Another good Christian man at Modder River was Mr. Fraser, a Scotch Presbyterian, whose house had been most unfortunately wrecked by the bombardment.  He and Mr. Westerman met week by week, during the period of the Boer invasion, for Christian worship.  These two gentlemen rendered splendid service to our Christian soldiers, and to them both we are greatly indebted.  Every chaplain, every scripture reader, every agent of every society, every Christian soldier was now busily at work.  The battles had made a great impression on the men.  The war had only just begun, and they knew there were other terrible fights in store.  The sight of the dead and dying was something to which they had not yet become accustomed.  The stern reality of war was upon them, and, as Mr. Lowry wrote, ‘There are no scoffers left in Lord Methuen’s camp.’  Take one instance out of many.

=’After Many Days.’=

Years ago, in Gibraltar, a sergeant came to a Christian soldier, and with words of scorn and blasphemy asserted his own independence of any power above him.  Said he:  ’My heart is my own.  I am independent of everything and everybody, your God included.’  The reply was a soldier’s reply, straight and to the point:  ’Jack, some day you will face death, and, who knows, I may see you, and if the stiffness does not leave your knees before then, my name is not what it is.’

Three years passed since then—­three years of prayer on his account—­and on the night of November 28, 1899, after the river had been passed, a hand was laid on that Christian’s shoulder, and a voice said:  ’Joe, I have done to-day what I have not done for thirteen years:  I have offered up a prayer, and it has been answered.  I have these last few hours seen all my life—­seen it, as, I fancy, God sees it—­and I have vowed, if He will forgive me, to change my ways.’

With Christian thoughtfulness his friend did not remind him of the incident at Gibraltar, but it was doubtless present to both minds just then.  So does war melt the hardest hearts!

=Open-air Work.=

The letters from Christian soldiers at the front are full of stories of conversion.  Again, we hear of private soldiers and non-commissioned officers at outposts conducting parades.  After Magersfontein, the Christian influence deepened and the number of conversions increased.  By-and-by, enteric began to claim its victims, and the Home had to be used as a fever hospital.  Open-air work then became the order of the day.  Some of the Christian soldiers met between six and seven in the evening, and marched to the camp of a regiment or battery, where they held what they call an ‘out and out’ open-air meeting.  Sometimes they would get as many as a thousand listeners, and often the Word was so powerful that there and then men decided for Christ.  The Saturday Testimony Meetings were gatherings of great power, as our soldier-lads told to the others, who crowded round, what a great Saviour they had found.