Year: 1861

objected to the position taken-tnat military


life furnishes severe ordeal to Christian


character, and so, it is hard to exemplify
religion in such sphere. This is cheer
fully admitted as stubbornfact But this
very fact supplies an argument for the ne


cessity Of religion in the camp and field !;


for no man being called Of God to be where


he cannot do his duty, and none being ever
exempted from moral duties, if the Chris
tian finds it hard to serve his God and bear
arms, the irreligous man will 6ud it harder
still to do duty to God, which is paramount


to all other duties. And besides, itcan be
successfully maintained, that the very hard.
ships and temptations to which men under
arms is exposed, are favorable to the
growth and Development of piety, where
it really exists and controls the heart and
life. Trust in God-yea, and all Christian
graces are not hot,house plants, which
thrive best without exposure; but they
strengthen by exercise, and are expanded
by the discipline and temptation Of practl'
cal life, even in its severer forms. Sadly
true is it, that the common soldiery of the
country, are usually lamentably deficient
in fruits of piety, but it need not be, and
is not universally SO. Says distinguished
Chaplain in the English army-"The army
far from being desert waste, where weeds
and tborns alone are to be gathered, is a
field in which a rich harvest may, with pro-
per culture, be reaped to the glory Of Gods
grace. Such, at least, I have found it to
be; for can truly say that, during the
twelve years that I have been military
Chaplain, have seen far more to encour
age me in sowing the seed Of eternal life,
than during an equal period Of my minis
try among civilians"


That man should be, as was said by an
English Lord of the noble and immortal
Havelock, who perished during the late war
in India, "Every inch soldier and every
inch Christian" and that a religious spir-
it is an essential endowment for the true
soldier, it is now the purpose Of your cor
to proceed to establish.


l. 1t alone, soiN furnish any security a.
goinst the incidental eu1 effects Of such O.
life upon the soul. Separated from the soft
ening and refining influences of the society
at home, and on the other hand, surround
ed by associations and circumstances: whose
tendency is to harden and brutalize the SOL
dier, he needs the power of grace to pre-
vent this deprivation or rougheuiug Of man
ners and deteriorations Of morals, so natu-
rally an accompaniment of camp life. The
influence of religion is demanded also, to
resist the demoralizing effect resulting from
being deprived, to large extent, of oppor-
tunities for retirement, meditation, reading
and religious devotions. Such are the
crowded state of the camp, and the hustle
and Irregularities occasioned by the exac
tions Of military duties, that the soldier
cannot be often alone with himself and his
God: and under this privation, unless he
has the spirit of faith and love to raise him
above ordinary Interruptions and enable him
to hold converse with his Saviour and his
own heart, the man will suffer injury every
day. The examples, too, that are ever be-
fore him, will also bring into requisition
high.toned moral character and elevated
christian spirit, to restrain from imitation.
1t is an extraordinary company which does
not contain majority who are careless and
loose in their moral tendencies and habits,
and many others, who, at home are exem-
plary, are abroad, willing imitators of the
vicious, thus circumstenced; it is plain that
nothing less than grace in the heart, can
make an effective resistance to the 'sevil
communications which corrupt good man
ners" and defle the heart So, also, the
frivolity so generally prevalent in camp-life
where the giddy and reckless are brought
in such close contact-the familiarity with
suferings and death on the part of those
who have been upon the field of battle,
combine to make men insensible to the
claims of religion and even humanity, and
herein is presented another demand for the
control of the Divine spirit To the same
effect are the very passions that are evoked
and cherished by military campaign with
an enemy, to be met. Feelings of hatred
and malice, and revenge, are often thus
dominant in the soldiers breast, and there
also, duplicity and deception in practising
the strategy so often resorted to in war are