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CHAPTER XV

THE REV. JOHN COX EDGHILL, D.D., K.H.C.

Ex-Chaplain-General to the Forces

THE CHURCH IN THE ARMY.

"Live while you live, the epicure would say,
And seize the pleasures of the present day;
Live while you live, the sacred preacher cries,
And give to God each moment as it flies.
Lord, in my views let both united be;
I live in pleasure when I live to Thee."


Canon Liddon's Opinion of the Chaplain-General—Bill in Parliament to confer on Chaplain-General Powers of Bishop—Dr Edghill and His Career—With the Troops at Aldershot—At Chatham—At Nova Scotia—A Spiritual Force in Canada—Unanimously elected Bishop of Nova Scotia; but resolves to stand by the Army—At Dover and Gibraltar—Back again at Aldershot—At Portsmouth—Abilities recognised by Bishop Harold Browne—Chaplain-General on the Nomination of the Duke of Devonshire—Chaplains in the Time of Marlborough—Lord Melbourne invites Mr Gleig to form Army Chaplains' Department after Peninsular War—Large Number of Chaplains appointed during Crimean War—Status and Pay of Chaplains—Class for Men who join the Army—Work among Soldiers' Wives and Children—Need of Lay Agents and Lady Workers—General Officers most helpful in seconding Endeavours for Good of Soldiers—Evils of the Barrack-Room—Lord Roberts and Temperance in the Army—Chaplains on the Battlefield.


No less an authority than the late Canon Liddon, in the course of a sermon in St Paul's Cathedral,

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