Photo Credit, Southsea.
A VOLUNTARY SERVICE ON A BATTLESHIP.
The church is "rigged" on the leeward side of a pair of 13.5 guns. A most impressive service.[ToList]
To the real Christian death has, of course, no terror. He swings himself into his hammock at night, knowing that to him sudden death will be sudden glory. But to the ordinary man-of-war's man has there come an accession of seriousness, such as has come to the men in the sister service?
We can as yet only answer this question in part, and must wait for a full answer until the veil of secrecy is lifted.
And in order to get as full an answer as is possible we must turn to the men themselves, and as we do so, we offer for all of them the beautiful prayer which the Archbishop of Canterbury has put into our lips:
"O Thou that slumberest not nor sleepest, protect, we pray Thee, our sailors from the hidden perils of the sea, from the snares and assaults of the enemy. Steady and support those upon whom the burdens of responsibility lie heavily, and grant that in dangers often, in watchings often, in weariness often, they may serve Thee with a quiet mind, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen."
We must remember that just as every regiment in our Army is to-day leavened by Christian men, so is practically every ship in our fleet. The work of our sailors' homes has been successfully done,—such Homes, for instance, as those of Miss Agnes Weston, and the Homes of the Wesleyan Church at Chatham, Portsmouth, and Devonport.
The previous work of the Sunday-schools and of the Salvation Army has also told, and the men have, many of them, become out-and-out Christians.
They have no difficulty in speaking:
What they have felt and seen
With confidence they tell.