THE CHURCH AND THE ARMY. 



187 



are devout and instructed churchmen, whose souls are built up 

 in the faith, who are in the fullest sense Christian men. I have 

 met them under all sorts of circumstances and recognized them 

 with joy. Tiiere are in the same way pious Nonconformists 

 to whom the religion they have been taught is the main thing in 

 their lives. But these are exceptional men. Every padre at 

 the front knows them and gladly does his best for them. Just 

 in the same way there are men, the padre meets them less often, 

 who are definitely hostile to religion ; but they are exceptions too. 

 The average man is neither fully Christian, nor an enemy. It is 

 of him that I wish to speak. It is on my experience of him that 

 I rest my assertion that he is a seeker after God. 



I was stationed at one time in a large base camp. Its function 

 was to receive reinforcements which came out from England and 

 to pass them on up the line to the fighting units as fresh men were 

 required to make good the inevitable losses. Men were con- 

 tinually coming and continually going. Very few men stayed 

 with us for more than a week or two. The drafts for the front 

 were paraded before they started, and inspected. Certain formal 

 orders, dealing with the discipline of the journey, were read out. 

 The ofiicer who despatched the draft generally spoke a few words 

 to the men. It was the custom — I do not know who started it — 

 that the Chaplain should be present at these parades and should 

 hold a short service for the men before they started. The service 

 was very short, occupying not more than five minutes. That 

 camp was really a collection of camps, each under a different 

 colonel. One or two of these commanding officers objected to 

 these services, and would not give us permission to hold them. 

 One or two others were doubtful, but gave permission. In most 

 cases the commanding officer welcomed the service, and was 

 anxious that nothing should be allowed to interfere with it. 

 These little valedictory services were highly valued by the men. 

 They wanted a prayer said for them. Some kind of peace came 

 to them with the benediction they received. I have no doubt 

 of this. It is true that the thing was compulsory. The men 

 were on parade. They could not go away, nor could they behave 

 otherwise than with decorum. The service might conceivably 

 have been nothing more to them than a necessary part of certain 

 formal proceedings. But it was not so. It was real. There is 

 no possibility of mistaking the response, whether spoken or un- 

 spoken, which men make to prayer offered for them. Anyone 

 who has ever prayed aloud with listeners round him knows it. 



