THIRD ANNIVERSARY MEETING
OF THE
U. S. CHRISTIAN COMMISSION,
HELD IN THE
ACADEMY OF MUSIC,
PHILADELPHIA
Tuesday Evening, Jan. 31, 1865.
Immediately following the great national
meeting held in the Capitol at Washington, the
third anniversary of the Christian Commission
was celebrated also at Philadelphia. The latter
meeting even exceeded, in some respects, the
former. The number in attendance was larger,
because of the greater capacity of the Academy,
which is one of the most capacious buildings in
the country, holding, when filled, about 5,000
souls. This was crowded. The demand for
tickets, which were gratuitous, was beyond all
precedent. We are informed that 5,000 tickets
were distributed, and that at least 5,000 appli
cants had to be turned away disappointed. Some
of the resident officers and employees of the
Commission even, were obliged to go begging
for themselves and their families. Premiums
were freely offered of $6 and $lO for tickets ;
and so great was the press, that many who held
"reserved seats" were unable to reach them.
We state these facts not as "sensation" items,
but in order to convey some conception of the
interest that is excited in the public mind by
these meetings of the Commission.
The Academy was gorgeously decorated.
The Stars and Stripes hung in rich festoons from
every prominent projection ; while the more
than one thousand jets of light flooding the
whole with noonday brightness, made a scene
of surpassing brilliance and splendor.
At 71 o'clock, Mr. George H. Stuart, Pre
sident of the Commission, took the Chair, and
announced as a hymn of praise to God,
" All hail the power of Jesus' name,
which was sung by the vast congregation stand-.
ing, the " Carl Sentz Orchestra" assisting.
Opening remarks were then made by Mr.
Stuart, as follows :
REMARKS BY THE CHAIRMAN.
In commemorating our Third Anniversary,
the Christian Commission desires before this
vast audience to raise its Ebenezer and to. say,
"Hitherto haththe Lord helped us," and to thank
God for all the favor which he has given it with
the churches and the people who love our Lord
and Saviour Jesus Christ, and with the Govern
ment. which has allowed it so many facilities
for ministering to the noble men who are fight
ing the battles of our country. I trust, my
friends, that a spirit of hearty thanksgiving and
praise to Almighty God shall characterize all
the exercises of this occasion, from the open
ing to the close, and that we shall have the
manifest presence and blessing of the Holy
Spirit. A great subject is before us. Let us
rise to its grand significance and import. God
is marching on in the resistless course of his
Providence, and is working out great problems
while the world is looking on with wondering
awe. It would be wrong in me tp withhold
from this audience the news which has just
reached me within the last few moments, and
which will send a thrill through patriotic hearts
all over the land. It is a telegram from the
Hon. Schuyler Colfax, Speaker of the House,
and an• active member of the Christian Com
mission. He says " The Constitutional Amend
ment has just passed Yeas 119, nays 56 It
has already passed the Senate, and we thus
' proclaim LIBERTY to all the land, and to all
the inhabitants thereof 1' "
Exultant cheers and shouts, scarcely repres
sible, greeted this announcement. When quiet
finally settled over the assembly, the Rev. Dr.
Krauth, of Philadelphia, was called to offer a
prayer of thanksgiving. The Rev. Dr. Bom
berger, also of Philadelphia, followed in the
reading of the 46th Psalm, " the grand national
Psalm of David," beginning " God is our re
fuge and our strength." Charles Demond,
Esq., of Boston, being introduced as one of the
earliest and most efficient executive officers of
the Commission, then gave a brief abstract of
the year's work. This abstract was but a plain
statement of figures, but they were so vast and
suggestive that the speaker could not refrain
from apt and striking comments as item after
item was read. We have already published
most of these items, which will appear.in full
in the Annual Report of the Commission, nearly
ready.
The Rev. Alex. Reed was now introduced as
the first speaker,
ADDRESS' OF REV. ALEXANDER REED,
OF' PHILADELPHIA
A little more than eighteen hundred years
ago, the God-man came to earth. He came not
alone to save men by his death, but to save
them by the ministrations of his life. He left
on earth a Commission. It was that of doing
good to the bodies and souls of men. This was
Christ's commission to mortals, or the Chris
tian Commission in its broad and inclusive
sense, and the origin and authority of all work
contemplating the glory of God in the good of
man. The United States Christian Commission
was instituted under this authority to do good
to the bodies and the souls of the soldiers and
the sailors of the Republic. In attempting to
show forth its work and its worth, the speaker
wished briefly to answer three questions : First,
do these soldiers and sailors need the Christian
Commission? Secondly, does the Christian
Commission accomplish the work which it pro
poses to do? Thirdly, do these soldiers and
sailors deserve the ministrations of this Com
mission ?
First, do they need it? He would not argue
such a question before a Philadelphia audience.
These men do need something supplemental to
the Government aid in hospitals and on battle
fields and on shipboard. If we admit that man
has a body and a soul, and that both body and
soul go upon the battle-field, plainly both need
to be ministered to. If it was claimed that
man was a mere machine, then the speaker
gave up the argument. But if man is immortal
as well as mortal ; if he has affections and
sympathies and emotions, they must be minis
tered to. We are asked, however, Why not
divide the work, and let some one agency as
sume the supply of the spiritual, and some
other agency of the temporal, wants of these
brave men ? For the best of reasons. We do
not, in the first place, because this is a Chris
tian Commission, and it would be unchristian
not to minister to the bodies of men ; and in
the second place, because, even if it would be
Christian thus to put asunder what God hath
inseparably joined together, we would lose the
strongest lever of influence upon the heart and
affections and upon the sympathies of the soul,
by neglecting the wants of the body. To illus
trate:
MINISTERING TO BODY AND SOUL.
In December of 1862, just after the renulse
of Fredericksburg, the delegates of the Chris
tian Commission aided in caring for the multi
tudes of wounded. They loaded them upon the
cars at the istation on the railroad; filled up the
crevices in the cars ; put straw upon the floors;
laid the,men tenderly and carefully down; then
administered coffee and tea and milk-punch
and soft bread and delicacies, and did what
they' could to relieve pain. ere the men
grateful? The speaker would grow very old
before he would forget their gratitude, spoken
and unspoken. Did these delegates stop there?
No. They lighted their little lanterns, for it
bad grown dark, and divided their company so
that one delegate could get into each car, and
they proposed religious services. Were these
accepted ?. Yes ; gatefully, joyfully, by the
wounded sufferers; for they united in the longs
of praise, joined in the supplications, and in
one of the cars the speaker distinctly remem
bered that every manpledged himself to live
for Christ ever thereafter I Now, could we
have i*'nistered the consolations of the gospel
so successfully to these men if we had not
our} Dy
ind attention to their bleeding bodies ? Had
we divorced the two kinds of labor, we should
have placed ourselves in the position of the
chaplain who offered a tract to a wounded soldier,
who asked impatiently, " Will the tract do any
thing for this poor wounded shoulder of mine
which has gone undressed for three days?"
No, no ; but when the shoulder is dressed, then
the soul is ready to be instructed and impressed.
Ministrations for the body alone stop.too soon;
ministrations for the soul alone begin too late.
Surely the men in our army and navy need the
work of the Christian Commission in their be
half.
But, secondly, does the Christian Commis
sion accomplish, the work which it has under
taken—this ministry to the bodies and souls of
men? Its theory is good; is its practice
equally good? This is the practical question
for practical men. The Commission has sent
out four thousand delegates—a small army.
At Gettysburg there were nearly four hundred
delegates working day and night. Did they
accomplish anything? A high medical authority
assures us that the Christian Commission was
the means of saving one thousand lives at
Gettysburg. At Fredericksburg two hundred
and seventy-nine delegates were at work last
spring.. Did they accomplish anything for
good? The testimony has gone forth over the
land, and nearly all were familiar with the
promptness and the value of the relief they had
carried to our suffering sons and brothers. In
one single day, at the City Point cooking-station,
the Christian Commission issued three thousand
three hundred and ten rations of delicacies to
as many sick men. Is that practical? It dis
tributed, often, ten thousand dollars' worth of
stores in one day, personally and directly, to
those who needed them. Was that practical,
and did it reach the objects intended by the
loving hearts at home who sent the means and
supplied the agencies ?
THE " CHRISTIAN LIGHT ARTILLERY."
Let us take one simple means of doingzood,
originated by the .Commission—the " cooking
wagon." Just after the explosion of the mine
at Petersburg, it made its appearance in camp.
The men wondered what it meant. It was an
odd-looking thing. It went on wheels, and was
not unlike a cannon wagon, in frontwas a large
chest with divisions for the coffee, tea, sugar,
chocolate, and condensed - milk, which were
stored away in it , ; . then there were three tall
chimneys or smoke-stacks; with boilers and
furnace, and place for fuel underneath :—and
the strange thing came down the camps.puffing
and steaming and smoking and distributing cof
fee, tea, and chocolate among the weary, hungry
men, at - the-rate of ninety gallons every hour,
which was its cooking capacity. We are told
that the men commented on the contrivance in
this fashion: "I say, Bill, that a 4 bully'
machine?" Well, it wasl (Applause.) An
other said, " Why, stranger, that's the greatest
institution I ever saw ; you might call that the
Christian, Light Artillery, eh ?"—(applause.)
"But it's got a good deal pleasanter ammuni
tion in it than the Reba gave us yesterday I"
said another. " I say, doctor, what do you
thihk of it?" " I thank God for it ; that's all I
can say," responded the medical man.
The speaker now remarked generally upon
the points he had already adverted to. The
inconsistency and folly of attempting to sepa
rate the bodily from the spiritual care was well
shown in a familiar rehearsal of the parable of
the Good Samaritan. The priest might . have
preached a sermon, or read a portion of the
law to the poor man who fell among thieves,
had he needed it ; but he wanted more. The
Levite might have had a heart of pity, and
looking down upon the wounded sufferer have
said, "Poor fellow, he must be badly hurt;
now, if I was only a surgeon, or if I lived near
here, if I was not Levite, if this was in my line
(applause), I might , do something for you!"
Because he felt that his work was a distinct
one, he passed by that loud call of suffering
humanity. A like folly and crime would they
be guilty of who should confine the work of
the Christian Commission to the care of the
soul only, because ministering to the spiritual
necessities was in its line of duty and of privi
lege.
RELICS
On the question of the value and practical
success of the Commission, the speaker referred
to the soldiers themselves as the most worthy
witnesses. What do they think of the Chris
tian Commission ? A captain went into the
Commission's office in • Boston, the other day,
and said, "Here's my contribution. I owe my
life to the Christian Commission. Under God
I am here to-day because of the help it afforded
me." Many times have soldiers said to dele
gates, "We ewe our lives to you." A sick
soldier in Armory Square Hospital said,
" Thousands of us would have been in our
graves, but for the Christian Commission." A
soldier of the Army of the Cumberland, as he
lay dying, took out a five dollar greenback
and said, "It's the only thing I have on
earth, and I leave it as my last legacy to my
best friend on earth—the Christian Commis
sion." An old lady, weeping bitterly, brought
two dollars to our worthy agent, Mr. Chamber
lain, of Cincinnati, and said, "It's the only
thing of value that was left- in poor John's
clothes, and as he was brought to Christ
through the instrumentality of the Christian
Commission, I know he would want me to give
it to aid in its good work." A dying Michigan
boy, to whom the Commission had kindly
ministered, gave fifty cents in postage stamps
to a delegate, and said, "My dear sister sent
them to me, but I cannot write to her any more,
so I give them to you—it is all I own on earth.'
[These precious relics, were held up, by the
speaker, before the audience, which strained to
get a sight of them, and was moved at their
simple story.] Thus, continued the speaker,
does the Christian Commission go from a mil-
lion hearts at home to a million hearts in the
army, and from a million of hearts in the army
back to the loved ones at home, who sent it
down in its holy work among the wounded and
the dying.
TE PEST MAN 1N TE ARMY."
A German soldier, on being aryked, thus en
deavored to 'describe the Commission " Te
Christian Commission? Vy,
_he ish te best
man in ter army When we was town in ter
Vilderness, a lying there two days and nights,
no pread, no water, no doctor, no nopody—te
Christian Commission he come; he take us all
up.; he give us eater ; he wash our face ; he
bind our wounds ; he ish doctor himself, and
he ish so many! Ten he bring us to te hospi
tal, vere he keeps by us all te time. He ish, te
very pest man in te army. Vy, he work all te
time, just like a nigger !" These were homely,
broken words, but expressive of an honest sol
dier's experience. And even the rebels them
selves have an experience to offer. At Gettys
burg they said, " We can stand your bullets,
but we cannot stand your Christian Commis
sion—it brings us down." (Applause.) One
rebel soldier said, "I am a rebel. When you
washed my face so kindly and nursed me so
tenderly, Oh, I did feel so bitterly that I had
been fighting against you." Another said, " A
man came to me when I was wounded and
helpless, and he spoke kindly to me, though he
knew I was a rebel, and he prayed, yes, he
prayed for the salvation of my poor soul—and
he my enemy! I tell you, sir, from that time I
could think of notkiing else; for if enemies
THE AMERICAN PRESBYTERIAN, THURSDAY, MARCH 9, 1865.
were praying for my soul, I began to think it
was time for me to be praying for myself."
And he did pray, and God heard him, and he
became a converted man. This is but fulfilling
the command,
" If thine enemy hunger, feed
him ; if he thirst, give him drink ; for in so
doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head."
And the speaker verily believed that the Chris
tian Commission, in this way, was "melting
down" and conquering our enemies. This is
something of the spiritual aspect of the work of
the.Commission ' • a part which supplementslhe
labor of faithful chaplains. The warmest
friends of the Commission in the army are the
chaplains. They aid them in every respect.
" But are: there not chaplains enough in the
army ?" No. The testimon): of generals here
t0...21431t would be that there is not more than
one chaplain to five or six regiments. In,the
Fifth Corps there are thirty-seven regiments
without chaplains ; in the Second Corps thirty-,
eight regiments without chaplains; all.batteries
are without chaplains ; many hospitals Fare
without chaplains—and the Christian Commis-
Sion isomes in as supplementary to this wide
felt want, and, to an important degree, fills it.
The speaker now came to the third point pro
posed, Are these men, the soldiers and sailors
of our country, deserving of the help thus af
forded them? Who are they? Are they hire
lings, Hessians, mercenaries? No, no I They
are as goOd as we are. They are our`sons, our
brothers, our fathers. Said a soldier to a dele
gate, "" I had a father and a mother and four
brothers when I enlisted. Three brothers went
into the army and are now dead ; and I have
enlisted for three years more." " Why," said
the delegate, "you might well feel that you
haVe done your part. How came you to re
enlist?" "0, sir, the nation wanted men, and
I would rather fill a soldier's grave' than that
the cause should fail, and that flag come down I"
(Applause.) Is that mercenary? the speaker
asked. Said another, " I have been nearly
three years in this war, sir; I have' at home a
little.family ; my youngest child has died; an
other child is a cripple; my poor wifelas been
sick for years, and I have not seen the face of
my kindred for a long, long time. Bat as for
me, I will stand by the flag, sir, as long as God
shall give me life and strength !" (Applause.)
And those poor fellows, suffering in the prison
pen of the South, who sent a message' to the
President telling him "not to back down an
inch in the question of exchange, though all of
them shoUld die!" (Great applause,)—was
that mercenary? Never He appealed for
the rank and file of the American army . , and
appealed to the record with a patriot's pride, to
show that whenever and wherever our soldiers
had been worthily led, they had never faltered.
(Cheers.) Look at Lookout Mountain! He
had climbed it eleven years before, and looked
out from that high perch upon five States of the
Union. He could hardly reactoits summit on
horseback. And yet, up that mountain side,
in defiance of the bristling bayonets, our men
climbed and fought, and fought and climbed,
until they got above the clouds, "and victory
crowned them there. Or, go down upon the
Atlantic coast and see that mighty work of hu
man skill and art, bristling with defiant giins
Fort Fisher. Last month it was inspected. -It
was said that it. was very stroffg. Yea, it was
very strong. Officers said "that there was no
such work on the continent." "It was
stronger than anything captured in the Crimea."
"Soldiers never took such' a fort as that, and
soldiers never can," were the confident asser
tions. But Anierienn soldiers had not been
tried, to take it. (Applause.) The command
went forth that it musts,ome-down, • The army
sailed there. It was landedon the beach. The
fleet came round. The best Porter *igen to
pop I and day after day it did pop, and right
lively tool (Laughter.) The brave soldiers
and the gallant marines were appointed to their
fearful work. Did they falter ? Never !
Yes, they fought and fell, and they will be
remembered when Tennyson's " Charge of the
Light Brigade" shall have been forgotten. On
that Sabbath night, when we were gathered
peacefully in our sanctuaries, or were sitting in
the quiet of our homes, these brave soldiers and
sailors were battling, hand to hand, with trai
tors at that fort. And they gained it! The
American flag went up to its plade, and a long,
loud, wil' huzza of triumph went out over that
main, proclaiming that the whole line of
American coast was ours! (Applause.) But,
oh ! at what cost did these bleeding soldiers
gain the victory for us! And shall they not
have all the sympathy, and succor, and comfort
that they need from the homes and hearts of
the people for whom they are bleeding and
dying? These are our soldiers 5 and this is the
work of the Christian Commission to comfort
them thus. And they deserve it. Does not
every impulse of pity, of piety, and of patriot
ism, urge us to help this good work? Patriots,
philanthropists, Christians ! in the name of
humanity, lend a hand, lend a hand, for the
cause of God, of country, and of truth ! (Pro
tracted applause.)
Mr. Stuart now introduced Mr. Philip Phil
lips, of Cincinnati, remarking that, although his
friends said that he had no ear for music, he
was not ashamed to say that he had eyes that
could weep with President. Lincoln and the
members of his Cabinet, as Mr. Phillips-sang
his touching hymn before them at the meeting
in Washington. The hymn ' Your Mission,"
was then sung, with such sweetness and power
that the audience called for its repetition. The
singer favored them, however, with a happy
selection entitled, " Won't we be a Happy
People when the War is Over?" which created
much good humor, and was encored again and
again by the delighted audience.
Mr. Stuart introduced the Rev. B. W. Chid
law, as a well-tried veteran in 'the Suudity
school army of America, who had come from
a little place called Wales !
More than forty years ago, when a child, the
speaker stood with his father on the aide of a
lofty mountain, near their home in the Princi
pality of Wales. His father held his haridker
chief to the breeze, and said, " That's a fair
wind to take people to America." He asked
what America was. His father replied, "That
it was a great country, far off beyond the ocean,
where the people had a good government, where
poor boys could go to school and get an edu
cation, and where they had plenty of, apples?"
The last idea the speaker fully comprehended
at the time; and he inquired why his father did
not take them there to live. " By and by, my
boy," he replied, `• when the Lord opens the
door, we will go." In a year the door was.
opened for their emigration, and now for forty
five years the speaker had enjoyed the advan
tages of a great country and a good government,
of free schools and free institutions ; and when
armed treason assailed the life of such a nation,
and threatened the integrity of such a govern
ment, he felt that, with the great hosts of the
Western boys hastening to the rescue, the.
Welsh boy who had here shared so largely in
the blessings afforded to the poor and the op
pressed of the climes, must go and take a hand
in the fight, too (Applause.) But he had
always, had a natural difficulty when a boy
in the woods of Ohio. He could never
shoot, because he had to close his eyes when
'he took aim! While, therefore, he could not
shoulder the musket or the rifle, he could cheer'
the boys on and-'.pray for them. The brave
toys of the Thiliy-ninth Ohio gave him a regu
WHO ARE THE MEN?
Charge I was the Captain's cry,
Theirs not to make reply.
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do or die,
As into the jaws of death
Rushed those brave hundreds
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon in front of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Volleyed and thundred.
Stormed at with shot and shell,
Bravely they fougtt and fell,
* * * * * 41 ,
AU the world wondered,
IIR. CHIDLAW'S ADDRESS.
lar Presbyterian call from the rank and file to
be their preacher, the officers sanctioned it, and
he found himself in the army. But he soon
discovered that the quartermaster could not
supply the want of good reading. Then he re
membered that for twenty years, while engaged
as a Sunday-school missionary under the au,
spices of the American Sunday-School Union—
that noble institution that honors Philadelphia
by making its home there—he used to ask for
books, and they gave them to him, and he felt
sure that. they would still honor the requisition
of their ald missionary, now a chaplain in his
country's service. And they did so. He found,
too, at the very start, that they needed some
thing like the United States Christian Commis
sion in the army. They had groped in the
darkness until, by-and-by, God called this great
agency to be alight to them. He believed that
the Christian Commission g,rew out of the great
revival of 1867 and 1868. It was born of the
spirit of prayer and union begotten by the union
prayer-meetings held in that favored hour, when
thcise mighty waves of revival rolled over the
land. The Commission sprang from a good
source, and God had given it a most noble mis
sion to perform. How well it had performed
it he had in many places seen, and could testify.
The,speaker then?drew upon his experience.
On the battle-field of Perryville he had been
privileged to go among the men and distribUte
stores: He found at Hospital No. 1, which was
in a church, 2;400 brave men suffering from
sickness and wounds. Instead of the petvs
filled'with attentive heaiers, were stretched be
fore him rows of bleeding,_ dying men. He
went to the first one an whom his eyes lighted,
and saw that he hid had an arm amputated., and
was still lying in the soiled and clotted gar
ments of the field. Most of the men are equally
destitute. He commanded their attention 2 and
bade them all cheer up, saying that their friends
at home were near at hand to do them good.
Having asked the men who needed clean gar
ments to signify it by raising the hand, or if
they, could not do that, by speaking, then
went from one to another with the shirts and
drawers and socks, and needed articles, giving
to each the benefactions• which were intended
to reach him by the kind hearts at home which
had provided them. When they had passed
thfOugh one hospital in this way, they went to
another, and thercto another, doing the same
grateful work. One poor fellow, on being re
freshed with clean 'raiment, said: "Preacher,
I don't know who sent you here with these
nice clean clothes, unless the Lord!" " Cer
tainlytthat' s it; the good Lord and the women
of Ohio—they were the partnership !" was the
reply.
TEA AND TOAST.
One Hoosier boy, not over twenty years, old,
lay sick, with a touch of the fever and agne—in
affliction which he had sometimes suffered from
at home. .The' speaker, comprehending the
case, said to him, What did mother do for
you when you had these spells at home?" " Oh,
she used to make me a good cup of tea, and
such nice toast." "Why, that's just what my
mother used to give me 1" "And didn't it
help you?''' "Yes, almost always.'.' " Why
don't you get tea and toast here?" "0, the
tea is not what mother used to give, and the
toast,is 'not the, same at all." Well, thought
the speaker, you shall have some that is good,
if it is to be had here. So going to Brother
Smith's ("there he is I"—turning to the Rev.
E. P. Smith, who was on'ilie platform—and he
is our Captain-General in the Army of the Cum
berland, and thousands of soldiers will rise_up
to call him blessed I)—he soon found himself
dipping into a chest of real, genuine black'tea,
and a cask of sweetest loaf sugar by its side,
and a box ot, condensed milk. Then repairing
"to the government bakery, he secured a nice
loaf of bread, and took it to the cooking esta
blishment in the rear, where the cook was.
The old darkey—or--or—(the speaker hastily
correcting himself) the old colored man !—[A
burst of merriment followed this correction.]
"Well," said the speaker, half apologetically,
"the people understand it, and God bless them."
(Resuming.) "As I said, I went into this es
tabliihment, and xv DEAR COLORED FRIEND, the
old cook, was therell" [4n explosion of
laughter and applause hereupon occurred,
which for some moments convulsed the vast au
ilience,, and left a lingering smile on many faces
long after silence was restored.] (Resuming.)
"I began telling him what I wanted, and ask
ing him for the privilege of his fire and utensils
to do my work, when he interrupted me with,
'ln dis kitchen I cooks and you talks;' and he
took the knife, sliced the bread, and toasted it,
while we talked of the blessed Jesus, and of his
religion. The tea and toast were at last made.
The condensed milk was used instead of butter,
and we, had a delicious looking article, which I
carried' to the hospital. "My friend," I said
to the Indiana boy, " wake up, I have something
nice for you." " Why, preacher, ain't there
milk in that tea?'' "Certainly." "Why," he
asked in astonishment, "does the Christian
Commission keep cows down here Pr " Better
than that, my boy, they have gone all the way
to the old cow at home, and it's all right' Now
sit up, and eat and drink." And he did, to his
heart's content—indeed I am afraid he ate too
much! A soldier close by said: "Chaplain,
can you give me a little tea and toast, too?"
"And me, too ?" Said another, "Me, too ?"
"Certainly, certainly. We'll have a general
tea party." And we did. The good old cook
was notified, and 'he did the toast up brown,
and the hot, smoking tea was delicious. We
had a glorious tea party, there. As a matter of
course, the :preach.er hung his banner .on the
outer wall, as an ambassador of the Prince of
Peace; and preached Christ'to these men who
had been so delightfully regaled with the tea
and toast that the friends of the soldier had sent
to them. Oh, this glorious combination of hu
manity and Christianity! God has united them.
We would not separate them. The glory we
give to his name.
MUSTERING THEM IN
At another time the speaker went into a de
serted tavern, used as a hospital. Seventeen
noble fellows lay on the floor. He ministered
to them in the gospel of clean clothes and some
thing good to-eat. The next day he labored
in the gospel of Christ among them. One lay
on a straw pallet, with a terrible wound in his
thigh. He said that when a boy twelve years
old, in a Sunday-school in Stark county, Ohio,
he had been hopefully converted to 'God, but
that he had never professed his faith in Christ,
and that he did not know that his comrades had
ever suspected that he was a Christian. He de
sired now to come out on the Lord's side. The
speaker made some remark about his - going
home on a furlough—a returned Christian sol
dier—to testify of Christ. But he said, " 0,
chaplain, I don't want a furlou . glt; as soon as
I am able I want to join the regiment and help
the boysl" These are our soldiers. Faith has
made heroes of them. It is making
. heroes of
our Sunday-school boys, of our American youth
in the army of the Union. " Well, Joshua,"
addressing the Ohio boy, "what church would
you like to join?" "The Church of Jesus
Christ," he said. As a recruiting officer of the
Captain of Salvation, the speaker stood ready
to muster in, this new recruit. Ho talked to
him about the articles of war, tried to tell what
it was to, be a faithful soldier—that he must not
"break rankg" and ran to the enemy—and
then, on the avowal of his faith in Christ, he
baptized this Christian soldier,. and- welcomed
him into the Church of our Lord Jesus Christ.
On leaving that cot, and passing out of the
room, a poor fellow pulled the speaker's coat,
and said, "Chaplain, I am a deserter I" " 0,
no, my friend ; you have served your country
too long, and have shed too much blood for it
—he had lost his left arm—to be a deserter."
"Yes, I am," he persisted. "Three years ago
I professed religion in Indiana, but I have de
serted the standard, I have wandered from God.
0, I feel like consecrating myself anew to him
to-day—won't you muster me in, chaplain?"
This is the labor that is done for the soldier—
in this way we strive to strengthen their faith,
encourage their hope, and cheer their heart.
And the work was full of reward to the Chris
tian. To point the dying soldier to Jesus, to
hear his pious ejaculations t to see the brighten
ing eye and racLant face ht.up with the glnt,
of the vision "of heaven, to hear the rapturous
exclamations of those who are dying in the tri
umphs of faith-0, these are ample rewards for
all the toil expended. And should not Chris
tians provide the means abundantly for such a
work? Are not the men worthy? Are they
not dying for us? Shall we not open our hearts
wide to them? Shall we not take them in, and
warm them, and love them? Shall we not min
ister to them the bread which perisheth, not
only, but the bread of life for which they are
hungering, and which, if they eat, they shall
never hunger more?
The brave General Fisk, of Missouri, was
now introduced, as one who, at the breaking out
of the war, was superintendent of the largest
Sunday-school in the city of St. Louis , and who,
in his military career, had proven himself to be
not only a true, zealous Christian, but " a sol
dier, every inch of him."-
ADDRESS OF GEN. C. B. FISK,
OF ST. LOUIS, MISSOURI,
The General was received with much ap
plause. He said : %Mr. President;friends and
fellow-citizens in the bond of Christian fellow
ship and patriotism: Not until the great day
when God shall make up his jewels, can we tell
you of the benefactions of Christian Commis
sion. This great array of figures read by the
brother from Boston; the narrative of Brother
Reed• the stirring scene depicted by our Bro
ther Chidlaw—these do not, cannot, show what
the Christian Commission has done for our sol
diers. We who are in the army, who are the
recipients of its kindness, to whom it comes
with its blessed ministrations, even we cannot
tell you all that it has done. But in the day
when all hearts shall be uncovered before God
shall we begin to understand and to estimate
fully the worth of such an institution. He
thanked God that good men' ever thought of
originating it, and that it had now served its
term .of enlistment, the first three years of its
useful career, and was ready to re-enlist as a
veteran for the war.
A NOVEL CHORISTER.
The General had seldom seen such an audi
ence as that before him in the Academy of
Music. But he had been in the Academies of
Music that the Christian Commission had origi
nated in the grand armies of the Union, - where
he had seen 500 5,000, and sometimes even
10,000 men gathered to sing praises to God, and
to hear words of Christian comfort and en
couragement. His mind was carried back to
such a scene on the banks of the Yazoo, amid
the swamps of Mississippi, where they sang the
the songs that brothers, sons and fathers used
to sing around the family altars, before they en
listed in the defence of the unity and freedom
of their country. And oh, such singing ! He
would like to take his audience there to hear it
and to join in it ; but he could not. Yet he
would ask them to imagine themselves in a
soldiers' camp for a few moments, and to trans
fer themselves to the scenes of war a thousand
miles away from home, and join with him, heart
and soul, in singing the good old hymn,
'Come, thou Fount of every blessing!"
At this-unexpected invitation, the whole as
sembly rose to their feet, and united in the
hymn of praise. It was a novel and a grand
sight to see a general of the Union army lead
ing an audience such as graced the Academy of
Music that night, in sacred song. And they
did sing! The fretted roof rang with exalted
praise. The effect was elevating, inspiring,
grand. On to dug their seats the General re
sumed
We have had a good song. The American
Academy of Music never heard anything better.
He had sung that song with thousands of sol
dier boys who would never sing it again this
side of the dark waters; but he could hear them
now as they were singing it on the shining
shores of deliverance.
"Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, '
Prone to leave the God I love,"—
Ah l that expressed the too sad experience
of the men in the army, and for that very need
the Christian Commission had been raised tip,
to keep wandering feet from straying, to encir
cle the lonely ones in the arms of friendship
and sympathy, and throw around them the
memories and restraints of home. This was
the key-note of the Commission's work. The
organization of the Commission, the merging
of the Young Men's Christian Associations of
the land, when their work had seemed to be ac
complished, into this new and wonderful agency,
were alluded to, and the following incident,
illustrating the need of the Commission's work
among men who had long been removed from
the better influence of the Sabbath-schools and
sanctuaries and altars at-home, was related:
JOHN . SHEARER
An old soldier of the General's command
had left his home in patriotic lowa, and had
gone dawn into Arkansas with them, to plant
the old flag along the banks of the noble Mis
sissippi. They had come in from one of their
fruitless expeditions, in which they had been
trying to " climb up some other way" into
Vicksburg, when they ought to have gone in by
the door. They had been removed for a month
from their lines of communication. Of course,
they had had no letters from home. As soon,
then, as communication had been reopened, the
first thought was of, the mail. The General
went at once to the post-office tent, and received
his precious budget from home—the letters
from his wife and children, and his pastor and
Christian friends at home, from the children of
his Sabbath-school—for he had been reduced
from the rank of Superintendent of the Sunday
school to become a General_in the army! (op
plause)—and he sat down on a to by his tent
to read these messages of love. He had read
them through and through, and was about to
rise, when an old soldier seated near him on the
same log accosted him with, " Old fellow, I .
want you to read my letter for me I" The
General had nothing on to indicate his rank.
He turned and looked at the man, and then
reached for the letter. It was irected - to
" John Shearer, Helena, Arkansas." The ad
dress began in the upper corner and'ran diago
nally across the cover to the lower corner.—
" Can't you read it yourself, John ?" " No."
" Then I . will, of course; but why .don't you
know how to read? The fellows that don't
know how to read ought by rights to be found
only on the Jeff. Davis side." But his having
been born in a slave State might have helped
somewhat as his excuse, added the General.
The letter was from John's wife. After speak
ing of the gathering in of the crops, and, enter
ing into all the little affairs of home—mention
' ing even the new:dress of Susie, the new boots
for Johnny, and the cunningest wee bits of
socks for the baby ! the faithful wife began to
read a sermon—a good deal in this .wise:
" John, it was quarterly meeting last Saturday,
and the presiding elder stopped at our house.
He told me that a great many men who went
into the army Christians, came back very
wicked; that they would learn to swear and
gamble and drink, and that they were guilty of
many of the vices that go straggling through
our camps. Now, John, I want you to re
member the promise you made me as you were
leaving me and our children, that you would be
a good man." Ah, the old soldier wept as he
listened; and as he came to the dear name that
closed tie precious letter, he raised the sleeve
of his old coat, brushed away the great swell
ing tears, and said, with a full heart, " Bully
far her 1" It was the soldier's Amen, and elo-,
quent and expressive. "well, have you been
a good man, John?" Then came the sad, sad
story of drunkenness, and gambling, and pro
fanity, into which John had been led, and the
+humble confession that he had forgotten his
vow but would renew it, and, by the help of
God, would try to keep it. The General dis
covered his rank to him, invited him to his
tent, and he came to all their meetings after
wards.
Weeks passed, and the horrors of the grave
digging on the Mississippi, where thousands,of
brave men were laid low in the swamps,.passed
over them, sweeping to death's realms six hum
dyed of his men. Here,low with the fever,
among the hundreds f victims, lay John
'Shearer, he of the post-office incident., The
General, sent for, went to see him, received his
words of faith and trust for the home beyond,
his last message to his wife and children, sang
by his side the sweet hymn, "Jesus can make
the dying bed feel soft as downy pillows are;!
and closed his eyes in death. Thus this arm] ; -
officer was deeming it his privilege to act as the
delegate of the Christian Commission, • per
forming the office of the Christian minister and.
friend to the sick and lonely sufferer.
THE COMMISSION' EVERYWHERE.
The work of the Commission in its wide_ex
tent was next eloquently . discoursed upon'by
the speaker. The Commission had crossed his
path in every direction, in its holy MissiOt.,
Wherever the flag had floated out with its stars
of glory, there too had the Commission raised
the banner of the. Cross, with the star of. , Betb.-
lehern and the stripes for our healing. Its kind
offices had been felt and owned in the midst -of
discouragement and disaster ; it had cheered
and sustained in the dark hours ; it had gone
down into the thickest of the smoke and flames
of conflict ; it had visited the dens of starvation_
and horror, to relieve the tortures of our suffer
ing captives ; it had followed our victorious
troops from Cairo to the Gulf; as our gallant
Western freemen hewed out their'path with
their gleaming swords, and with their bayonet
points turned back every bolt in the locks that
the rebellion had placed across the great Mis
sissippi ; and when the "Father of 'Waters,"
by the blessing of heaven upon our arms, went
once more unvexed to the sea, it lifted its voice
on field and flood in grateful song of praise to
God. At Gettysburg, Chickamauga, _Atlanta,
Nashville, with Sherman's grand excursion to
the sea-side, and amid the storm of iron fire on'
the Atlantic coast, so lately hurled, when ‘f try.
again" gave us the victory over defiant FisherP
everywhere on our soil, from the turbid Missouri
of the West to the flashing waters of the Chesa
peake, from the Ohio to the , Gulf, the Christian ,
Commission has_been a part, a noble, holy
part, of the grand. Army of the Union.
REDEEMED, REGENERATED AND DtsmintaALLED.
Tlie speaker congratulated the officers of the
Commission on the work it had been permitted
to do, and his hearers on the glorious prospects
that were opened up for it and for the country's
future. Let us thank God, he said, that al.
though four years of fearful, bloody strife have
written their history uponthe tablets of "States
disseyered, discordant; and belligerent," that
yet the glorious ensign of the Republic is still
full high advanced. He alluded to the glorious
news that had that evening been flashed forth
to the land and the world, of the redemption of
America from "the great barbarism.' The
dispatch he had received that evening from his
friend, Speaker Colfax was as follows : "My
Dear General—the constitutional amendment
is passed—ayes 119, nays 66. Glory to God
in the highest ; peace on earth and good will to
men I'" The speaker could lippreciate the
significance of this action. The message had
gone home to his throbbing heart, as he knew
it would to the hearts of hundreds in his State
who were watching for the day dawn of free
dom. He had lived long beneath the shadow
of the great barbarism. It covered him in his.
own home,- and when Mr. Lincoln, two years
before, had said by his proclamation of freedom
that the slaves in certain States and parts of
States were thenceforward free and excepted
Missouri from that provision ' and left them still
within the great shade, they felt sick of heart
at the hope deferred. Their loyal people on
the border bore the grief yet longer, but de
termined that with the crushing of the rebellion,
they would crush the cause thereof. (Ap
plause.) And just twenty days ago, with exul
tant hope, the people, met together in solemn
convention; swung wide open the gates of
liberty in Missouri ! (Enthusiastic cheering.)
The speaker felt that the day was dawning.
The news of freedom for America was the
herald of joy and hope to millions across the
water ; it would shake the thrones of despots.
there • it was the herald of a world's jubilee.
He believed that this act was the harbinger of
our final triumph over the rebellion; that the
stars of the glorious old flag would again shine
out in their full splendor, the brighter for the
dark cloud that had dimmed the lustre of so
many of them, and that Unity and Freedom
and Peace shall reign from the silvery lakes of
the North to the waters of the golden Gulf, and
from the coast of the broad Atlantic to the
golden gates of the mild Pacific.
A.FTRR THE WAR
And when the war shall cease, think you the
work of the Christian Commission will have
ceased with it? 0, no 1 It will be but just
begun. Its mission then will be to bind up the
broken hearts, to heal divisions, to& restore
withered friendships, to bring brother to brother
again in fraternal embrace, to encourage and
welcome prodigals to the Father's house. Then
California will stretch her golden arms across•
the continent, and forever bind her wandering
sister, Carolina, to this constellation. of the
stars, and the laughing waters of the Minnesota
will exchange greetings over the grave of the
sleeper at the Hermitage, with the everglades
of Florid% and say that '" The Union muse and
shall be preserved 1" May God hasten that
happy day l (Amen.) Yes, let it come, that
blessed day when we shall beat our swords into
ploughshares, and our bayonets into pruning
hooks, when the wilderness _shall blossom as.
the rose, when the smoke of forges shall again
ascend the shaggy sides of our iron mountains,
and the royal purple of our vintage shall blush
on every hill side—
Great God! we thank thee for this home,
This bounteous birthright of the free.
Where wanderers from afar may come
And breath the air of Liberty.
Still may her flowers untrampled spring,
Her harvests wave, her cities rise,
And yet. till Time shall fold her wing,
Remain earth's loveliest Paradise!
(Applause.)
Before taking his Seat, the General intro
duced, as his old and valued friend, the. New
York Tribune's army correspondent, Mr.
Albert D. Richardson, who said mid wrote
many things for Truth and Freedom in the days
of the Kansas tribulation and who had for
twenty months been tasting the felicities of
seven rebel prisons. The thrilling story of his
sufferings and escape had excited the deepest
feeling of sympathy in many hearts, which had
not been lessened by the fact that he was now
on his way to his once happy New England
'home, to drop tears upon the grave of his wife,
who died broken hearted in the earlier months
of his captivity ; and the earth was yet fresh on
the new-made grave of a darling child On whom
he had never been permitted to gaze. Mr.
Richardson was received with marks of pro
foundest interest-and sympathy.
ADDRESS OF RR. RICIEARDSON,
THE ESCAPED CORRESPONDENT.
He was impelled to answer tb his name from
the highest and most sacred motives. When
in the horrorstof captivity, with no prospect of
deliverance, he and a few companions in suffer
ing had solemnly pledged themselves that if, in
the good providence of God, any of them should
live to regain their freedom and their homes,
they would omit no opportunity of raising their
voice and using their earliest, best efforts to se
cure the release or relief of those who were left
behind.
His testimony, with that of the two associates
who escaped with him, had already gone forth,
that the prison authorities in Salisbury, North
Carolina, were slowly killing our men with hun
ger and cold, while they have an abundance of
ood and fuel; that though when our , prisoners
- went there fresh from the field they were young,
robust, andvigorous, like most A i
oldierS in `the
army, yet ' after sixty days, when he left, out of
sixty-five 'hundred or seven thousand lave, but
fivl , hundred were well men • :that they left