In Palmyra on October 17, 1862, during the war, an informer in the town disappeared and the commander-in-charge ordered ten men to be shot in reprisal. Several men were being detained in Palmyra jail as prisoners-of-war at that time, and ten men were selected from among them. Of this number, one was Wm. T. Humphrey, that father of several children, whose wife pleaded for his release. Because of her physical condition and because Humphrey was the father of several children, the commanding officer struck his name off and substituted the name of Hiram Smith, a young man without a family. Smith gave his consent and stated that perhaps it were better for a single man to die rather than a man with a family. At Mt. Pleasant Church cemetery in Mt. Salem Association is a stone erected with an inscription which reads: “This monument is dedicated to the memory of Hiram Smith. The hero that sleeps beneath the sod here who was shot at Palmyra, Oct. 17, 1862, as a substitute for Wm. T. Humphrey, my father. —G. W. Humphrey” . Right out of the gate, Paul addresses the idea of Jesus substitutionary work in his opening remarks to the Galatians. In today’s post, we are going to take a look at three simple letters which spell out the principle of substitution.
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