194 ET. BEY. BJSHOP J. E. C. WELLDOX, h.D., ON THE INFLUENCE 



the chaplains have proved themselves the friends of the sailors 

 -and soldiers. They have lived with them from day to day; 

 they have shared their hardships and their perils ; they have 

 been wounded at their side ; sometimes, alas, they have laid 

 down their lives with them and for them. Xo fewer than eight 

 naval chaplains perished in the battle of Horn Eeef. The men 

 have borne willing testimony to the gallantry of the chaplains. 

 The Reverend E. X. Mellish, who won the Victoria Cross the 

 other day, represents only the highest example of the spirit 

 which has actuated the ministers of religion through the war. 

 It is just because the soldiers and sailors have seen how much 

 the ministers of religion can do, that, when they come home, 

 they will expect much of them. Amidst the horrors of the 

 war the one redeeming feature, which has been everywhere 

 respected, is the Eed Cross. To one who has visited a Military 

 or a Eed Cross Hospital, there can be little wonder that the 

 angels of Mons should be said, in play i >r in truth, to have been the 

 nurses. If the spirit of Christ in His Church has not been strong 

 enough to prevent the outbreak of the war, yet it is that spirit 

 which has chiefly atoned for the sorrows and horrors accom- 

 panying the war. There has been no sight more impressive or 

 more beautiful than a hospital ship. 



The war has drawn many hearts to the Cross ; nay, it will be 

 found to have drawn many minds too, as it has revealed the 

 full accordance of the Christian doctrines with the supreme veri- 

 ties of human life. The self-sacrifice of the rich and the noble 

 is the shadow of the self-sacrifice shown by Him Who was rich 

 yet became poor ; Who was enthroned in Heaven, but chose to 

 live, as not having where to lav His head, and to suffer and die 

 upon earth. It is by the shedding of blood that the soldiers 

 and sailors of the King have saved their country and their 

 empire. So, too, it is the blood of Jesus Christ which, in 

 Christian theology, cleanses men from all sin ; " Without 

 shedding of blood is no remission." The men who come back 

 when the war is over will have learnt the supreme lesson of the 

 >Cross, and it is a lesson which, please God, they will never forget. 



In these strangely mingled circumstances of anxiety and yet 

 <of hopefulness, the Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of 

 England have conceived the idea of organizing a Xational 

 Mission. 



It is called The Xational Mission of Eepentance and Hope. 

 It is plainly designed to evoke a general sentiment of penitence 

 for the sins, whether personal or national, of the past, and of 

 courage in facing the moral and spiritual difficulties of the 



