The Deck Of Cards

...During the North African campaign, a bunch of soldier boys had been on a long hike and they arrived in a little town called Cascina. The next morning being Sunday, several of the boys went to Church. A sergeant commanded the boys in Church and after the Chaplain had read the prayer, the text was taken up next.
..Those of the boys who had a prayer book took them out, but this one boy had only a deck of cards, and so he spread them out. The Sergeant saw the cards and said, "Soldier put away those cards." After the services were over, the soldier was taken prisoner and brought before the Provost Marshall. ...The Marshall said, "Sergeant, why have you brought the man here?" "For playing cards in church, Sir." "And what have you got to say for yourself, son?" "Much, Sir." Replied the soldier. The Marshall said, "I hope so, for if not I shall punish you more than any man was ever punished."
...The soldier said, "Sir, I've been on the march for about six days, I had neither Bible nor prayer book, but I hope to satisfy you, Sir, with the purity of my intentions." With that, the boy started his story:
...You see Sir, when I look at the "ACE", it reminds me that there is but one God;
...And the "DEUCE" reminds me that the Bible is divided into two parts; The Old and the New Testaments;
...And when I see the "TREY", I think of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost;
...And when I see the "FOUR", I think of the four Evangelists who preached the Gospel. There was Matthew, Mark, Luke and John;
...And when I see the "FIVE", it reminds me of the five wise virgins who trimmed their lamps. There were ten of them, five were wise and were saved. Five were foolish and were shut out;
...And when I see the "SIX", it reminds me that in six days, God made this great heaven and earth;
...When I see the "SEVEN", it reminds me that on the seventh day, God rested from His great work;
...And when I see the "EIGHT", I think of the eight righteous persons God saved when He destroyed this earth. There was Noah, his wife, their three sons and their wives;
...And when I see the "NINE", I think of the lepers our Saviour cleansed. And nine out of the ten didn't even thank Him.
...When I see the "TEN", I think of the Ten Commandments God handed down to Moses on a table of stone;
...When I see the "KING", it reminds me that there is but one King of Heaven, God Almighty;
...And when I see the "QUEEN", I think of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who is Queen of Heaven;
...And the "JACK" or "KNAVE" is the Devil;
...When I count the number of spots on a deck of cards, I find 365, the number of days in a year;
...There’s 52 cards, the number of weeks in a year;
...There's 4 suits, the number of weeks in a month;
...There's 12 picture cards, the number of months in a year;
...There's 13 tricks, the number of weeks in a quarter;
...So you see, Sir, my pack of cards serves me as a Bible, Almanac and Prayer Book.
"And friends, this is a true story, because I was that soldier."

I have been trying to find where this story/song began, and when, and there are many answers given, and from many sources. I have copied down, such as;

From Germany an email friend, Joachim Joppe, sent this.
These are the words in German to The Deck Of Cards.

German Version of Deck of Cards
Lyrics and sang by german Entertainer Bruce Low:

DAS KARTENSPIEL

Ich fand zur Vesperzeit in einem Dom mich wieder
und setzte mich im Seitenschiff auf eine Holzbank nieder.
Schräg vor mir saß ein Mann, der spielte dort mit Karten!
"Sie müssen damit", sprach ich, "bis nach der Messe warten!"
Der Fremde hob den Kopf und sah mir ins Gesicht:
"Verzeihen Sie, mein Herr, aber ich spiele nicht!
Kommt mit hinaus", sagte er, indem er sich entfernte,
"Ich zeig' Ihnen, was man von meinen Karten lernt."
Und draußen im Portal, dort, wo es niemand stört,
hat mir der Fremde dann sein Kartenspiel erklärt.
"Mit jedem AS", sprach er, "soll ich erinnert werden:
Es gibt nur EINEN Schöpfer des Himmels und der Erden.
DIE ZWEI sagt mir: ZWEI Menschen gab's im Paradies;
Adam und seine Frau, die welche Eva hieß.
Zieh' ich die Karte DREI, so heißt das für den Frommen:
DREI heil'ge Könige sind nach Bethlehem gekommen.
VIER Evangelisten, zu uns'res Herren Ruhm,
haben uns gebracht das Evangelium.
FÜNF Kieselsteine suchte sich David aus im Bach,
dann legt' mit der Schleuder den Goliath er flach.
In SECHS Tagen schwerer Arbeit erschuf sich unser Herr
die Menschen, Tiere, Pflanzen, die Erde und das Meer.
Am SIEBTEN Tage ruhte der liebe Gott sich aus
auf einer kleinen Bank vor seinem gold'nen Haus.
ACHT Menschen, wohlgezählt acht nur, und zwar die Frommen,
sind bei der großen Sintflut damals nicht umgekommen:
Noah und die drei Söhne, das sind zusammen vier,
und jede ihrer Frau'n. Danach schloß sich die Tür.
NEUN Aussätzige in Israel, bis auf den Tod erkrankt,
haben für ihre Heilung dem Herrn nicht mal gedankt!
ZEHN Gebote Moses den Auserwählten gab,
als er vom Berge Sinai zum Volke stieg hinab.
Ich habe hier vier Buben, ich habe hier vier Damen,
ich habe hier vier Könige, das sind ZWÖLF zusammen.
Zwölf Stunden hat der Tag, zwölf Stunden jede Nacht,
zwölf Monate das Jahr: So wird die Zeit gemacht.
Herz, Karo, Pik und Treff, vier Farben in der Hand:
vier Jahreszeiten färben Wald, Wiese, Feld und Land.
ZWEIUNDFÜNFZIG Karten hab' ich in meinem Spiel;
nun zähl' im Jahr die Wochen, es sind genausoviel.
Und zählen wir die Punkte, so sind es ohne Frage
DREIHUNDERTFÜNFUNDSECHZIG, soviel ein Jahr hat Tage."
"Moment", sagt' ich, nachdem ich Papier und Blei genommen,
"ich kann nur auf dreihundert und vierunsechzig kommen".
"Ja", meinte da der Fremde mit einem stillen Lachen.
"Sie dürfen nie die Rechnung ohne den JOKER machen!"

And other references:
For historical purposes: I have a copy of "The Deck of Cards" which was clipped out of a newspaper and pasted into an old scrapbook in the late 1870's."
The original recording was an album by Tex Ritter
Red Sovine also recorded this and at the end of his recording he indicated that he wrote it due to it happening with his son.
Maybe I go back further, but I recall T. Tex Tyler doing the song or recitation
The version I have dates from the 1870's, and the story is told by a soldier "who was taken before the magistrate in Glasgow;" so that I assume the original anecdote to have a Scottish locale. What I have is an old blacksmith's ledger book from the early-mid-1800's which, when the pages were filled, was made into a scrap book for newspaper clippings. Among the clippings are such things as the reports of the murder of Jesse James, and a clipping headed 'The Religious Deck of Cards’ or something like that.
When I was at school we were told the story by our history master as occurring during the Civil war, and I admit I can find it believable in the that context, given the depth of religious feeling at that time.
There are versions of the Deck of Cards from the 17th - yes, the 17th, not the 19th or the 18th! - Century, which makes for pretty good historical bona fides.
One of the versions uses the Major instead of the Sergeant. I am still trying to find out more, and when I do, it will be added on here.