THE CHURCH AND THE ARMY. 



20S 



Mr. Philip Johnston : I feel we want to lift the whole considera- 

 tion of this question far above our party differences. Surely we 

 want to come to Jesus Christ in the questions which have divided 

 Christian men so unhappily for many centuries. We want a great 

 unifying thought, and can we find a better thought than that 

 contained in the word " Prayer " ? It is prayer alone that will bring 

 Jesus Christ back to this troubled earth. It is prayer alone which 

 will bring to an end this terrible war, which is a scourge upon 

 Christendom, which has forgotten her absent Lord and Master. 



A few months ago I had a letter from a Major in France, who had 

 been put in charge of the responsible task of forming the roads — 

 so necessary a work for the transmission of munitions of war. My 

 correspondent said that, on a certain date in 1917, he had been 

 ordered to take up a new position with the company of men working 

 under him. In obedience to his senior Officer's command, he took 

 the men to the billets assigned to them. They were hardly settled there 

 — in fact had not had time to make themselves comfortable and 

 get something to eat — -before an urgent telegraphic message came 

 through that the Germans were about to shell the little town out of 

 existence. Humanly speaking, there was no chance for them. 

 The enemy had the exact range of their billets, and so they must 

 shift for themselves as best they could. He gathered his men and 

 explained the terrible situation to them. Speaking as a Christian man, 

 he said : " We have no hope but in God ; we each have our separate 

 rooms — let us go there, and pray to God." He went and poured 

 out his heart to God. He felt that many of the men were ignorant, 

 and would not follow his example. But he felt that God had given 

 him the charge of the men, their bodies and souls, for the time being. 



As he was praying, the first shell came hurtling through the air, 

 and seemed as though it must lay the place in ruins, and he was 

 thrown down on the floor; but nothing happened. He picked 

 himself up, and went on with his prayer. This was at seven o'clock 

 in the evening, and until five the next morning the shelling went on 

 without intermission. But at five o'clock the shelling ceased. He 

 went out, and looked round. The whole earth for a great area was 

 entirely ploughed up by the shells, but although the tiles had been 

 broken in the roof, and glass had been broken by concussion, not a 

 splinter was knocked ofi the whole range of buildings. He met one 

 of his sergeants as he was coming inside, and the man said to him. 



