A Narrative of the Great Revival Which Prevailed in the Southern Armies during the Late Civil War (eBook)

William W. Bennett (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2018
Charles River Editors (Verlag)
978-1-63295-605-7 (ISBN)

Infos

A Narrative of the Great Revival Which Prevailed in the Southern Armies during the Late Civil War was written by a Confederate about the Revival Movement during the Civil War.

Textauszug

Chapter 2: subjects of the revival.

There is a strongly marked difference between armies of invasion and armies of defence. The former are often mere bands of butchers following at the heels of some ambitious leader. But when men fight for country, kindred, and home, they bear a moral character that lifts them above mercenary motives.

Soldiers may fight bravely for glory, or for gain. We should not underrate the valor of the men that bore the standards of Alexander, Caesar, and Napoleon, to so many victories; but take from such soldiers the esprit du corps, and you have left no pure and high inspiration which makes it “sweet to die for one’s country.”

In our war the Northern people fought, as they declared, to maintain the Union as it came from the hands of the fathers; the Southern people fought for the right of self-government. The war was brought to our doors, and was waged against us with the most determined and relentless spirit. Our people were thoroughly aroused, and rushed into the army from all ranks of society. They bore with them the convictions, thoughts, and habits they had been accustomed to in peaceful life. They were citizen soldiers; and though they shook off to some extent, in the early part of the war, the influences of education and religion; yet, when dangers thickened, and disease and death thinned their ranks, these returned upon them with increasing power.

The feelings of true patriotism lie next to the higher sentiments of religion in the heart, and the man that cheerfully bears the yoke for the sake of his oppressed country will not stubbornly refuse to bear the yoke of Christ. Therefore, the patriotic fervor which prevailed among the Southern soldiers superinduced a state of mind highly favorable to the work of religion.

In most nations the privates of an army are “raked up from the lowest tier of human society.” Their officers look upon them as so much bone and muscle, to be wrought, by iron discipline, into a huge engine of destruction called an army.

If war is a necessary evil, why should we strip those who engage in it of the common attributes of humanity? Soldiers are more than “food for cannon.” They have like passions with other men, and may be reached by the same means that have been proved to be efficient in the salvation of other men.

Never were these divinely appointed means more fully tested than during the late civil war; and surely never were they found more effectual in turning men “from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God.” In the midst of all the privations and horrors of war “the grace of God appeared” unto thousands and tens of thousands in the camp and in the hospital, “teaching them that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, they should live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.” The subjects of this revival were found among all classes in the army. Generals in high command, and officers of all lower grades, as well as private soldiers, bowed before the Lord of Hosts, and with deep penitence and earnest prayer sought the pardon of sins through the atoning blood of Christ.

Speaking of those who obeyed the call of mercy in the ranks of the army, a writer in the midst of the war exclaims: “We cannot express our feelings while we think of them. Glorious fruits of the grace of God are these men that have been “born again” on fields of blood. They left their homes for battle with a desperate foe — they entered into associations and upon scenes, by universal consent, the most unfavorable to piety; but the ever-blessed Saviour went with them; listening to ten thousand fervent prayers, he revived his work and made the still, small voice to be heard amid the thunder of war. It is a sublime expression of mercy.”

In contemplating such a revival, we naturally look at its subjects with deep interest. Who were they? What were they? What characteristics did those men present, who were lions in the day of battle, and yet wept and beat their breasts in great sorrow when they thought of their sins?

Is there not something peculiar in these men who are converted while they stand guard, or lie in their riflepits, or sit by their camp-fires, through the dismal, rainy nights? These men that walk their beats filled with the love of God, and shout his praises in the thunder of battle?

We have already referred to the patriotic fervor that pervaded the Southern armies. In addition to this, our camps were blessed from the outbreak of the strife with moral and religious men who never forgot their obligations to God. The army had in it every class of believers, from the bishop to the neophyte. Preachers, students of divinity, Sunday-school teachers and scholars, elders, deacons, vestrymen, class-leaders, stewards, exhorters-men from all the official grades of all the denominations of Christians took up arms and swelled the ranks of the army.

Some of these, alas! cast away the “pearl of great price,” others suffered its lustre to be dimmed, but the majority kept it bright and untarnished throughout the dreadful ordeal. The influence of such men in the worst of armies would be powerful for good; how great it must have been among such soldiers as marched under the Southern banner! It has been well observed that “no Christian soldier can pass through a campaign, and exemplify the Christian tempers and qualities looked for in a follower of Christ, without dropping seeds of saving grace into some minds and hearts that will culminate in everlasting life.”

The irreligious men who were blessed with these godly examples were not strangers to their pious comrades. They were often from the same town, county, or district, and at home had felt the same religious power that was brought to bear upon them in the army. The gospel preached in the camp was not a new sound to them, nor were the words of prayer a strange language. It was home-like to meet for the worship of God, and not unfrequently the same minister whom they had known in their distant homes lifted up his voice among them “in the wilderness,” and called them to repentance. How often were scenes like the following witnessed among the rough-looking men in “gray jackets,” who crowded the “log chapels” to hear the glad tidings of salvation. Rev. Dr. Sehon, writing of his labors among the soldiers in General Lee’s army, says:

   A most interesting incident occurred during the exercises of the evening:

   A request was made for a Bible for the stand. Several were ready to respond. The book was received from a tall and interesting looking young man. I noticed his large blue eyes and attractive face as he came forward and placed the holy book before me. Instantly his home rose before me. I fancied how father, mother, brothers, sisters, felt when he left, and how they thought of and prayed for him. While lining the hymn I turned to the title page of the Bible and then my eyes were filled with tears. On the blank leaves were written the parting words of love and affection of the dear ones at home, with the kind advice and earnest prayers for the safety and happiness of the owner of the book. I closed the book with feelings of most sacred character, and was far better prepared, by this simple incident, for the solemn services of the hour. In the course of the sermon, I remarked that they were now peculiarly the subjects of earnest prayer and anxious solicitude. That for them, at this very hour, prayer from many a heart and home-altar was ascending to God—that as in the volume I then held in my hand, which had been laid on the table by my unknown young friend, so each had with him a similar silent, yet painful witness of the anxiety, devotion and prayers, as pledged in these sacred gifts of their loved ones at home — that they should now pray themselves to their heavenly Father and engage earnestly in his service.

   There was a low and gentle wail which came up from that weeping crowd like the mournful sounds of the passing breeze through the lofty pines of the distant forest.

The intelligence and social position of the Confederate soldiers were higher than we usually find in large bodies of troops. The private at home was often equal, and sometimes superior in social status to the officer that led him, and did not forget the claims of good breeding after he entered the army. “I am proud to say it for Confederate soldiers,” said the venerable Dr. Lovick Pierce, of Georgia, “that for a long time while travelling with hundreds and thousands of them on all the railroads used for transportation, I have heard less profane language issuing from them than I have ever heard from any promiscuous crowd of travellers in all my journeyings. It is a well-earned fame, and deserves an imperishable record. Most of them seem to belong to the gentleman stock.”

Said the Rev. J. M. Atkinson: “The talent, the energy, patriotism-and now, it would seem, the piety of the country is, for the most part, to be found in the army. One of the most remarkable manifestations of this time, and of the war, is the character of our armies. It is unlike that of any soldiers known in history. In religious fervor, in intelligent patriotism, they resemble the best troops of the English Commonwealth, when least infected with fanatical rancor and selfish ambition. But in refinement, in urbanity, in education, in simplicity of purpose, in intelligent appreciation of the questions...

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 22.3.2018
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Geschichte / Politik ► 20. Jahrhundert bis 1945
• Themenwelt: Geisteswissenschaften ► Geschichte ► Regional- / Ländergeschichte
• Themenwelt: Geschichte ► Teilgebiete der Geschichte ► Militärgeschichte
• Schlagworte: Baptist • Christian • Civil War • Confederate • Free • Preacher
• ISBN-10: 1-63295-605-5 / 1632956055
• ISBN-13: 978-1-63295-605-7 / 9781632956057