A MOTHER'S PARTING WORDS TO HER SOLDIER BOY: A LETTER FROM THE CIVIL WAR

 Following are portions of a tract that was given to Confederate Soldiers in the Civil War called “A Mother’s Parting Words to Her Soldier Boy.” Many chaplains of the Confederacy gave out such tracts to the soldiers; with great spiritual success. I do not know who wrote the following letter, but it says a lot to all of us whether, or not we served in the armed forces of our country. This tract has portions that promote the Southern cause for the Civil War. I am not including these portions, as they are extraneous to my purpose. I also changed some words that have have different meanings today and omitted some other sentences for various reasons.

A Mother’s Parting Words to Her Soldier Boy

At the time of our separation, my heart was too tenderly and deeply affected to permit me to give utterance to the words of affectionate counsel, which I longed to pour into your ear. My mingled emotions of love, grief, and anxiety could find vent only in tears. But I have concluded in this manner to transmit to you the words of instruction, warning and encouragement which I should have preferred to speak to you with my lips, had not the feelings awakened by your departure for the army, overpowered my self-control. You need not be told that I love you, that I cherish a deep solicitude for your welfare, and that my happiness is bound up with your prosperity. I have a claim to your attention which I am sure your parental affection will not allow you to disregard.

I write to you chiefly, my boy, to impress on your heart the importance of enlisting under the banner of the Cross. The searcher of hearts knows that my greatest desire is, that you should be a sincere and consistent Christian. I have feebly endeavored by my instructions, prayers and example, to win you to the service of Christ. You may have thought it strange that I have conversed directly with you so little concerning the state of your soul. I desire to confess to you, and with shame before God, my deficiency in this respect. I have ever found a difficulty in speaking to my children on the subject of salvation, arising from what I know not what else but timidity, that has caused me great sorrow, and especially since you have passed to the dangers of the tented field, and beyond the reach of my anxious, beseeching words. Forgive me this wrong, and accept this communication as the best atonement which under the circumstances, I can offer. I feel now, that if I could see you, I would, from the fullness of my fond and burdened heart entreat you in such words as follow:

You did not cease to be a moral agent when you became a soldier. Assuming new responsibilities to your country, I pray you did not weaken your responsibilities to God. You should not only render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s but unto God the things that are God’s. Many good and intelligent men have maintained that a profession of arms is incompatible with a life of piety. It must be conceded that the genius and spirit of Christianity are utterly opposed to war. Christ is the Prince of Peace; at his birth the heavenly host sang “Peace on earth;” the Gospel is a message of peace, and its universal diffusion and influence will banish war from the earth. “He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war any more.” Isaiah 2:4.

A careful examination of the Scriptures must convince us, that there is nothing in the demands of a just warfare at variance with the spirit and duties of Christianity. To say nothing of Moses, Joshua and David, who were renowned alike for their piety and their military achievements, we find that several Roman Centurions, in the beginning of the Christian age, were commended for their faith, devotion and good works. John the Baptist, the fearless harbinger of Christ, exhorted the Romans soldiers, not to abandon their standards, but to avoid the vices incident to their profession. “Then some soldiers asked him, “And what should we do?” He replied, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely--be content with your pay.”” Luke 3:14. I refer to these texts for the twofold purpose of confirming my views and leading you to consul the Scriptures, the only safe guide in faith and practice.

There are great and appalling obstacles in the way of your conversion amid the din and temptations of a camp. The lack of biblical instruction, and the lack of opportunities for retirement and secret prayer, together with the excitements and corrupting influences which attend a soldier’s life, are serious but not overwhelming hindrances to faith. Without abating one iota from his duties to the country, the soldier may find time for religious meditation, secret prayer, and the consecration of himself to Christ. Two young men at the close of a battle, were so impressed with the Divine goodness in their preservation, that they retired to the forest, and made a full, solemn and joyful surrender of themselves to the Prince of peace.

Let me urge you then, my dear son, to make it your first, chief and constant concern to become a Christian. God demands nothing but a willing heart. In the hour when you are willing to forsake all your sins (and be baptized) to receive Christ as your prophet, priest and king you shall find mercy and there will be joy in the presence of the angels of God over you. Christ never rejected a repenting sinner, and he never will. Ah, my son, if you have no soul to save- no sins to be forgiven, if Christ did not die for you- if there is no Heaven, no Hell, no immortality- then you may live without repentance and salvation. But you have a soul- you are a sinner- Christ shed his blood for you- you are immortal, and destined to the joys of Heaven or the woes of perdition, and therefore, Christ is your supreme necessity. You have motives to duty- not only as a man, but as a solider. Of all men the soldier has the greater need of godliness. 

Under the privations and hardships of camp life, he greatly needs the consolations that nothing but grace can minister. And, what but grace can preserve him from the seductions to vice by which so many promising soldiers have been ruined? He is in frequent peril of losing his life, and should have that constant preparation for death, which can only be found in sincere devotion to Christ. Let me urge you then, my child, but all the tenderness of a mother’s love, but all the anxieties of a father’s heart, and by, what should have more influence with you, all the compassion of the Redeemer’s bosom, to enlist under the banner of the Prince of life and glory.

You must, my dear boy, be a Christian or suffer a sad and hopeless defeat. You may, without faith in Christ, storm cities, win battles, and gain enduring renown; but you cannot secure the kingdom of heaven. Mohammed promised Paradise to all who should lose their lives in his war; but Christ does not promise eternal life to them that fall in the battles of their country. He that would win a crown of life, must gain a victory over sin. The kingdom of God must be taken by storm; as the Bible says in Matthew 11:12 “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has been forcefully advancing, and forceful men lay hold of it.”; but it can only be laid hold of by faith, and prayer, and obedience. It is not reasonable to suppose that God will accept the services rendered to Caesar for those due to Himself; or, that patriotism should be a substitute for piety. The heroic, but ungodly soldier, may fill a grave honored by a nation’s tears and marked by a towering monument; but his soul, alas, must perish!

I would have you, my son, not only to be a Christian, but to honor that sacred name. Make the Bible your constant companion- prayer your delightful employment- and the glory of Christ the end of all your deeds.

Seek to be adorned with all the graces of the Spirit, and to abound in all the fruits of righteousness. Keep aloof from all the vices which corrupt and degrade the army. I need not warn you against profanity, that common but ill bred sin, which you have been taught to detest; but I would especially guard you against drunkenness, that most insidious, prevalent and degrading vice. All the toils, exposures and privations of a campaign may be endured without it, and better without it than with it.

I am sure, my child, you will not be a worse soldier for being a good Christian. Piety will not make you effeminate or cowardly. Some of the bravest soldiers of the world have been humble Christians. Our own illustrious Washington maintained the claims of Christianity, amid the demoralizing influences of the Revolution, with a zeal corresponding with the heroism with which he fought the battles of our independence. Why should not the Christian be courageous? He has less cause to love life and dread death than other men. In the path of duty has has nothing to fear. Life and death may be equally pleasing to him. The apostle Paul in the prospect of martyrdom could say: “I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body.” Philippians 1:23, 24.

And now, my dear soldier boy, I must take leave of you. Remember that you have a large share in my love, my sympathies, and my prayers. By day and by night, you are in my thoughts: and often the unbidden tear flows down my cheek when I think of your sufferings and dangers. Let me have joy of you, my son, and I can have no greater joy than to hear that you are doing your duty- your whole duty- to your country and to God. I trust we shall meet again. I pray the Father of mercies to cover your head in the day of battle. Should life be preserved through the perils of the camp and conflict, and you be permitted to return to your home, I need not assure you that you will find a welcome, and that your presence will diffuse a sunshine over your domestic circle; and among all the loving hearts that will greet your return, none will be so thrilled with delight as your mother’s. And should you come back to my fond embrace, not corrupted and degraded by the temptations of camp life, but purified and adorned by the grace of the gospel, in answer to my poor prayers, then I can exclaim with the patriarch Jacob, when he heard that his favorite son, Joseph, was living, and raised to the Governorship of Egypt, “I’m convinced! My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”” Genesis 45:28. But should you fall in the stern conflict for your country’s rights, you will fill an honored grave; and I humbly trust that, through the grace and righteousness of our Redeemer, we may meet in a world, where wars and rumors of wars can never disturb us; but where love, peace, and joy, forever rein. It shall be my earnest endeavor, as I entreat you that it may be yours, to be meet for a participation in the delights and glories of that world.

Receive now the blessing from your own and only Mother.