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The Religion Of Robert E. Lee

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• The title of the message is, "The Religion of Robert E. Lee." So I want you to look in your Bibles to the book of James chapter 1, and we are going to read verses 26 and 27. And mark that passage because we will be coming back there. Notice if you would please James chapter 1 verses 26 and 27. The scripture says, "If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain."

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• "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world." Notice if you would please, I was asked to deal with the title, "The Religion of Robert E. Lee." In our day and time, the word religion carries diverse meanings. When we talk about religion today, we may be referring to the Hindu religion, or the Buddhist religion, or the Muslim religion, or Christianity. However, the word religion in the 18th, 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries referred primarily to Christianity.

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• While there were various denominations in the country, they were all Christian as well. And if you will look at all the colonial charters and the colonial constitutions, you will find that each one of them demanded Christian rulers. In fact, you could not be a ruler unless you professed faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and you believed in the inspiration of both the Old and the New Testament.

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• But to give you a couple of good illustrations as to how the word religion was used back in those days, the first illustration comes from George Washington. George Washington was talking to the Delaware Chiefs and he was telling them how that they would be a happier and more prosperous people if they believed in the Lord Jesus Christ. And so here are his words. He said this to them, "You do well to wish to learn our arts and our way of life and above all the religion of Jesus Christ. These will make you a greater and happier people than you are." So he talked then about the religion of Jesus Christ.

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• It was the Supreme Court Justice Joseph Story who said this in 1851. "Probably at the time of the adoption of the Constitution and of the First Amendment to it, the general, if not the universal sentiment in America was that Christianity ought to be encouraged by the state, so far as it was not incompatible with the private rights of conscience and the freedom of religious worship. Any attempt to level all religions and to make it a matter of state policy, to hold all in utter indifference, would have created universal disapprobation, if not universal indignation." So here he is talking about religion, and he is talking about Christianity in 1851.

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• And he said this was understood in the founding of our country as well. When you look at James 1 verses 26 and 27, our text delineates for us the difference between a vain religion and what you and I would call a pure religion. Let me just very simply tell you that a vain religion is one that would leave parts of the life unaffected and subdued and uninfluenced and unyielding to the Word of God. This is what he's calling a vain religion. And on the other hand he's talking about a pure religion is one that brings the life totally in submission to God. For instance, I want you to look back at verse 26 again. He said, "If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain." In other words, here's a man who may have a lot of good things going for him, but the one thing that he does not have is a bridle for his tongue. In other words, he does not have that tongue brought into conformity to the Word of God.

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• Now, I want you to turn to James chapter 3, and let's begin reading there with verse 3. Because James now is emphasizing this truth about the tongue. James 3 verse 3, "Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body. Behold also the ships, which though they be so great are driven of fierce winds, yet they are turned about with a very small helm, whithersoever the governor listeth. Even so the tongue is a little member and boasteth great things. Behold how great a matter a little fire kindleth. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire of hell."

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• "For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind: but the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison. Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith curse we men, which are made after the similitude of God. Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be."

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• Now interestingly, the Apostle says in verse 3, "Behold, we put bits in the horses' mouths, that they may obey us, and we turn about their whole body." Now if you look in verse 26 of chapter 1 again, he says, "If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue," the bit and the bridle go together. The bit is in the horse's mouth and the bridle of course fits around the horse's head and with that bit and bridle you control that horse. You turn him whithersoever you want him to go. And so the Apostle James is telling us here that a man who may have a lot of things going for him, if he has never ever learned to bridle his tongue, then his religion is in vain.

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• And by the way, when he uses the word bridle in verse 26, it literally means the word bridle. It's the same thing that a horse and mule is restrained with.

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• Now, I want you to hold James 1, but go back in your Bibles, if you would, to Psalm 34 to begin with. And I want to show you about four verses. We'll look at three in the book of Psalms, and then one in the book of Proverbs. And I want you to see how this is emphasized in scripture. Notice Psalm 34 and verse 13. Psalm 34, verse 13. Look what God commands.

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• "Keep thy tongue from evil and thy lips from speaking guile." So, it's usually our tongues that get us into trouble. Look in Psalm 39 and verse 1. Psalm 39, verse 1. David said this. Watch carefully now and notice the words that he uses. "I said, I will take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, while the wicked is before me." Note if you would, he's not only going to take heed to his ways, and one of the ways that he's going to take heed to is that he sin not with his tongue. And then he said when the wicked is before him, he's going to make sure that he has a bridle over his mouth. You know, it's just like the three rules for dealing with bureaucrats. I'm sure that you've heard them: first one is shut up, the second one is shut up, and the third one is shut up. Well that is what David is talking about when he said that he is going to keep his mouth with a bridle while the wicked are before him.

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• Look in Psalm 141 and verse 3. Here is an interesting prayer request that David makes and probably would do us well to make it as our prayer request. But Psalm 141, look if you would please at verse 3. He says, "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips." Interestingly if you go back to verse 1, "Lord, I cry unto thee: make haste unto me; give ear unto my voice, when I cry unto thee. Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense; and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice." And now this specific request, "Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips." Now if you will turn over to the book of Proverbs chapter 21, let me try to sum this up for you. Proverbs chapter 21 and look if you would please at verse 23. I think everybody in this room will certainly understand exactly what I'm about to say. Notice if you would Proverbs 21 verse 23. God says, "Whoso keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soul from troubles." So how many times?

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• Have you said things that you wish you'd never said? Or how many times you've given your word to someone and you say, "Boy, I should have never done that. I've stepped into it this time." And so God said whoever keeps his mouth and keeps his tongue keeps his soul from trouble. Now you have to go back and look at James chapter 1 and ask yourself this question. Because in verse 26, he says, "If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man's religion is vain." Now, was James trying to deal with some specific sin at the time that he wrote this letter to those that were scattered abroad?

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• Or was he saying, this is generally a problem that everyone has. And of course, when you read James chapter 3, I think he's probably saying here is something that everyone needs to be aware of. I heard one preacher say it like this after reading James chapter 3. He said, "The tongue is nothing less than an automatic sewing machine set on fire out of hell." Well, when you stop and think of how fast an automatic sewing machine goes, well, that's the tongue many, many times. But I think what James is really showing us in verse 26 is this, if there is any area in our life that is really unsubdued or we are unwilling to subdue, and unwilling to bring into conformity the Word of God, what James is saying is our religion is in vain. In other words if there are areas of open rebellion in our life, well obviously we've got problems. So, James is saying that a man can appear to be in a good relationship with the Lord, and he can appear to honor Him, but if he can't bridle his tongue, then he's got real problems.

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• His religion is in vain. So, I want you to stop and think about this. When you read, I believe it's Psalm 10. No, it's Psalm 73. When Asaph there is talking about the wicked, how their tongue walks through the earth and goes through heaven. In other words, here's a man that is totally unafraid to curse God or curse man. It doesn't matter to him, you know. And when you stop and think about the tongue, a man may boast of his good works, but while he's boasting, which is pride and arrogance, he can still use that tongue to speak ill of his brethren, to backbite them, to hurt their names and their characters by private insinuations. He can use that tongue to defame them publicly speaking.

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• He cares not what he says. He just gives his tongue an absolute liberty to walk through heaven and to walk through earth. And in so doing he dishonors God and he dishonors man as well. And so James is saying this man's religion is in vain.

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• Now, I want you to look at verse 27. He says, "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world."

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• Now, let me give you just one quick quote by Albert Barnes on this subject. Looking at verse 27, Barnes says this, "If a man is truly benevolent, he bears the image of that God who is the fountain of benevolence. If he is pure and uncontaminated in his walk and deportment, he also resembles his Maker, for he is holy. If he has not these things, he cannot have any well-founded evidence that he is a Christian, for it is always the nature and tendency of religion to produce these things." Let me tell you what I believe that James is really emphasizing in verse 27, and that is this. Real religion, biblical Christianity, has nothing to do with pomp and circumstance and rituals and ceremonies. No. It has nothing to do with theatrics. It is practical obedience to God and service to man. What did he say? "Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world."

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• Now I want you to stop and think about this. You can go on some of these great and grand cathedrals. You can go in some of these humongous church buildings. There is a church building that Alice and I passed on I-75 going out of Atlanta, and I often remark, I'd like to have just one Federal Reserve note for each brick in that building. I mean, the building is humongous. But you could go inside a building like that and probably see stained glass windows and organs and you can see all kind of pomp and circumstance.

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• And you can be awed by those things. But the question is, how do people live when they leave that building? And usually when you have huge buildings like that, the lives of most people that are there are not practically biblical. They're not practical Christians. They're there. It's pomp, it's circumstance, it's ritual, it's ceremony. James says no. True religion before God and the Father is to visit the widows and the orphans and to keep yourself unspotted from the world. In fact, Micah 6 and verse 8, listen carefully, God says, "He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?" That's basically what He said in James 1 and verse 27. He didn't use the same words, but true religion before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world. One of the things that I really enjoy about history is reading the lives of these great men and women.

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• And I don't care if you study our colonial ancestors or our Confederate ancestors. You cannot help but be impressed with the practicality of their lives and the practicality of their Christianity. Read some of their diaries. Read the letters of Abigail Adams. Read the letters of Sam Adams and John Adams. It's almost as if they were taking it right from the scripture so many times and their prayers were so biblical it was unreal. When you stop and think about our colonial and our Confederate ancestors, then you have to say this. We could probably learn a great deal by studying their lives.

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• The religion of Robert E. Lee was certainly that of Christianity. Lee and Jackson, as well as many of our other Confederate ancestors, were thoroughgoing Christians. In fact, I hope you remember this. I think I told you this many years ago, but it was General Jackson's prayers were the instrument to the conversion of General Richard Stoddard Ewell. General Ewell had been in a war conference and had left his sword in Jackson's tent. And he left and he remembered his sword and he turned around to go back and get it. And Jackson was on his knees in prayer inside his tent. No one else was around. Ewell heard him on the outside praying, and he just stood. He never went into the tent. He never interrupted Jackson. And when Jackson was praying, Ewell said this, "Oh God, if this is religion, if this is Christianity, I must have it. I must have it. I must have it." And so it was his prayers that led to the conversion of General Ewell. I want to just point out two things today about the religion of Robert E.

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• Lee. First one is this, it was intimately personal. It was intimately personal. Lee often spoke of his personal faith, not only in the Lord Jesus Christ, but in the Bible as well. The Bible was his favorite book. Lee said this, "The Bible is the book of books, a book which supplies the place of all others and cannot be replaced." A little bit later Lee said this, "There are many things in that old book that I may not be able to explain, but I accept them as the infallible Word of God and receive its teaching as inspired by the Holy Ghost. I prefer the Bible to any other book."

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• "There is enough in that to satisfy the most ardent thirst for knowledge, to open the way to true wisdom and to teach the only road to salvation and eternal happiness. It is not above human comprehension and is sufficient to satisfy all desires." So Lee was a man of the book. Again Lee said this, "In all of my perplexities and distresses the Bible has never failed to give me light and strength."

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• Now I want you to stop and think about this. He just said, "In all my perplexities and distresses, the Bible has never failed to give me light and strength." You have to remember all of the battles he was in, all the war, and all the horrors of that war. One of the stories that I'm not going to be able to relate, just simply because of time, is that he lost a daughter, Annie, who died.

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• He could not even go to her funeral. Because he was involved in the war and in battles. And so he wrote a letter to his wife, and the letter's just absolutely wonderful and glorious. But here's a man that lost his daughter, and he could not even go to the funeral. And so he said in all of his perplexities, in all of his distresses, the Bible has never ceased or never failed to give him light and strength.

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• Again Lee testified, "My trust is in the mercy and wisdom of a kind providence who ordereth all things for our good." Now General Lee joined the Episcopal Church in 1853 and remained there all of his life. And let me just add this, the Episcopal Church back then is not what the Episcopal Church is today. In fact, the Episcopal Church back then was very gospel-oriented. In fact, the Episcopal rectors were in line with the Baptists and the Presbyterians and even the Methodists. In fact, oh, this name just slipped my mind, the Episcopalian General, General Polk, who started School of the South in Suwannee, Tennessee.

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• It was a fine, godly man. So the Episcopalian Church has certainly changed over the years. But when Lee joined that church he remained there all of his life and he said this, and I'm quoting, "My chief concern is to try to be a humble, earnest Christian." Now it was at the bottom of everything that General Lee did. When Pastor Beverly Tucker Lacey, who was also a Confederate chaplain, confided in Lee that all of the Confederate chaplains were concerned about him, and that they were praying for him, General Lee responded with these words.

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• He said, "I can only say that I am a poor sinner trusting in Christ alone for salvation, and that I need all the prayers that I can get." Wow! You listen to some general today and see if he'll say something like that. "I can only say that I'm a poor sinner trusting in Christ alone for salvation and I need all the prayers that I can get." Let me give you just a simple prayer that Lee prayed. Listen to what he said.

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• "Help me to be, to think, to act what is right because it is right. Make me truthful, honest, and honorable in all things. Make me intellectually honest for the sake of right and honor, and without thought of reward to me." That's almost like the prayer that Solomon prayed that pleased the Lord when Solomon basically said, "Lord, I don't have sense enough to come in and out of the rain."

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• I need wisdom to govern this people. And this is exactly what Lee's praying for, for biblical wisdom. To show you the personal faith of General Lee, when General Meade came over to Mine Run and the Southern Army was marching to meet him, Lee was riding along in the woods with his staff officers, and he came upon a party of Confederate soldiers holding a prayer meeting on the eve of the battle. Now, the artillery was already booming, shells were already bursting, and here these Confederate soldiers were praying. Lee stopped his horse, dismounted, along with all of his staff officers, walked over to where the men were praying, uncovered his head, and began to pray with them, and remained there until the prayer meeting was over.

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• So here's a man that would just humble himself and pray with anybody who wanted to pray. You remember Lee then became the president of Washington College, which later became Washington and Lee University. When Dr. White, who was a Presbyterian pastor, was passing General Lee's house on his way to the chapel, General Lee joined Dr. White and they began talking about Christianity. And here's what General Lee said to Dr. White. Remember now he is the president of Washington University or Washington and Lee now. He said, "I shall be disappointed, sir, if I shall fail in the leading object that brought me here. Unless all the young men become real Christians, I wish you and others of your sacred profession to do all you can to accomplish this result." So Lee said, "I came to this college to try to make sure that all of these young men embrace the Christian faith." Isn't that amazing? Where is a general today that wants that? You remember after the war General Lee was indicted for treason and rebellion, nothing ever came of it but he was indicted.

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• Jefferson Davis of course spent two years in prison before he was released. And he was in prison without trial. They could not try him because they knew if they did then the North would be found at fault because secession was indeed constitutional and legal and right. So, but Lee never had to go to prison. But there was a pastor that was visiting Lee after Lee had been indicted. And the pastor expressed great bitterness and resentment over this action. Well, General Lee just kind of brushed it off and he said this, "Well, it matters little what they may do to me."

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• "I'm old and have but a short time to live anyhow." And then he changed the subject. And after they talked a while, finally, the pastor got up to leave, and Lee followed him to the door. And as Lee got him to the door, he looked at the pastor and he said this, "Doctor, there's a good old book which I read, and from which you preach, which says, 'Love your enemies, bless them that persecute you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.'"

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• "Do you think that your remarks this evening were quite in accord with this teaching?" Now just stop and think about that. General Lee is preaching to the preacher. He nailed the pastor because of the bitterness and the resentment in his heart. J. William Jones, who was the author of Christ in the Camp, who was a Baptist preacher and a chaplain during the Confederate Army there, in the Confederate Army, he wrote this concerning General Lee and he said, "If I've ever come in contact with a sincere, devout Christian, one who seeing himself to be a sinner, trusting alone in the merits of Jesus Christ, who humbly tried to walk the path of duty, looking unto Jesus as the author and finisher of his faith, and whose piety constantly exhibited itself in his daily life, that man was General Robert Edward Lee." So here is a Baptist chaplain saying that Lee was basically the greatest Christian that he ever knew. So Lee's faith and Lee's religion was intimately personal.

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• The second thing I want to share with you is this, it was intensely practical. It really exemplified James 1 and verse 27. To me there is nothing worse than truth unapplied. As long as truth is held in the head and it never descends to the hands and the feet and the life, it is extremely impractical and totally worthless. Lee practiced what he preached. He lived his faith. His life was a shining example of his intimate personal faith. His faith was exhibited every day and was intensely practical. General Lee is regarded as an American hero. He's regarded as an outstanding Christian. But humble Lee always described himself simply as a poor sinner trusting in Christ alone for salvation. Lee's son made the statement that General Lee's Christianity was everyday and practical. I want to give you a couple of sayings and I want you to think about these.

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• Many of you have heard some of these things. And we've never really thought them through. All of our life we've heard this old saying, "Honesty is the best policy." Here's what General Lee said about that. "The trite saying that honesty is the best policy has met with the just criticism that honesty is not policy. The real honest man is honest from conviction of what is right, not from policy." Amazing?

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• Stop and think about that. You are honest not because of policy but because of conviction. You are honest because of what the Word of God teaches and you know it and you understand it. Again Lee said this, "You must study to be frank with the world. Frankness is the child of honesty and courage. Say just what you mean to do on every occasion and take it for granted that you mean to do what is right." So he said you have to be frank and honest with the world. You know I've preached several messages on General Nathan Bedford Forrest.

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• And before his conversion he was a cusser. That's no two ways about that. He would accentuate his statements with some curse words that is for sure. But you know in one sense of the word what General Lee said actually what happened with General Forrest in this sense of the word. You might disagree with what Forrest said, but you could never misunderstand him. He told you exactly where you stood and what he was going to do. What Lee is saying is we must do the same thing, but you don't have to do it with profanity, you don't have to do it with cursing, but you have to be frank and you have to be honest that is for sure. Everything that Lee did was very practical. You could see the practicality of Lee's Christianity even in his sacrifice. Most of you know that General Lee sacrificed not only his wealth but his home. Each one of us has heard of Arlington National Cemetery. Arlington was the home of General Lee. And that home and that property was stolen from him.

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• And the Union soldiers were buried there so that he would never want it back, is what it amounts to. And so they literally took that from him. General Lee, of course, did everything that he could to try to get it back originally. In fact, some of the wonderful things there were stolen and never ever returned. For instance, General Lafayette had given Washington a sword, and Lee was in the family of Washington through his wife. And of course, the sword was stolen as well, which was an important artifact. A lot of stuff was stolen. But Lee continued to sacrifice all of his life. One of my favorite stories is General Ewell was visiting Lee and they had a little conference. And Lee invited General Ewell to stay for dinner. General Ewell said no, that he could not stay, that he had to get back. And so General Lee insisted that General Ewell take his supper and eat it on the way. And so he handed the supper in a sack to General Ewell. General Ewell on his horse rode off.

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• When he opened the sack, what he found for Lee's supper was two small, cold, sweet potatoes, which happened to be General Lee's favorite food, by the way. But that's all he was going to have for supper. And so he gave that to General Ewell instead. We have no idea how our ancestors suffered, that is for sure. On another occasion during the Siege of Petersburg, General Lee was invited to a fine home for a Christmas dinner.

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• And the hostess, of course, served turkey. General Lee, of course, was not used to probably having all of the food around him. And so he had food here. And his hostess caught him hoarding his turkey, not eating it. And when she asked him why he was not eating his turkey, was there something wrong with it? Here's what he said. "No, there's nothing wrong with it. I wanted to save this portion so that I could carry it to one of my staff officers who's been ill and has eaten nothing but cornbread and had sweet potato coffee." So here's a man who could have filled his stomach, but he didn't. Well, the interesting thing is, this same hostess, after Lee got back to camp, sent an entire barrel of turkeys to General Lee. One for General Lee, and one for each of his staff officers. They opened the barrel, General Lee got his turkey, all the staff officers got their turkeys, and General Lee said, "Put mine back into the barrel. I want it sent to the wounded men in the hospital so that they may eat."

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• Well, and then all the other staff officers had to put theirs back in. So the whole barrel of turkeys then went to the wounded in the hospital. But that was practical Christianity, that was practical sacrifice and that is what he did. In his book, America Through British Eyes, Alan Nevins records a conversation that Lee had with a British traveler and the British traveler's giving the account, and he said this, "That when he, that is General Lee, spoke of Jackson, I was struck with the emphasis he placed on his piety. One cannot indeed be with Lee without finding his Christian character revealing itself almost unconsciously in his manners and conversation."

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• "I remember with peculiar distinctness the solemnity with which at table, standing before his family, he asked God's blessing on the food. Also, when he referred to a gentleman whom he wished me to see in Richmond, his saying that he had rarely met with a nobler or more Christian man. It was only a word, yet it showed by what standard he gauged a man's worth." Just stop and think.

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• Can you imagine an army officer today, general or no general, recommending to someone that they speak to another individual because he's one of the finest Christians that ever lived. And so he's just saying this is how General Lee gauged a man. Now General Lee also had a lighter side as well. He did indeed enjoy humor.

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• Now I could give you a number of illustrations, but this was one of Lee's favorites. While Lee was at Petersburg, one of the old Negro cooks came up to him and said this to General Lee. "General Lee, I has been wanting to see you for a long time as a soldier." "Ah," said General Lee, "to what army do you belong? To the Union Army or the Southern Army?" "Oh, General, I belongs to your army." "Well," said General Lee, "have you been shot?" "No, sir, I ain't been shot yet." "How's that," asked General Lee. "Nearly all our men get shot." "Why, General," the cook replied, "I ain't been shot, cause I stays back where all the generals stays." And Lee enjoyed telling that one on himself quite frequently.

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• Since Lee and Jackson, of course, were Christians, they did everything they could to prevent profanity and often rebuked fellow officers for swearing. Jackson said to Captain Imboden, "Nothing can justify profanity." One of the stories that I like to tell about Jackson and you'll find this in General Richard Taylor's book. And General Richard Taylor tells this on himself. Richard Taylor, by the way, was the son of Zachary Taylor, the President of the United States. He was a Confederate general. The Yankees had gotten up on a mountain and they had some cannon up there and infantry up there and they were firing down on the Confederate soldiers. So Jackson told Taylor, "Take your men and get up that mountain and silence those rifles and those cannon." Well, they rushed to the foot of the mountain. And of course the Yanks saw them and started just opening fire upon them. Well, it was a withering fire, but actually the Confederate soldiers were safe because even the cannon could not tilt down at the right angle to get them, same way with the rifles. But the men were huddling behind rocks and trees because of the intense fire. And they weren't going up the mountain and Taylor had commanded, "Go up the mountain and follow Jackson's

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• orders." Well when Taylor saw that they were not going up the mountain, General Taylor shouted and he said, "Men, I get up that mountain and silence those guns. If you don't move, I'll make you stand here one damn hour under this withering fire." Taylor said after he said that he just felt someone staring at him. Said he turned and Stonewall Jackson had ridden up and was standing or sitting on his horse right beside him. And when he looked at General Jackson, General Jackson reached over and put his hand on his shoulder and said, "General Taylor, I'm afraid you're a very wicked man." And turned around and rode off. Wow. So anyhow, General Taylor relates that on himself. But General Lee once upbraided General Wise about his cursing. And General Wise replied, "General Lee, you and Jackson can do all the praying for the Army of Northern Virginia, but for heaven's sake, let me do the cussing for one small brigade." Well, Lee, of course, tried to apply his Christianity every day. Now, I want to give you two illustrations, which to me picture perfectly Lee's understanding of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

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• The first illustration I'm going to give you occurred on the battlefield of Gettysburg. This account is given by a Union soldier. The Union soldier's name is Richard G. Williams. Williams had been shot and was lying on the ground. Let me give it to you. Here's what he said. These are his words. "I had been a most bitter anti-South man and fought and cursed the Confederates desperately."

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• "I could see nothing good in any of them. A ball shattered my left leg. I lay on the ground not far from Cemetery Ridge and as General Lee ordered his retreat, he and his officers rode near me. As they came along, I recognized him. And though faint from exposure and loss of blood, I raised up my hands, looked Lee in the face, and shouted as loudly as I could, 'Hurrah for the Union.' The general heard me, looked, stopped his horse, dismounted, and came toward me."

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• "I confess at first, I thought he meant to kill me. But as he came up he looked down at me with such a sad expression upon his face that all fear left me and I wondered what he was about. He extended his hand to me and grasped my hand firmly and looking right into my eyes, he said, 'My son, I hope you will soon be well.' If I lived to a thousand years I shall never forget the expression on General Lee's face. There he was, a defeated man, retiring from a field that had cost him and his cause almost their last hope."

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• "And yet he stopped to say words like those to a wounded soldier of the opposition who had taunted him as he passed by. As soon as the general had left me, I cried myself to sleep there upon the bloody ground." Can you imagine that? Here's a man that's taunting and General Lee just simply says, "My son, I hope you will soon be well." He was not a bitter man. He was not a vindictive man.

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• He was humble, kind, and gracious, and he demonstrated James 1 and verse 27. The second illustration I got from a book called Cry Heart. To me, it is one of the most touching illustrations and yet it shows Lee's graciousness and kindness. It was during the winter of 1862 and 1863 that Colonel A.C. Battle of the Confederate Army was presiding over a court-martial. Case after case was called and quickly disposed of. And then the case of Edward Cooper was called, who was a young artillery man who was charged with desertion. And may I remind you that desertion carried the death penalty.

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• The prisoner pleaded not guilty. And the judge advocate was beginning his prosecution when the court interposed to ask Edward Cooper who was his counsel. And he responded, "I have no counsel." The specifications were read against him and sustained by the evidence, and he was told to introduce his witnesses. His response was, "I have no witnesses." Colonel Battle was absolutely astonished, and especially at the prisoner's calmness, knowing that he was charged with desertion. And so he asked Edward Cooper, "Have you no defense?"

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• "Is it possible that you abandoned your comrades and deserted your colors without any reason?" "There was a reason," replied Cooper, "but it will not avail me in a military court." "You may be mistaken," replied Colonel Battle. Edward Cooper trembled. And tears filled his eyes, and he stepped up and handed Colonel Battle a letter and said, "Here, Colonel, this is what did it." Colonel Battle read the letter, and soon tears were running down his cheeks. He handed it to the other men of the court martial, and pretty soon all of them were weeping. Here's the letter. It was a letter from Mary, his wife. She wrote, "My dear Edward, I've always been proud of you and since your connection with the Confederate Army, I've been prouder of you than ever. I would not have you to do anything wrong for the world, but before God, Edward, unless you come home, we must die."

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• "Last night I was roused by little Eddie crying. I called and said, 'What's wrong, Eddie?' And he said, 'Oh, mama, I'm so hungry.' And Lucy, your darling Lucy, she never complains, but she's growing thinner every day. And I repeat, unless you come home, we must all die." "What did you do when you received the letter?" asked Colonel Battle. "I applied for a furlough," was the prisoner's answer. "What was the response?" "The application was rejected."

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• "What did you do then?" "Again, I applied for another furlough. It, too, was rejected. And I applied for another furlough. It, too, was rejected. Then one night," he said, "as I wandered back and forth through the camp with Lucy's eyes on me and her mother's words burning in my brain, I was no longer a Confederate soldier. I was the father of Lucy and the husband of Mary. And if every gun in the Confederate Army had been trained on me, I would have gone home." And he said, "I went home. Mary ran out to meet me and wrapped her arms around me and whispered, 'Oh Edward, I'm so happy and so glad that you got your furlough.'" He said, "She must have felt me shudder. She turned pale as death and catching her breath at every word said, 'Oh Edward, go back, go back. Let me and the children go down to the grave, but save the honor of your name.' And here I am, not brought back by the military power, but in obedience to

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• Mary's command to abide the sentence of your court." Moved as the officers were at the court-martial, they did their duty, and each one, in turn, pronounced the sentence guilty. Thankfully, the proceedings of the court were reviewed by the commanding general, and he endorsed the record with these words. "Headquarters of the Army of Northern Virginia, the findings of this court are approved. The prisoner is pardoned and will report to his company, Robert E. Lee, General."

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• The Bible says in Psalm 85 and verse 10, "Mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other." This one illustration demonstrates to us that General Lee really and truly understood the gospel of Jesus Christ. If you could think for a moment and put yourself in the place of Edward Cooper, we're guilty. We violated the law. We deserve death. We've earned and merited the penalty.

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• But the only way out is for a pardon from our great commander-in-chief, the captain of our salvation. The Bible says in Romans chapter 3, verses 24 through 26, listen carefully, "Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; to declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus." So although we are legally guilty, we've been gloriously and righteously pardoned because the Lord Jesus Christ came as our substitute. Psalm 130, verses 3 and 4, the psalmist says this, "If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?" If God marked every one of our iniquities, who could stand before Him? But the next verse says this, "But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared." Certainly, that is true.

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• One of the problems that we have today is that we don't have men like Lee and Jackson. We don't have men that have their faith. We need to learn to go back to the old ways like Jeremiah 6 and verse 16 says, "Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls." But unhappily the rest of that verse says this, "But they said, We will not walk therein." We've started a generation of rebellious wicked individuals who refuse to obey God. Where are the men today that will follow in the footsteps of Lee and Jackson? We're in a mess because we do not have the godly, righteous men who are willing to stand for truth and liberty and freedom.

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• Look where we are in this country. What we need is the religion of Robert E. Lee. Because the religion of Robert E. Lee was nothing less than biblical Christianity. If God would be pleased to give us men, we need men like Lee, and Jackson, and Ewell, and Stuart. Can you imagine what just a half a dozen of these men would do in our state capitals or in Washington, D.C.? Wow. Biblical Christianity, pure religion before God and the Father is this, to visit the fatherless and the widows in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted from the world. It's practical. It's something that we must live every day. Father, in the name of Jesus Christ, we bow to thee.

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• We thank you for your word. We thank you for your truth. We thank you for men like Lee and Jackson and Ewell and Stuart and others, Lord, who've given us godly testimonies and godly characters that we may emulate and follow. I pray today, Lord, that you'd help us and teach us. Build us up in the most holy faith. In thy name we pray. Amen.

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deepseek | deepseek-v4-pro | clean_readable_transcript | 2026-06-05T15:12:29Z