’Yours faithfully,

     ’NEVILLE CHAMBERLAIN, Colonel, Private Secretary.

     ‘To the Commanding Officer.’

THE PRAYER.

’Almighty Father, I have often sinned against Thee.  O wash me in the precious blood of the Lamb of God.  Fill me with Thy Holy Spirit, that I may lead a new life.  Spare me to see again those whom I love at home, or fit me for Thy presence in peace.

’Strengthen us to quit ourselves like men in our right and just cause.  Keep us faithful unto death, calm in danger, patient in suffering, merciful as well as brave, true to our Queen, our country, and our colours.

’If it be Thy will, enable us to win victory for England, and above all grant us the better victory over temptation and sin, over life and death, that we may be more than conquerors through Him who loved us, and laid down His life for us, Jesus our Saviour, the Captain of the Army of God.  Amen.’

We venture to speak of the issue of this beautiful prayer as the most notable fact in the history of the war.  We do not remember that anything of the kind has ever been done before.  It testifies to the personal trust of the British general in God, it takes for granted that ours was a righteous cause, and it recognises the fact that above the throne which we all reverence and respect there is another throne—­the throne of God.

[Footnote 6:  Army and Navy Messenger, April, 1900.]

=The Christian Influence of Lord Roberts.=

Lord Roberts had been for years the idol of the troops.  It was touching to hear our Christian soldiers at Aldershot pray for ’dear Lord Roberts,’ or familiarly speak of him as ‘our Bobs.’  All their fears went when they knew he was going to the front, and they were ready to follow him anywhere.  Moreover, the Christian soldiers always remember that he was the founder of the ‘Army Temperance Association,’ which has become such a power for good all over the world.

He is a gentle, lovable man.  The story is told that soon after the entry of the troops into Pretoria Lord Roberts was missing, and when at last he was discovered he was sitting in a humble room with two little children upon his knees.  The officer who found him apologised for intruding, but said that important business required attention.  Lord Roberts merely looked up smiling and said, ‘Don’t you see I am engaged?’

But Lord Roberts is not only a Christian man, he is a great soldier.  This is what concerns the country most; only in his kindliness and Christianity we have the assurance that he will never unnecessarily sacrifice life, and that he will enter upon no enterprise upon which he cannot ask the blessing of God.  To our chaplains and other Christian workers his sympathy and help have been invaluable.

It is outside the purpose of this book to follow the general in his movements, or to discuss the scheme which turned the victorious Cronje into a vanquished and captured foe.  Suffice it to say that that great flanking movement—­perhaps the greatest on record—­has won the admiration of all military critics, and, brilliantly conceived, was as brilliantly carried out.