Robert Lee was one of the very few great men in whom there is no inconsistency to be explained, no enigma to be solved. How he appeared, he was. Lee was a true and complete gentleman, a man of simplicity and spirituality. Upon Lee’s death the New York Herald wrote an obituary as follows: “On a quiet autumn morning, in the land which he loved so well and served so faithfully, the spirit of Robert Edward Lee left the clay which it had so much ennobled and traveled out of this world into the great and mysterious land. Here in the North, forgetting that the time was when the sword of Robert Edward Lee was drawn against us, forgetting and forgiving all the years of bloodshed and agony, we have long since ceased to look upon him as the Confederate leader, but have claimed him as one of ourselves; have cherished and felt proud of his military genius; have recounted and recorded his triumphs as our own; have extolled his virtue as reflecting upon us, for Robert Edward Lee was an American, and the great nation which gave him birth would be today unworthy of such a son if she regarded him lightly.” “Never had mother a nobler son. In him the military genius of America was developed to a greater extent than ever before. In him all that was pure and lofty in mind and purpose found lodgment. Dignified without presumption, affable without familiarity, he united all those charms of manners which made him the idol of his friends and of his soldiers and won for him the respect and admiration of the world. Even as in the days of triumph, glory did not intoxicate, so, when the dark clouds swept over him, adversity did not depress.” We live in a world now that is engaged in another type of war on its own people. Today it’s a cultural war against our birthright to think and say what lives in our heart, against those who would distort what is right and what is true. In his book, The End of Sanity, Martin Gross writes: “Blatantly irrational behavior is rapidly being established as the norm in almost every area of human endeavor. There seem to be new customs, new rules, new anti-intellectual theories regularly foisted on us from every direction. Underneath, the nation is roiling. Americans know something without a name is undermining the country, turning the mind mushy when it comes to separating truth from falsehood and right from wrong.” I would have to agree with him. There is no longer tolerance in our society today, and many are ready to cave in before the opposition. While intertwined in all of this cultural chaos, some may ask, “Why talk about Robert E. Lee?” Certainly, our reasons may vary but they all boil down to the same things, Lee has taught us many lessons. Manhood was a positive concept for Lee and is synonymous with the perception of being a gentleman. Values were not up in the air, as they are today. As journalist Paul Greenberg has said, “The very words Lee used--gentleman, duty, honor, valor—have a quaint and different sound in these times.” What about Lee’s humility? He was a man who was very proud. He was also a man whom descended from a long line of distinguished ancestors that would give cause for him to show an air of his superiority. Lee didn’t do that and actually was a humble man. One day he was asked, “Why is it, general, that you do not wear the full insignia of your rank, but content yourself with the stars of a colonel?” “Oh,” replied Lee, “I do not care for display. The truth is that the rank of colonel is about as high as I ought ever to have gotten; or, perhaps, I might manage a good cavalry brigade if I had the right kind of subordinates.” Above all else, Lee was a man of great and indomitable faith in Jesus Christ. Here is Lee’s orders requiring the observance of a fast day in August, 1863: “Soldiers! We have sinned against Almighty God. We have forgotten his signal mercies, and have cultivated a revengeful, haughty, and boastful spirit. We have not remembered that the defenders of a just cause should be pure in His eyes; that our times are in His hands; and we have relied too much on our own arms for the achievement of our independence. God is our only refuge and strength. Let us humble ourselves before Him. Let us confess our many sins and beseech Him to give us a higher courage, a purer patriotism, and more determined will; that He will convert the hearts of our enemies; that He will hasten the time when war, with its sorrows and sufferings, shall cease, and that He will give us a name and place among the nations of the earth.” Any man who could write such an order is a true American hero, not just a hero to the South or to the Confederate cause. Deo Vindice
Posted on: Wed, 30 Jul 2014 10:52:47 +0000
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