The Rev. W.H. Sarchet tells quite a different, but not less striking, class of story. It is his privilege to record an old-fashioned "Revival" at the fighting base. Mr. Sarchet has seen much work among soldiers and sailors. For eight years he was Wesleyan chaplain at Gibraltar; for another seven he was chaplain at Devonport; for the last four he has served in the same capacity at Portsmouth, having charge of the Duchess of Albany's Soldiers' and Sailors' Home there, and the services in the Town Hall.
In a letter to the Rev. John Bell, Mr. Sarchet tells the story of this remarkable spiritual movement which has been taking place at the General Hospital, with which he has been serving at the fighting base. I give the story in his own words as printed in the weekly article by the Rev. J.H. Bateson in the Methodist Recorder. Mr. Bateson is Secretary of the Wesleyan Army and Navy Board and Ex-Secretary of the British Army Temperance Association in India. His weekly article is replete with first-hand information, and that and its corresponding article in the Methodist Times are a gold mine in which students of the war may well dig.
Mr. Sarchet, after referring to the wounded "fresh from the trenches in all their grime and dirt, torn clothes, broken limbs, and ghastly wounds," goes on to say:
"In addition to this really distressing work, I am having some most delightful camp work experiences. Last Sunday week at my second Parade service—my first was at 8 A.M. three miles away—I discovered by the very hearty responses in the prayers that there were some out-and-out Christian men present. I asked them if they would like a voluntary service at night. They said they would very much, so we fixed it up for 6.30 P.M. We had a delightful service just at setting sun. I think that 'Abide with me,' as that crowd of R.F.A. men, waiting to go up to the fighting line, sang it, never sounded so beautiful.
"At the close of the service, we had an after-meeting by moonlight, and three sought and found Christ. I announced a meeting for Monday night, and so we have gone on right through the week, and there have been seekers every night. At the close of this meeting we enlarge the ring in the centre, and then invite those who have decided to serve Christ to come right out into the ring before their comrades.
"It is beautiful clear moonlight, just like day, and out they come one after another. One never-to-be-forgotten evening we had twenty out. They kneel down and we pray with them, then close the meeting with 'God be with you till we meet again,' and prayer. Then we take the names and talk with the soldiers individually. We have enrolled the names of over eighty men who have come out in this way in the last ten days.
"The meetings are having this good effect—finding the Christian men in the camps around. There are several camps and thousands of men—reinforcements just waiting for orders to move forward. Night and day men are coming and going. A Christian officer too heard us singing and has come and joined us. He has been with us every night when not on duty."
Supplementing this story Mr. Sarchet tells of another series of meetings still proceeding as he wrote. He says:
"A large number of our mounted men have recently gone forward, so this week we started in the infantry camp, which is about three miles away. We had our first open-air service there on October 26. We were only two when we started, but a great crowd before we finished, with eleven men out in the ring seeking Christ. This is grand work. The weather has turned very wintry and wet this week, but the Camp Commandant has promised me a store tent for our meetings, so we shall go on."
What wonderful scenes these are when you think of their setting and the men who were the chief actors! As Mr. Bateson says: "In the Nile Expedition, in the South African Campaign, in the frontier work in India, there have been many soldiers who, here and there, have surrendered their lives to Christ, but this 'Revival' in the British Expeditionary Force in France is surely unique in the history of war."