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Many are joining the Church.
While exhorting a large group of soldiers a few nights since to come to Christ a young man rushed forward and threw his arms around my neck, crying out, “I have found Jesus, I have found Jesus!
Oh, how good my Saviour is!
Bless the Lord, O my soul!”
This was a very affecting scene, and induced many to think seriously concerning their souls.
Thus the work of God is going on amid the cannon's roar, the fatiguing monotony of the trenches, and the heroic movements of the picket line.
Religion is infusing a spirit of fortitude, endurance, and determination, into the hearts of the soldiers that no hardship, no suffering, can undermine or break down.
Bishop Lay, of the
P. E. Church, in a letter to a relative in
Charleston, South Carolina, describes a scene of the deepest interest in the same army.
The
Bishop was earnestly laboring as a missionary in the Georgia army.
He says:
Yesterday in Strahl's Brigade, I preached and confirmed nine persons.
Last night we had a very solemn service in General Hood's room, some forty persons, chiefly generals and staff officers, being present.
I confirmed General Hood and one of his aids, Captain Gordon, of Savannah, and a young lieutenant from Arkansas.
The service was animated, the praying good.
Shells exploded near by all the time.
General Hood, unable to kneel, supported himself on his crutch and staff, and with bowed head received the benediction.
Next Sunday I am to administer the communion at Headquarters.
To-night ten or twelve are to be confirmed in Clayton's Division.
The enemy there are within two hundred and fifty yards of our line, and the firing is very constant.
I fear it may be hard to get the men together.
I wish that you could have been present last night, and have seen that company down, all upon bended knee.
The reverence was so marked that one could not fail to thank God that He has put such a spirit into the hearts of our leaders.
Dr. McFerrin writes from the Georgia army:
‘Meetings have been frequently held when the soldiers were in line of battle.
The religious interest I think has not at all abated since our great revival in the
winter and
spring.
Hundreds in many parts of the army are seeking the fellowship of Christians by uniting with the
Church of the
Lord Jesus Christ.’
‘
Asa Hartz,’ a gallant and gifted Confederate officer, thus writes from the
Federal prison on
Johnson's Island:
‘We vary our monotony with an occasional exchange.
May I tell you what I mean by that?
Well, it is a simple ceremony.
God help us!
The “exchanged” is placed on a small wagon drawn by one horse, his friends form a line in the rear, and the procession moves; then passing through the gate, it winds its way slowly round the prison-walls to a little grove north of the enclosure; the “exchange” is taken out of the wagon and lowered into the earth—a prayer—an exhortation—a spade—a head-board—a mound of fresh sod—and the friends return to prison again —and that's all of it. Our friend is “exchanged;” a grave attests the fact to mortal eyes, and one of God's angels has recorded the “exchange” in the book above.
Time and the elements will soon smooth down the little hillock which marks his lonely bed, but invisible friends will hover around it till the dawn of that great day when all the armies shall be marshalled into line again—when the wars of time shall cease and the great eternity of peace shall commence.’
I had hoped to receive letters from a number of chaplains and missionaries who served in the other armies of the
Confederacy, and sent letters of request to many of them, but the following are all that I have been able to secure:
Letter from Rev. A. S. Worrell (Baptist Chaplain).
Dr. Worrell was one of the most useful workers in the Army of Tennessee, and I am glad to give even the brief sketch he has been able to send from his sick-bed.
My Dear Brother: With your request to forward to you some reminiscences of
