safeguard for the people [and in this case our very nation], Washington's close lean over the cliff of bankruptcy, unemployment, war, and poverty, has left us vulnerable to all forms of external influence, where only the slightest push by a wayward gust or foreign/domestic despot can send us straight down to slavery. As Benjamin Franklin once warned, "Think what you do when you run in debt; you give to another the power over your liberty." The Founding Fathers viewed debt as evil, because it really is a form of bondage.

What is even more deplorable, is that on the way down, in place of flailing limbs and open hysterics, Obama and his undead followers will be more synchronous and steady during their olympic back double somersault tuck dive toward the valley below. Like the kingmen of the Book of Mormon, who loved power over liberty, there exists among us the very same ilk who rejoice at our present economic and moral downturns. Such modern-day devils laugh at man's descent toward insolvency from his core values and principles that in truth are the only things that can really bring him personal, national, and spiritual security and victory. In their madness at the people of liberty (the Tea Party, i.e. American citizens) they find reason to celebrate their being subjugated, pleasuring themselves in a slavish adoration of Italy's "The Tomb of the Diver" where sport, fancy, and oiled treatment makes them even more slippery subjects, easily maneuvered and influenced without question. It is as sorrowful as it is tragic but there are still those among us who choose to line up in stride on bended knee before the court jesters of government, replacing their own individual kingship and sovereignty with that of an iron shackle. The solution then to our current economic situation is the same remedy for all of life's problems, developing the will power to make the change to where our time is spent away from stores and the noxious atmosphere of government programs and toward denouncing uncontrolled spending and stopgap solutions on both fiscal and moral issues.

It ought to be requisite then that the nest of serpents which have spewed poisonous venom into our financial market, beginning with our own impious President, should be the one(s) to ring the opening bell on Wall Street each and every morning in full view of a disgruntled nation whose once virtuous and prosperous course has been merrily altered toward the edge of utter despondency. While at the bottom, stirs the valley of despair and defeat where the miserable cry out for succor as the rich man did for Lazarus while in torment and flame (Luke 16:24). And with his "good things" now gone, the self-serving man's only remnant of wealth will be the frayed purple linen of his clothes to expose his scales and abject nakedness, an appropriate end to an improper and squandered life. Still, and more sorrowfully, the rising cries of the defeated are legion, joined in unison in favor of a new model of an American nation as a "poor" one - deprived of spirit and virtue, the ever waving standard of the fallen.

Long live the fighters

Always, Always

General Robert E. Lee once declared, "It is well that war is so terrible, otherwise we would grow too fond of it." These truthful words are as viable today as they were back in 1862 when he first made them. And why? Because truth is truth. And thankfully, there are still many of us who do not delight in bloodshed and war in the same way General Lee described. Still, it seems as if our very natures deny this truth in open favor of controlling and limiting the potential of others. What is more is that our nation is currently engaged in at least three known conflicts - Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya. And while it seems reasonable to conclude that our own country may soon experience war upon its own soil, at least we have not yet begun distinguishing ourselves by blue or gray uniforms. So why the delay? Especially when both political parties portray themselves as only painted fire rather than the real thing in their shared convictions? What remains in us that promotes such a strong disliking for war and all levels of conflict? Where may we find the greatest peace?


As mentioned in my earlier post, 732 A.D., we are a "brink species." I entertained the notion that the ideas and passions of men have always seemed to bring us to the brink of things - to the brink of discovery, to the brink of despair, or to the brink of war. I commented that as a people we seem to lean toward the edge of life, trotting along its cliffs with seemingly little care and caution for the small side step toward our own demise. However, as I've continued to contemplate this phenomenon in man, I have come to realize that there exists an equally opposing force by which we can experience greater steadiness and value from the corrupting influences of the world that pull toward personal and spiritual ruin, especially in times of great controversy, strife, and conflict. This balancing power, so great in its hold yet tender in its expression, the solid beam of light forever lancing through life's darkest storms, is called love. 

To illustrate this point, permit me to share the meaningful words written by a great man, Viktor Frankl, who, in his seminal work, Man's Search for Meaning, described firsthand the outside limits of evil and its destructive effects while a prisoner in Auschwitz death camp during World War II. Even then, despite his excruciating hardships and the constant coldness brought on by an encircling death, he persisted on through the icy winds of starvation, fatigue, and pain in the deep and quiet contemplation of his beloved. He writes:

"Occasionally I looked at the sky, where the stars were fading and the pink light of the morning was beginning to spread behind a dark bank of clouds. But my mind clung to my wife's image, imagining it with an uncanny acuteness. I hear her answering me, saw her smile, her frank and encouraging look. Real or not, her look was then more luminous than the sun which was beginning to rise.

A thought transfixed me: for the first time in my life I saw the truth as it is set into song by so many poets, proclaimed as the final wisdom by so many thinkers. The truth - that love is the ultimate and the highest goal to which man can aspire. Then I grasped the meaning of the greatest secret that human poetry and human thought and belief have to impart: The salvation of man is through love and in love.  I understood how a man who has nothing left in this world still may know bliss, be it only for a brief moment, in the contemplation of his beloved."

He continued on with these final words about his wife and of the power of love to bridge both life and death:


"Love goes very far beyond the physical person of the beloved. It finds it deepest meaning in his spiritual being, his inner self. Whether or not he is actually present, whether or not he is still alive at all, ceases somehow to be of importance. I did not know whether my wife was alive, and I had no means of finding out (during all my prison life there was no outgoing or incoming mail); but at that moment it ceased to matter. There was no need for me to know; nothing could touch the strength of my love, my thoughts, and the image of my beloved. Had I known then that my wife was dead, I think that I would still have given myself, undisturbed by that knowledge, to the contemplation of her image, and that my mental conversation with her would have been just as vivid and just as satisfying."

There is an old saying that "true love never runs smoothly," and that to value each other's highest selves we must be able to endure the "thorns and the thistles" of this life not with fear and frustration but with a "perfect love." Thus, it is requisite that we experience trials. Adversity is the hammer thrust upon our personal and marital anvils that molds and shapes our characters into the way He would have us become. Such times of crisis not only refine our deepest selves, but they also define who we really are. And in order to know ourselves better, we must ever evaluate the strength and commitment we possess in our own vowed relationships. In the words of William George Jordan,


"When the nation is passing through a crisis, it is only by loyally working together that the people emerge again into the sunlight of peace and prosperity. What is true of the nation is true of the family. There is a soul tonic in the pervading consciousness of a last resource in each other's devotion no matter how high the waves of sorrow may roll, or how threatening their foaming invasion. This is the spirit of pulling together through a crisis that leaves a golden trail of strange happiness in the memory of a vanquished sorrow that threatened to submerge us. When conditions are darkest it is no time for blame of either; it is the hour when each should forget self in seeking to inspire the other. When conditions are darkest, the lamp of love should be kept burning brightest."


History is replete with stories about love and its happy and tragic ends; unions given form in secret or in truth to the movement or stopping of an empire. Indeed, there is truly something to be said about this most powerful of human emotions and of its sweet tenderness that haloes us through our darkest moments. Reverently, we must give thanks to Him who, after blood and nail, made love what it really is - an infinite source for peace, hope, and deliverance. Love, then, is the key to heaven and the only means whereby men can truly be saved, both temporally and spiritually. In my opinion, a man's stature is only as large as his ability to love and the manner in which he chooses to convey such righteous passions. Indeed, the highest chivalry manifested toward another consists of many qualities and attributes seemingly unbecoming in today's world - honor, gentleness, courtesy, and faithfulness. Such righteous demonstrations are not easily put out in the same way a fervid glance of the Cross is never really forgotten. When expressed in its highest form, love's ardor can turn the tide of war, heal nations, mend families, and even overcome the pains of death as the widow of Nain experienced by the Savior's compassionate hand: 


"And it came to pass the day after, that he went into a city called Nain; and many of his disciples went with him, and much people.
Now when he came nigh to the gate of the city, behold, there was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow: and much people of the city was with her.
And when the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.
And he came and touched the bier: and they that bare him stood still. And he said, Young man, I say unto thee, Arise.
And he that was dead sat up, and began to speak. And he delivered him to his mother." (Luke 7:11-17)
                                      
A true patriot and disciple of Christ is emboldened by love and upon the joy that comes from selfless service and affection for his neighbor and that of his countrymen, no matter the debt to be paid. I would imagine that the widow of Nain never faltered in her personal testimony of the Savior after witnessing the compassion He delivered her in the form of her live son. But had her confidence waned while on her widowed walk through life's thorny briers, when the tugging and scraping was at its sharpest, she had only to look upon her son to be reminded of God's perfect love. Oh how insignificant life's problems would become if, for a moment, we stopped to consider heaven's peace in the eyes of our own spouse. Such joy and understanding can only come to those who actively seek its venture. For this reason, true greatness is love and to speak of it consistently, in thought, word, and deed brings more light to the world than even the greatest star. And of greater measure, in terms of love and affection, can a man be closer to the gods than when he speaks warmly of his darling wife. Such deep devotion, as Viktor Frankl so lovingly demonstrated, is our anchor during the storms of life, the stabilizing force that holds our focus through wind and rain by which all things are kept centered and well-balanced.


So, while we devote many things to life in the form of time, money, talents, and energy, are we keeping ourselves balanced in the way we demonstrate our innermost convictions and passions? More specifically, do we devote ourselves fully to our wives, our families, and our nation? In times such as these, when the world appears tilted, and our very freedoms seem to be teetering upon the same edge, what are we to do? Do we falter and fail in our commitments to be upright men in all things? Or, like Jacob of old, are we willing to serve seven more years as gift to our God, our country, and family as well as for our own "Rachel" because of the love we have for them [her]?


As mentioned earlier, love is the equally opposing force that helps center us in times of struggle and hardship. It propels us upward not downward, away from the brink of everlasting punishment and sorrow where "the Painted" mourn for all they could have been. Invariably, we must all face trouble, care, sorrow, and grief. It is how we face it, how we battle, how we stand the strain, that really counts. And if we have that loving someone to stand bravely by us, a peaceful sense of calm will fill our hearts as the long wave of conflict rises over us just as it did for Sullivan Ballou in 1861. Camped with his regiment in Camp Clark, Washington D.C., he wrote home to his wife, Sarah, under a moonlit sky on the eve of battle, unsure of its outcome but restored to confidence by his undying devotions for her, God, and country in what has become one of the most heartfelt and touching historical documents of our time. The letter writes:

"My very dear Sarah:

The indications are very strong that we shall move in a few days - perhaps tomorrow. Lest I should not be able to write you again, I feel impelled to write lines that may fall under your eye when I shall be no more. Our movement may be one of a few days duration and full of pleasure - and it may be one of severe conflict and death to me. Not my will, but thine 0 God, be done. If it is necessary that I should fall on the battlefield for my country, I am ready. I have no misgivings about, or lack of confidence in, the cause in which I am engaged, and my courage does not halt or falter. I know how strongly American Civilization now leans upon the triumph of the Government, and how great a debt we owe to those who went before us through the blood and suffering of the Revolution. And I am willing - perfectly willing - to lay down all my joys in this life, to help maintain this Government, and to pay that debt.

But, my dear wife, when I know that with my own joys I lay down nearly all of yours, and replace them in this life with cares and sorrows - when, after having eaten for long years the bitter fruit of orphanage myself, I must offer it as their only sustenance to my dear little children - is it weak or dishonorable, while the banner of my purpose floats calmly and proudly in the breeze, that my unbounded love for you, my darling wife and children, should struggle in fierce, though useless, contest with my love of country?

I cannot describe to you my feelings on this calm summer night, when two thousand men are sleeping around me, many of them enjoying the last, perhaps, before that of death -- and I, suspicious that Death is creeping behind me with his fatal dart, am communing with God, my country, and thee.

I have sought most closely and diligently, and often in my breast, for a wrong motive in thus hazarding the happiness of those I loved and I could not find one. A pure love of my country and of the principles have often advocated before the people and "the name of honor that I love more than I fear death" have called upon me, and I have obeyed.

Sarah, my love for you is deathless, it seems to bind me to you with mighty cables that nothing but Omnipotence could break; and yet my love of Country comes over me like a strong wind and bears me irresistibly on with all these chains to the battlefield.

The memories of the blissful moments I have spent with you come creeping over me, and I feel most gratified to God and to you that I have enjoyed them so long. And hard it is for me to give them up and burn to ashes the hopes of future years, when God willing, we might still have lived and loved together and seen our sons grow up to honorable manhood around us. I have, I know, but few and small claims upon Divine Providence, but something whispers to me - perhaps it is the wafted prayer of my little Edgar -- that I shall return to my loved ones unharmed. If I do not, my dear Sarah, never forget how much I love you, and when my last breath escapes me on the battlefield, it will whisper your name.

Forgive my many faults, and the many pains I have caused you. How thoughtless and foolish I have oftentimes been! How gladly would I wash out with my tears every little spot upon your happiness, and struggle with all the misfortune of this world, to shield you and my children from harm. But I cannot. I must watch you from the spirit land and hover near you, while you buffet the storms with your precious little freight, and wait with sad patience till we meet to part no more.

But, O Sarah! If the dead can come back to this earth and flit unseen around those they loved, I shall always be near you; in the garish day and in the darkest night -- amidst your happiest scenes and gloomiest hours - always, always; and if there be a soft breeze upon your cheek, it shall be my breath; or the cool air fans your throbbing temple, it shall be my spirit passing by.

Sarah, do not mourn me dead; think I am gone and wait for thee, for we shall meet again.

As for my little boys, they will grow as I have done, and never know a father's love and care. Little Willie is too young to remember me long, and my blue eyed Edgar will keep my frolics with him among the dimmest memories of his childhood. Sarah, I have unlimited confidence in your maternal care and your development of their characters. Tell my two mothers I call God's blessing upon them. O Sarah, I wait for you there! Come to me, and lead thither my children."


As we truly love, and give our full selves to our cherished wives and freedoms, then, like Jacob, will our many years of selfless service and unwavering devotion "seem unto us but a few days" because of the highest feeling we have had for them and for Him - always, always.


Long live the fighters...and lovers