By:
Edited by Heyman Wreford
By the Editor
The Work of the Army Service Corps
NO man can fight unless he is fed, and so the feeding of the Army is a problem of the highest importance. The Army Service Corps must work unceasingly by night and by day, for lining the trenches are thousands of men who cannot leave their posts, and to whom everything must be brought, and brought oftentimes on cold, dark nights, under shell fire and in pouring rain. And many a time the men who brought the rations had to carry back their wounded and their dead.
We see in our picture on the cover officers and men taking supplies to the firing line. It is a moonlight march through mud and water; men bearing heavy burdens on their shoulders for their fellows, and petrol tins we see make an excellent receptacle for the water. The bread and the water of the fighting man must be secured to him. And none can tell, but those who are engaged in it, the ceaseless necessary toil involved in carrying out this necessary work.
And the soul must be fed as well as the body; the “bread of life” and the “water of life” must be carried to every man. We must help in this great work, and do our part to see that every man carries in his pocket, or in his kit, the little khaki Testament that contains the food for his immortal soul. We must be God’s Army Service men.
The angel of death is passing along the broken lines of the trenches, and the shadow of his presence darkens all the scene. In the midst of death we must tell them of One “who has abolished death,” and where human life is squandered in the awful carnage’ of the battlefield, we must speak of “life and immortality” brought to light through the gospel. They want the gospel. And, thank God, faithful men are preaching it to them, and men and women at home are praying for them, and sending them the “Holy Scriptures,” which are able to make them wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
An earnest worker in France writes: — “I can and do assure you the contents of your parcel are most welcome... I hear again and again of men finding peace in believing. To show how necessary your service of love is, I have sometimes been almost out of Testaments, etc., etc., and perhaps one thousand men leaving for the fighting line the same night. God bless you.”
Yes, and God will bless you if you help to supply this terrible need. May it never rise against us — what we might have done and what we did not do. The hungry souls of men are craving and crying for the “bread of life” and the “water of life.” Dare you withhold it from them? It almost breaks my heart to think of the awful need of these precious souls. Has the burden of these souls been laid upon you? At home you can read your Bible in comfort, and go to church or chapel, or meeting-room, to praise and pray. Out yonder, ‘mid the smoke and flame, men are looking in the face of death for days together. In the pauses of the awful warfare we see them on their knees praying, or reading the little Testament which you have helped to send. Won’t you be glad in eternity that you helped to feed the souls of men?