J. William Jones, Christ in the camp, or religion in Lee's army

[276] Petersburg, writes that over 300 have professed conversion in the hospitals of that city. A revival of religion is in progress in Lynchburg, and twenty were received into the Baptist Church of that city on Friday evening, on profession of faith in Christ. A pious man writes to us: ‘God is in the army. Many in my regiment have passed from death unto life.’ These things being so, should not Christians at home be encouraged to redouble their efforts in this direction! Our fathers never enjoyed such facilities for doing good as are now presented us in the camps and hospitals, nor will those who come after, for centuries, see such an inviting field.—A. E. D.

The following, dated Richmond, August 1O, 1862, is from the pen of ‘Personal,’ army correspondent of the Charleston Courier:

Probably at no period of the war has the religious element in the army been more predominant than it is at present. In many instances, chaplains, army missionaries, colporters and tracts have accomplished great things; but by far the most cogent influences that have operated upon and subdued the reckless spirit of the soldiery, are those which are born in the heart itself, upon the field of battle. There is something irresistible in the appeal which the Almighty makes when he strikes from your side, in the twinkling of an eye, your friend and comrade, and few natures are so utterly depraved as to entirely disregard the whisperings of the ‘still, small voice,’ which themselves so vividly heard at such a moment. Every man unconsciously asks himself, “Whose turn will come next?” and when, at the termination of the conflict, he finds himself exempted from the awful fiat that has brought death to his very side and all around him, his gratitude to his Creator is alloyed, though it may be but dimly, with a holier emotion, which, for the time, renders him a wiser and a better man. In this aspect, the recent battles have done more to make converts than all the homilies and exhortations ever uttered from the pulpit. A man who has stood upon the threshold of eternity while in the din and carnage of the fight, has listened to eloquence more fiery and impressive than ever came from mortal lips.

It is not strange, therefore, as you go through various camps, even on a week day, that your ears are here and there saluted with the melody of a choir of voices, rich, round and full, sung with all the seriousness and earnestness of true devotion; or,