Churchmen do you estimate there are wearing the King's colours in this branch of the service?”
“Of course, it would require close reckoning to tell the precise number up to date. I can tell you this much, however: in the Army estimates for the year 1901 provision was made for a permanent establishment of 291,273 soldiers; of these, you may safely reckon that at least the 200,000 are adherents of the Church of England. They present a strong claim on the attention, the care and the ministry of the Church. The Convocation of Canterbury has officially declared that ‘the spiritual condition of soldiers while serving in the Army is of great importance to the nation.’ The other elements, in addition to numbers, which give special weight and urgency to the claim I once summed up in a sermon preached at St Paul's Cathedral at the Festival Service of the Army Guild. Here it is. I remember it was reprinted from the columns of the Church Times. This is what I said in proof of the Church's responsibility towards men in the Army:—Soldiers are not merely men, but they are young men. Burning passions and craving appetites demand satisfaction. It is not the soldier, but the young man, that succumbs to temptation and is wrecked. Soldiers are just at that age when all workers for God find it so difficult to exert or to retain any influence for good over
