Certainly, I received nothing but kindness from the officers with whom I came in contact.
As showing my appreciation at the time of the office of chaplain, and the men fitted for it, I append a card which I published in the Religious Herald.
The men we want.
Messrs. Editors: As my name has been mentioned as one of the ‘committee of correspondence to facilitate the introduction of chaplains into the various regiments of our corps,’ perhaps I ought to say a word with reference to the matter.
In private letters to brethren I have said, ‘Send us the names of
good men;’ and I here repeat, we want
none others—our object being not merely to fill up the regiments with nominal chaplains, but to fill the vacancies with
efficient, working men. We want
effective Gospel preachers, whose burden shall be
Christ and Him crucified.
It is a common mistake that
anybody will do to preach to soldiers; and hence the chaplaincies are generally filled by young and inexperienced men. But a moment's reflection will suffice to convince, that since we have in the army the flower of the country, so we ought to have the best preachingtalent of the country.
I call upon our city and country pastors earnestly to consider whether it is not their duty to enter this wide field of usefulness.
It is a field worthy the attention of our most experienced, most useful ministers, and if they cannot get their consent to enter regularly upon it, I call upon them to at least give us occasional visits.
We want men who will
stick to their posts. I am persuaded that a great deal of harm has been done by chaplains resigning, or absenting themselves for long periods from their commands, on ‘detail to collect clothing,’ or some such pretext.
The great business of the chaplain is to
preach Christ publicly, and from tent to tent, and the temporal welfare of the soldiers should be made subordinate to this.
We want men
physically able as well as willing to endure hardships and privations. If a chaplain would live up to the full measure of his usefulness, he must be with his regiment on the weary
