William W. Bennett, A narrative of the great revival which prevailed in the Southern armies during the late Civil War

[410] and hear. In the midst was the chaplain. “Should you ever be permitted to get back to your friends and homes I wish you to tell it there that we ministers of religion in the South came to you here, not to upbraid you with invading our homes, but to comfort and cheer you in your present uncomfortable condition; and it will be my study to avoid saying anything that can be so construed as to give you pain. I stand among you as but a poor representative of the Southern people. If others were here in my place they would win your hearts by their loving words, and your minds by the wisdom of their counsels; but as it falls to my lot to address you, let me tell you the plain and simple story of Him who once came a long way and suffered much in order to speak words of life and love and hope to those who were all their lifetime in bondage through fear of death, and to break their bonds asunder and set them free; yes, and to place them in a land of peace and plenty, where there shall be no more war.” It would be impossible to recall the words spoken; but the emotions of these men as they listened to words of life and love and home amid scenes of death and war, emotions that flashed in every feature of their countenances, and the wondrous earnestness and power of their song as they all joined in when the address was ended-

Lo! what a cloud of witnesses encompass us around:
Men once like us with suffering tried, but now with glory crowned--

these are still fresh in my recollection. I am the only one living that witnessed that scene; Lieutenant Sceva, Captain May, and all those officers and men, are now dead.

The life of a Christian, whether in peace or war, should be a life hid with Christ in God; the death of a Christian in peace or war is but a translation to a higher life in heaven. Let us look at the proof of the power of grace as given in this period by our dying soldiers.