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confidence the remark that our national corruption had destroyed us.
The attempt to coerce the
South into submission, after the right of self-government had been asserted in the most solemn and authoritative forms, was felt to be a war of invasion, and the determination to resist was deep and almost universal.
The strong feelings of religion and patriotism were evoked at the same moment, and by the same act, and men entered the ranks under the conviction that in so doing they were faithful alike to God and their country.
This we must bear in mind, or we shall not be prepared for that pervasive spiritual influence which so eminently marked the
Southern armies.
That these convictions were well founded, the revival which moved with the war, and deepened as it deepened, was the great attestation.
The revival in our armies, tried by all the tests known to men, was a genuine revival; its fruits were rich, abundant, and permanent.
It was carried forward by the means which have been employed for the salvation of men in all ages; and to-day there are thousands in heaven, and tens of thousands on earth, who enjoy the blessedness of that spiritual baptism which fell upon them amidst the strife, and anguish, and bloodshed of war.
The best index to the state of mind and heart with which the
Southern people entered upon the war may be found in the religious papers of that period.
The secular papers were employed in discussing the great political doctrines involved; it is in the religious press that we are to find those views of religious duty which the soldiers took with them into the army.
The honored
President of the
Confederacy struck the key-note of national feeling in the following extract from one of his earliest messages:
We feel that our cause is just and holy; we profess solemnly in the face of mankind that we desire peace at any sacrifice, save that of honor and independence; we
