TheCompleteMemoirsOfGeorgeSherston

"Great was the sacrifice, but it was supremely
glorious. He compared us to the early Christians who
were burnt alive and thrown to the lions. cYou must
not forget5, he added, 'that Christ is not the effete
figure in stained-glass windows but the Warrior Son
of God who moves among the troops and urges them
to yet further efforts of sacrifice.'

"He concluded impressively by reciting, with lifted
hand, twj verses from the American hymn God goes
marcking^ on. Except, perhaps, for the early Christian
comparison, the troops rather liked it."

Talking to Velmore (whose eye I had resolutely
avoided during the oration) I remarked that it was
the spiritual equivalent of Campbell's bayonet fight-
ing lecture, and I still think that I was somewhere
near the truth. It was the bishop's business to say that
sort of thing to the troops, and no one was any the
worse for it—least of all himself, for I never saw a man
who looked more pink and well-nourished. Would he
talk like that again, I wonder, if he got another
chance?

Anyhow his optimism was confined to the imme-
diate present and did not include the pluperfect
future. What he should have said was, "We are going
on with this War because we ruddy well don't intend
to be beaten by the Germans. And I am here because
I believe in keeping religion in touch with the iniqui-
tous methods by which nations settle their disputes.
And you are here to try and prevent it happening
again." But when he told us that the Huns were get-
ting weaker every week, not a man in the battalion
believed him. They had heard that sort of thing too
often before.

If he had told us that the War would end in four
months' time we should have charitably assumed that

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