His idea is that we should try to forget about the
war for that brief half-hour or so. These talks are very
popular; we get large 'congregations,' and these services
really do much more good than the official Church Parade,
when the battalion often has to stand in the cold for about
an hour on end before the service commences."
To this description of religious services at the front Sydney Baxter
adds the following note. You will remember that he writes of what he
himself has seen and felt. He has fought in the trenches, and we who
have not, have got to face life from his point of view if we are to
understand and help him in the days to come.
"The majority of the men who used to attend these services
would probably shock the ordinary church-goer. These chaps
would occasionally swear, at times they certainly got too
'merry.' But this did not make them any the less good
fellows. Unless one has actually been at the front, it's no
good arguing with him or trying to make him understand the
front's point of view. What man who has not been through it
can even dimly imagine the after-effect of continuous
bombardment and heavy shelling? This I do want to say: the
whole time these men were at the services they were far more
reverent than many I have seen in churches in England.
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