Clearly Communicated
Pvt. Robert N. Jabo of the 8th New Hampshire Infantry was
dying of tuberculosis in Washington’s Harewood Hospital. One day this Civil War soldier was visited by
a distinguished guest: Walt Whitman, a well-known poet, journalist, and
essayist.
Whitman regularly visited injured and dying civil war
soldiers in the hospital. He was known
to share snacks and money. He would also
sit and write letters for the wounded soldiers.
When visiting with Pvt. Jabo, he offered to write a letter for him. Being illiterate as well as very sick, Jabo
gratefully accepted his offer.
The letter that Whitman wrote for Jabo was recently
discovered in the National Archives by Catherine Cusack Wilson, a volunteer on
a team preparing Civil War widows’ pension files to be digitized and placed
online. Wilson recalls, “I'm looking
through the file, and I see this letter, and I start reading it.” On the back, she found a surprise:
"Written by Walt Whitman, a friend."
"Ah!" Wilson said she exclaimed. "Look
what I found!"
The head of the National Archives, David S. Ferriero,
sent a scan of the letter to Whitman scholar Kenneth M. Price of the University
of Nebraska. Price is co-director of the
Walt Whitman Archive and an expert on Whitman's handwriting. As Price read the letter, he noted the unique
way in which the letters w, c, and I, were written, true to Whitman’s
form. He also noted how a plus sign was
often used instead of the word “and” – another characteristic of Whitman’s
style. Whitman's signature in the letter
was also found to resemble other Whitman signatures, Price said in an
email. Thus, the letter appears to be
authentic. It is one of only three of
such letters by Whitman in existence.*
So a famous poet helped a dying soldier communicate with
loved ones – something the soldier could not have accomplished on his own.
When we were dying in sin, God desired to communicate His
love to us. He not only expressed it in
the words of the prophets and inspired writers of Scripture; He came to us in
the person of His Son, Jesus. “The Word
became flesh and made his dwelling among us.
We have seen His glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the
Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
He loves us so much that He wants to save us from sin and
give us the gift of eternal life (John 3:16).
But to save us, God gave His Son to die on the cross for our sins (1
Peter 2:24). His love was clearly and
unmistakably communicated by the only sufficient Sacrifice – the sinless Son of
God – who was the only One who could pay the debt for our sins for us.
“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He
loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).
God will save and give eternal life to those who place
their faith and trust in Jesus (Acts 16:30-31), turn from their sins in
repentance (Acts 17:30-31), confess Him before men (Romans 10:9-10), and are
baptized (immersed) into Christ for the forgiveness of sins (Acts 2:38). He will continue to cleanse from sin those
who continue to walk in the light of His Word (1 John 1:7).
His communication of love and mercy is abundantly
clear. “But God demonstrates His own
love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”
(Romans 5:8).
Won’t YOU accept His offer of salvation and eternal life
on His terms?
-- David A. Sargent
* Source: “Letter written by Walt Whitman for Civil War
soldier discovered.” Published March 11, 2016
by the Associated Press as viewed at www.foxnews.com
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