Page:Southern Historical Society Papers volume 40.djvu/161

 Rh to some in his exalted moral and Christian character and in the pure ideals which dominated his life.

With him, as a very part of his being, was his trust in God; his religion, which was not only a principle, but an essential principle of his nature.

Faith in the unseen and eternal was far more potential with him than his faith in anything visible or temporal.

His religion was the greatest thing in the universe to him, as it was the most powerful influence in his life. It is doubtful whether a more sincerely devout man ever lived.

And yet in all of his religion there was nothing of cant, nor sanctimoniousness, nor gloom, nothing of bigotry or acerbity, but the utmost charity and deference for the faiths and convictions of others.

His goodness and greatness need not be gauged by the qualities or measures of other men to demonstrate his merit.

Where he differs from the great commanders of other ages it is generally in particulars in 'which he is superior to them.

At all events, we are content with him as he is, and would not, if we could, exchange him for any who have been mentioned in comparison with him.

There is a name which we may mention lovingly along with his, but not in contrast—the name of that majestic leader and born king of men, Robert E. Lee, to whom Stonewall Jackson cheerfully yielded the precedence.

United as they were in their lives, diverse as they were in their transcendent genius, kindred as they were in the unselfishness of their ambition, the nobility of their ideals, the righteousness of their conduct, the purity of their motives, and the greatness of their souls, each the complement and the supplement of the other, and each generously recognizing the abilities and the merits of the other, we, their followers, can make no comparison of their goodness and greatness.

We can only yield to each the sincere homage of our admiration and affection.