To Her Boy as He was Leaving to Go to War.
HENRY E. WING, in giving some reminiscences of his life as a soldier in the Civil War, gives a vivid picture of the parting with his mother, who was a godly woman and a praying mother, when he was leaving to go into camp and to the battlefield.
Hear the story of that parting in his own words, as follows: —
“A single experience connected with my home-leaving made an indelible impression on my mind. My mother, who had not seen me for several months, came dawn from Litchfield County, while I was in camp at New Haven, and I met her at our cousin’s in the north part of the city. When I started to leave, she asked me to read the ninety-first Psalm, beginning, ‘He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty,’ and containing these wonderful promises: ‘He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under His wings shalt thou trust’; ‘A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee’; ‘For He shall give His angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.’ When I had finished reading, she asked me to kneel at her side, as I used to do when a child, and, bending over me, with her face in her hands, she prayed for her boy’s life. At that time my spiritual apprehension was not very acute; but there came to me a surprising sense of comfort and assurance of Divine protection; indeed, before that prayer was finished, I, knew that I was to come back alive from the war.”
Ah, what a privilege to be the son of such a mother! What blessing came to him through her godly instruction and her prayers! The first misfortune to befall a boy in this life is to be born of ungodly parents. It is just as true that the first life-blessing to come to any child is to be born of godly, praying parents.
Mother, if your son were going to the battle-field, could you from the heart act the part Henry E. Wing’s mother acted for him? Could you give him such instruction? Could you pray as she prayed, with such faith as to get for him assurance of safety, even safety on the battle-field? It takes a believing heart to fill the place of such a mother. Get your Bible and read and study the ninety-first Psalm, and see it from her standpoint, if possible. How blessed to lean thus upon the Arm of the Lord!