things
work together for good," he looked forward to the future without
misgiving or apprehension.

But none the less he believed implicitly that the destiny of men and
of nations is in their own hands. His faith was as sane as it was
humble, without a touch of that presumptuous fanaticism which stains
the memory of Cromwell, to whom he has been so often compared. He
never imagined, even at the height of his renown, when victory on
victory crowned his banners, that he was "the scourge of God," the
chosen instrument of His vengeance. He prayed without ceasing, under
fire as in the camp; but he never mistook his own impulse for a
revelation of the divine will. He prayed for help to do his duty, and
he prayed for success. He knew that:

"More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of;"

but he knew, also, that prayer is not always answered in the way
which man would have it. He went into battle with supreme confidence,
not, as has been alleged, that the Lord had delivered the enemy into
his hands, but that whatever happened would be the best that could
happen. And he was as free from cant as from self-deception. It may
be said of Jackson, as has been said so eloquently of the men whom,
in some respects, he closely resembled, that "his Bible was literally
food to his understanding and a guide to his conduct. He saw the
visible finger of God in every incident of life...That which in our
day devout men and women feel in their earnest moments of prayer, the
devout Puritan felt, as a second nature, in his rising up and in his
lying down; in the market-place and in the home; in society and in
business; in Parliament, in Council, and on the field of battle. And
feeling this, the Puritan had no shame in uttering the very words of
the Bible wherein he had learned so to feel; nay, he would have
burned with shame had he faltered in using the words. It is very hard
for us now to grasp what this implies...But there was a generation in
which this phraseology was the natural speech of men."* (* Oliver
Cromwell by Frederic Harrison page 29.) Of this generation, although
later in time, was Stonewall Jackson. To him such language as he used
in his letters to his wife, in conversation with his intimates, and
not rarely in his official correspondence, was "the literal assertion
of truths which he felt to the roots of his being," which absorbed
his thoughts, which coloured every action of his life, and which,
from the abunda