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Chapter 3: hindrances to the revival.
Our soldiers, though worthy of the eulogies we have recorded, did not escape the vices of a military life.
In the first months of the strife the call of the war trumpet was heard above all other sounds.
The young men rushed to the camps of instruction; and, freed from the restraints of home, and the influence of pious relatives, thousands of them gave way to the seductive influences of sin.
Legions of devils infest a camp.
Vice grows in it like plants in a hot bed, and yields abundant and bitter fruits.
“In the Old Testament it is said, ‘ One sinner destroyeth much good.’
If so, what destruction of good must be effected by a large body of ungodly soldiers in close and constant contact, where one may, without extravagance, consider them as innoculating each other daily with the new infection of every debauch through which they pass.”
The “strong man armed” keeps watch and ward over a camp of soldiers, and is not overcome and cast out without a tremendous struggle.
All that can hinder a work of grace confronted the revival in our army.
Before the “soldiers of
Christ” addressed themselves in earnest to the work, gambling, profanity, drunkenness, and other kindred vices, prevailed to an alarming extent.
The temptation to recklessness is strong among all soldiers.
Religion is supposed to be well suited to the pursuits of peaceful life, but not to rough, uncertain army life.
“We are led by custom,” says the celebrated
Adam 
