Lee, a Life of Virtue - book review

Out of the three books I have reviewed from the Thomas Nelson company, Lee, a Life of Virtue by John Perry, is the first one I consider a “keeper.” Though it can be enjoyed by a serious researcher, this book is not designed for heavy in-depth study. There are no footnotes in the book and comparatively few direct quotes. It is an easy read, plenty to learn for those who know little about General Lee, yet not boring to someone who has read a fair amount about him.

As the title “A Life of Virtue” suggests, this book emphasizes Lee’s noble motives in life and his one compelling force - duty. From caring for his invalid mother in youth, to resigning from the US military and fighting for the Confederacy, to saying “it is our duty to live” at a time when death would have been more welcome, Mr. Perry keeps before the reader how Robert E. Lee did what he believed to be his duty despite what personal deprivations it cost him.

The final chapter closes with part of a letter General Lee’s wife wrote on the day of his death, “. . .I pray that his noble example may stimulate our youth to a course of uprightness which never wavered from the path of duty at any sacrifice or ease or pleasure, & so long too has the will of God been the guiding star of his actions. . .”

The right way for a Christian to live

The right way for a Christian to live is to do what his Master bids him, leaving all consequences to the Almighty. If I am willing to do what God tells me, as he tells me, when he tells me, and because he tells me, I shall not turn back in the day of battle.   -  C. H. Spurgeon

Day by Day the Manna Fell

Day by day the manna fell;
Oh to learn this lesson well!
Still by constant mercy fed,
Give us, Lord, our daily bread.

“Day by day,” the promise reads,
Daily strength for daily needs;
Cast foreboding fear away,
Take the manna of today.

Thou our daily task shalt give:
Day by day to Thee well live:
So shall added years fulfill--
Not our own, our Father’s will.

-- Josiah Conder

All Things Decreed

There’s not a sparrow nor a worm
But’s found in God’s decrees;
He raises monarchs to their thrones,
And sinks them if he please.

If light attend the course I run,
’Tis he provides those rays;
And ’tis his hand that hides my sun,
If darkness cloud my days.

When he reveals the Book of Life,
O may I read my name
Among the chosen of his love,
The followers of the Lamb!
 
- Isaac Watts

Braided wool rug

She seeketh wool. . .and worketh willingly with her hands. Proverbs 31:13

A braided scrap wool rug I finally finished.

Up-Hill

Does the road wind up-hill all the way?
Yes, to the very end.
Will the day’s journey take the whole long day?
From morn to night, my friend.

But is there for the night a resting-place?
A roof for when the slow dark hours begin.
May not the darkness hid it from my face?
You cannot miss that inn.

Shall I meet other wayfareres at night?
Those who have gone before.
Then must I knock, or call when just in sight?
They will not keep you standing at that door.

Shall I find comfort, travel-sore and weak?
Of labour you shall find the sum.
Will there be beds for me and all who seek?
Yea, beds for all who come.

- Christiana Georgina Rossetti

I am still sadly deficient in practice!

Alas! Though I know in theory what a Christian should be—I am still sadly deficient in practice! I am a poor creature, and see much to be ashamed of every day, and in every circumstance. Yet, though sin will distress—it cannot condemn, those who believe in Jesus! "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus!" Romans 8:1 Letters of John Newton