'Weep over your own condition'

During the summer of 1863, this story was recorded in the midst of the revival in the Confederate Army.
"In the retreat of our army from Middle Tennessee one of the soldiers," says Dr. W. A. Mulkey, a surgeon in the army, "was struck by an unexploded shell, the ponderous mass sweeping away his right arm and leaving open the abdominal cavity, its contents falling upon his saddle.  In a moment he sank from his horse to the ground, but soon revived, and for two hours talked with as much calmness and sagacity as though he were engaged in a business transaction.  Soon several of his weeping friends gathered around him expressing their sympathy and sorrow.  He thanked them for their manifestations of kindness, but told them that instead of weeping for him they ought to weep over their own condition; for, sad to say, if, even among the professors of his company, there was one who lived fully up to the discharge of his Christian duties, he was not aware of it. He said, 'I know that my wound is mortal, and that in a very short time I shall be in eternity: but I die as has been my aim for years- prepared to meet my God."

-from The Great Revival in the Southern Armies by Chaplain W.W. Bennett

"The belief of God's love to us in Christ, the sweet hope of his mercy, will melt the heart to tenderness. I wish you to dwell upon this. It is the hope, the sense of God's love, that warms and thaws the cold and frozen heart of man."


 -John Angell James from 'Being Born Again'

"Faith is not believing that you are a Christian, but believing that Christ died for sinners, and trusting in him; and unbelief is not doubting that you are a Christian, but doubting Christ's willingness to save you, and thus rejecting him."

-John Angell James from 'Being Born Again' or originally 'The Anxious Inquirer'

'And did the Holy and the Just'

"And did the Holy and the Just,
The Sovereign of the skies,
Stoop down to wretchedness and dust,
That guilty worms might rise?

Yes; the Redeemer left His throne,
His radiant throne on high-
Surprising mercy! Love unknown!-
To suffer, bleed and die.

He took the dying traitor's place,
And suffered in his stead:
For man- O miracle of grace!-
For man the Saviour bled!

Dear Lord, what heavenly wonders dwell
In Thy atoning blood!
By this are sinners snatched from hell,
And rebels brought to God.

Jesus, my soul adorning bends
To love so full, so free;
And may I hope that love extends
Its sacred power to me?

What glad return can I impart
For favours so divine?
O take my all, this worthless heart,
And make it only Thine.

-Anne Steele