The Cairo bulletin. (Cairo, Ill.) 1???-1928, 1904-03-27


The Spanlsh-American war had broken
out At that time | was living i'm CHI
cago, and was chaplain of enc Of the
lRrgcst regiments in Illinois. As soon
as war WAS declared, the colonel tele-
graphcd Governor Tanner placing our
whole regiment at me service Of the
state, What to do | know not My
duty 70 my church and to my family
required NE TO stay; my duty TO my
country called me to go,
The Divine Commander.
Worried ana frettel BY these CON
Gicling duties, I was narrowed BY day
and could not sleep hy night BUT no
sooner did I enter the exposition
grounds at Springfield, Ill., where we
encampcl. no sooner did tie mastering
officer tell me to raise my right hand
over the open Bible and take the oath
Of enlistment. than All worry and
doubt and trouble faded from my mind
Why? One minute before I took that
oath of enlistment was free to do
as I woUld One minute sftcr | took
that oath of enlistment I WAS United
States soldier. subject to the orders of
the president Of the United States.
What is true in reference to the Eng
fish soldier or the French soldier or the
American soldier is true Of the gospel
soldier You cannot do effective sery-
ice as soldier of Jesus Christ unless
sou publicly give to him your oath Of
enlistment. And when YOU once do
give that oath then you are no longer
your own master Then you are in
exactly the same position toward your
divine commander MS was Captain
Clark toward his earthly commander.
After tie had brought the oregon on
her famous trip Irou the Pacific ocean
around South Americas southernmost
cape. up past the coast OF Brazil. Cap
tain Clark Immediately went into the
first United States port he could find
and tclegraphed President Mckinley,
1.-THE oregon has arrived safe and is
awaiting orders" SO when YOU be-
come Christian soldier or a Christian
sailor you must first take your oath
of enlistment and then always be
waiting orders In the public church
aisle and by the table OF the holy COM
munion you give open testimony Of
your purpose to surrender your VIII TO
the divine viii. You must say, ! am
ready, o Christ, TO do what thou wilt
have me to DO ana 90 where thou
commandeSt mt to 60"
The Gospel Soldier
What does it mean TO be gospel sol
der? TO be assigned to some distinct
part of some distinct command in The
great Christian army following the
standards OF Jesus Christ 40 have au
individual place reserved FOR you in
the gospel ranks, where you are to
fight for the church militant, as each
private American soldier during The
civil war had q place reserved for him
in the ranks. whether he belonged TO
the cavalry or the artillery the In
fautry or the engineering corps. AS a
military organization Of a great aggre-
cation of individuals, SO the success
Of the army depends upon that mill
tary organization being divided and
subdlyided and divided again by or
dcrly arrangement The individual,
tile private soldier. must have his dis
tinct place just as the general Or the
colonel or tho major or the captain has
his place.
\. Let rs study for a moment the con-
Btructiou Of an American army. Take
for Illustration, chat which followed
sherman to the sea. There were in
that host about one hundred thousand
men. These one hundred thousand
men were divided first into three parts,
cqch commanded by major general.
Generals Schoileld, Mcpherson and
Slocum had respectively charge Of the
right wing the center ana the left
wing of that army. Then each wing
and center was again divided into
corps under such leaders as Generals
Logan Howard and Kirkpatrick. Then
these corps were again sabdiyided into
divisions. and these divisions again
into brigadcs, and these brigadcs into
regiments and these regiments into
companies, and each private soldier
was assigned to a distinct company,
the letter Of which was marked OH his
hat and the number Of the regiment
marked upon the lapel Of his coat
Each American soldier always had
distinct place reserved for him IN
the ranks where he was supposed 10
fight. Sometimes III battle an Amer
lean soldier might get separated from
his company During the two days
fighting before Santiago an American
lieutenant saw a colored trooper II the
Tents cavalry lighting by the side Of
BIS white men, When the lieat2aaut
asked tho black man why Sc was there
he replied, Il have lost my command,
ana GO. sir, If y0U viii ! would like TO
fight in your company The perm'+
sion was given. That night when the
colored soldier was about 10 hant mp
his command he asked the lieutenant
20 give him q note TO Ills captain to
prove that lie had been IN battle and
not zkulklng in the rear The next
day. when going over the field hunting
for his dead and wounded tliis same
lieutenant found Upon the bloody dcll
Tie same colorcd trooper. mofially