Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1904-03-25

awaiting orders" SO when you be-
come n Christian soldier or 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 Will to
the divine will. You must say, II am
ready, o Christ, 60 do what thou wilt
have me to do. and go where thou
commandest me to go"
The Gospel Soldier.
What does il mean TO be a 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. To have an
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 place reserved for him
i'm the ranks, whether he belonged to
the cavalry or the artillery, the in
fantry or the engineering corps. AS a
military organization of great aggre-
cation of individuals, so the success
of the army depends upon that mill
tary organization being divided and
subdivided and divided again by or
derby arrangement. The individual,
the private soldier, must have his dis
tinct place just as the general or the
colonel or the major or the captain has
his place.
Let us study for moment the con-
struction of an American army. Take,
for illustration, that 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,
each commanded by a major general.
Generals Schofeld, Mcpherson and
Slocum had respectively charge of the
right wing, the center and 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 subdiyided into
divisions, and these divisions again
into brigades, and these brigades into
regiments, and these regiments into
companies, and each private soldier
the letter OF which was marked on 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 to
fight. Sometimes in battle an Amer
lean soldier might get separated from
his company. During the two days.
fighting before Santiago an American
lieutenant saw n colored trooper OF the
Tenth cavalry fighting by the side OF
his white men. When the lieutenant
asked the black man why he was there
he replied, Il have lost my command,
and so, sir, IL you will. ] would like TO
fight in your company" The permits
sion was given. That night, when the
colored soldier was about to hunt up
his command, he asked the lieutenant
to give him n note TO his captain to
prove that he had been in battle and
not skullling in the rear. The next
day, when going over the field hunting
for his dead and wounded, this same
lieutenant found upon the bloody field
the same colored trooper, mortally
wounded. The colored soldier beckon-
ed to the lieutenant to lean over him.
Then the dying man whispered: take
that note aud give it to the captain of
L troop, Tenth cavalry, Lawton's di-
vision, and tell him that i tried to re-
port to my company, but could not find
him. Give him that paper and say
that Williams was not a coward All,
yes, tits truei A United States soldier
always has an individual place re-
served for him in the ranks where he
Is expected to be and expected to fight.
Gospel Warriors Duty.
The United States soldier must be
able to answer roll call in n certain
company, of n certain regiment, of a
certain brigade, OF certain division.
or n certain corps. So the gospel SOL
der must have a distinct place In
which he has his name upon the mus.
ter roll OF the church militant. There
should be no free lances" in the gos-
pei army, no guerrilla bands. Guer-
rilla ranks are filed up for the most
part with iconoclasts and anarchists
and cutthroats. But the gospel soldier
must be regularly enlisted man. de-
tailed for work to some one Bible
class, to some one Sunday school, to
some one prayer meeting, to some one
church. A gospel soldier is a Chris
tian who obeys orders. How can you
obey Christ's orders unless you have
taken your individual place in the Cos
pei ranks or Christ's great army, called
the church?
The true gospel soldier always con-
sidsrs the posts OF danger the posts of
honor. He wants to hear the singing
OF the shells, even though that martial
song may have to be accompanied by
his own death rattle. He wants Il. be
as most OF the soldiers were after they
had enlisted for the Spanish American
war. On, how anxious the officers and
privates alike longed for the 'front.'
Ihey wanted to have glorious part
In the liberation OF downtrodden Cuba.
Some men had to die for that liberia
ton. Then the brave fellows OF the
dlnerent regiments, by telegram upon
teiegram, sent to the governors and to
the officials at Washington, practically
said, I'VE are ready to go to the front
AYE, to sacrifice our lives, IL need be.
In our country's service" So eager
We're those soldiers for dangerous sery-
Ice that when some of their colonels
received the kilograms that switched
them from the transports at Tampa to
Jacksonville, Fla, there were sorrow
and disappointment In many hearts.
Posts OF DimcuIty.
Posts of danger and difficulty are al
ways posts OF honor in the United
States army. And yet to hear some
Christian soldiers talk you would sup
pose that the posts in Christ's army
where there are difficulties are the
posts to be avoided or deserted. Even
some OF the ordained ministers of
Jesus Christ feel that way. "Oh."l
says visiting clergyman, At am so
discouraged. Why, there has been
nothing but friction and trouble In myI
church ever since l came to it. The
people have fought and misrepresented
every minister who ever occupied this
pulpit, and they have been finding
fault with and misrepresenting me. III
am so discouraged. wish God would
find me anothap vIooaU xuou -