The National tribune., 1902-11-06
WAR MEMORIES
OF A CHAPLAIN
Continued from first page.)

ct isn't fair for one regiment to do
more than any other
Besides, it's no use for men to be
killed without accomplishing anything;
and that seems to be the way in this war"
Remarks like these were only making
Il hard matter worse. We should have to
go where we were ordered, whether We
liked to or not; and it was my duty to
inspire officers and men to their best part
wherever they were in the coming hard
struggle. l gave notice of sermon on
''the move to Virginia." and set at work
being held at that time in the little Episco-
pal Church just south of the plaza. My
text was from Numbers 32:6-
'.Shall your brethren go to war, and
shall ye sit here?"
The first third, and more. of the ser
mon, was simply an explanation of who
spoke these words, and under what cir
cumstances. Without saying just what
l was doing, l naturally selected those
points in the Bible story which tended to
make more obvious the parallel between
our case and that Of the ancient Israel
ties.
The children of Israel were engaged in
a struggle for their national heritage,
which had been assured to their pilgrim
fathers, Abraham and Jacob. The war
had been prolonged beyond all expectation
and some of them had become tired of the
dragging contest. A new campaign was
to open under Joshua, an energetic and
experienced General. The soldiers of
Reuben and Cad were Ioath to have a
part in it, and wanted to remain where
they were. 1t was not that these soldiers
lacked courage or patriotism, but they felt,
for the time, that they had had as much
fighting as they cared for. Perhaps, too,
the fact that their first move must be
across the water, on the brink of which
they stood, impressed them unpleasantly,
in remembrance of their earlier Red Sea
expedition. At all events, they did not
wish to join the army of the Jordan. More
over, their long inaction in the place where
they were had tended to dampen their
ardor for a new campaign. While they
were in the sandy desert, where they suf-
fered most, and had most to do, they
longed for an order to move forward in
order to hasten the end of the war, but
now they had had fresh taste of civilized
life. They had made acquaintance among
the Midianites. and this had not, in all
cases, elevated the standard of either
morality or patriotism.
The region where they rested was an at
tractive one. Gilead was on the eastern
border of the land for which they fought,
stretching unto the sea of the plain, even
the salt sea-" Josh. 12:3) 1t was the
land of the cypress, the palm and the
olive, health-giving locality. (All this
was true of FlOrida.) 1t was also the cat
tle-growing region of the confederate
rulers, "a land for cattle" and, 'behold.
the place was place for cattle" Gust
before this time an appeal from Gen.
Beauregard had been made known, urging
the repossessiOn of Florida rs the source
of cattle supply for the Confederate
armies This was fresh in all our minds.)
AS whole, Gilead was so desirable a
place for the war-sick soldiers that many
of them would have been willing to spend
their days there. Crhis was the way many
of our soldiers felt) ''And the children of
Cad and the children of Reuben came and
spake unto Moses, saying.
If we have found grace in thy sight, let
this land be given unto thy servants for
a possession, and bring us not over Jor-
dam"
.And Moses said unto the children of
Cad and to the children of Reuben, Shall
your brethren go to war, and shall We sit
lere?" Moses knew his soldiers, knew
how brave and true they were, and he
confidently appealed to their best nature
He reminded them of their duty to see this
thing through before they turned aside
for anything else. Nor was his appeal
in vain. The Reubenites and Gadites re-
forward for new service. They even asked
the privilege of doing the skirmishing for
the whole army in the new movement
I'VE ourselves" they said, will go ready
armed before the children of Israel, until
we have brought them unto their place.
We will not return unto our
houses, until the children of Israel have in
herited every man his inheritance" ''And
Moses said unto them, If We will do this
thing, then afterward ye shall
return, and be guiltless before the Lord,
and before Israel; and this land shall be
your possession before the Lord. But if
ye shall not do so, behold, We have sinned
against the Lord; and be sure your sin
will find you Out.''
In applying this incident to the case of
my hearers, l reminded them that this
was the way of brave and true men al
ways. In life-and-death struggle like
ours, active service was our duty, active
service was our pleasure, and active ser
vice was for our advantage. Then l
sought to show how this must be so.
DEsIRABLENEss OF ACTIVE SERVICE.
One advantage that an Army Chaplain
had over Il preacher in civil life was the
fact that all his hearers We're in the same
circumstances, and that they had only one
another to talk to; they did not go from
his preaching to separate homes, where
they had another view of the truth put
before them. If he could succeed in sway
ing the current of their thoughts by his
appeals, they were all likely to be swept
on in the same direction.
1t was evident that the Bible PARALLEL
set before our men in this case reached
their hearts. Officers and men We'd with
each other i'll assurances of their agree
ment with me. One prominent officer, who
had been froward in his complainings over
the hardships of the contemplated move,
now said that he had felt this way all
along, and he was glad the Chaplain was
looking at it in the same light. My Colonel
-equested the sermon for publication, in
order that it might be carefully read by
al in the regiment. The next day the Sur
geon in charge of the convalescent camp
came to me asking:
Chaplain, what did You preach about
yesterday? l was kept up until near mid
night making out discharges for officers
who wanted to so back to their commands.
When asked the reason they said they