We picture the scene—not a Salvation Army ring in some country town in England, but crowds of khaki clad soldiers, supposed to be trifling, light-hearted, devil-may-care. But here they are out in the open, in full view of hundreds of their comrades, surrounded by great camps, humbly kneeling in penitence at the Throne of Grace, "owning their weakness, their evil behaviour," and pleading "God be merciful to me a sinner." So strangely, yet so powerfully, stands the Cross upon the field of war.
Another beautiful little picture is presented to us by Mr. Sarchet in another letter—a gathering of twenty-six soldier lads on the afternoon of the Lord's Day.
"We had a talk about temptation, and then celebrated Holy Communion. It was all out in the open in a little wooden dell. I had my portable camp table. It was a very gracious and never-to-be-forgotten time, as we knelt there on the grass, with a beautiful clear sky overhead. There seemed absolutely nothing between us and God, and the presence of the Risen Christ was a great reality. Before next Sunday some who were there will be fighting in the trenches, but they will carry the memory of this soul-hallowing time with them."
BISHOP TAYLOR-SMITH, CHAPLAIN-GENERAL.[ToList]
| Rev. E.L. Watson, Senior Baptist Chaplain at the Front. | Rev. O.S. Watkins, Senior Wesleyan Chaplain at the Front. | |
| Rev. J.M. Simms, D.D., K.H.C., Presbyterian, Principal Chaplain at the Front. | Rev. E.G.F. Macpherson, Senior Church of England Chaplain at the Front. |
So out there in France our soldier lads "do this" in memory of Him "until He come."
Before I pass from the record of the directly spiritual work at the fighting base, let me tell the story of a unique confirmation—a confirmation without lawn sleeves. Bishop Taylor-Smith was the chief actor in this strange scene. A Church of England chaplain represented to him, during his visit to the front, that there were some men in hospital, badly wounded, who desired confirmation. The Bishop gladly consented to confirm them. They could not come to him, and so he went to them. But it was not in his bishop's robes he went. He was on military duty and he went in his military uniform as major-general.
There was no attempt to get a congregation. The Bishop was only attended by a chaplain and Scripture reader. He first went to a ward where lay two lads side by side, each with his right leg amputated above the knee. They were simple country lads and they were crippled for life. Their hearts had been won for Christ, and they desired to give their lives to Him. The Bishop spoke words of hope and cheer, and laid his hands upon them. Then he went to another ward where lay a man with a terrible shrapnel wound in his arm. Him also the Bishop confirmed. In the next ward were two men—older men these—who had known agonising pain. Their beds had been brought together, and upon these also the Bishop laid confirming hands. Then he passed to the church where the convalescents who desired confirmation could receive his Church's rite.