THE KING’S BUSINESS 549 priests and professors, but we have never heard of any censure from Rome. The Pope’s notorious peace proposal was clearly of German origin. On the other hand, the Pope has never raised his voice in any clear and ringing way against the appalling atrocities of the Kaiser and his minions, even when visited upon faithful Roman Catholic subjects. Cardinal Merrier, who has proven himself a true shepherd of his people in the outrages to which they have been subjected, has‘ had no hearty support from Rome. The papacy has been one of the most dangerous enemies that the cause of the Allies has had. A very large share of the Roman Catholics in America, both priests and people, have been loyal, but the influence of the papacy as a whole in other lands has been altogether bad and sinister. And not a few of our Irish Roman Catholics in America, in their bitter hatred of England, have done what they could to foster a revolution in Ireland that has been inspired by Germany. TTOW A SOLDIER FEELS IN BATTLE. “ The following is a letter written by a soldier, whose name we omit, to a dearly beloved friend of- the editor, William Bradley, who is doing a won derful work among the soldiers in Egypt. This letter was written some time ago. The censor scratched out the names of places, and the place from which the letter was sent: I I am afraid that my report this month must be a personal one rather than a general report, for the greater part o f the time I have not seen nor heard from the dear lads to whom I have thé honor to minister. The great thing to which our thoughts turn, is the fierce battle at —------ and those o f us who came out alive, look back and marvel at the mighty protecting power o f God. The narrow escapes we had, the near presence of God in the midst o f terrific shell fire, abundantly prove the truth o f the Psalmist’s statement “ The Lord is my strength and fortress.” I do not know how my dear comrades fared in the battle, but one thing is abundantly clear—they feared death little, but feared God -much. A little before my own Battalion went into action, and just at the time when the noise o f the fight was' terrible in intensity—four o’clock on the Monday afternoon—Bro. Rowe came up to me and said “ Praise God, Yea, though I walk through the valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil, for THOU art with me.” When Bro. Went approached, he too exhibited a wonderful faith—“A thousand shall fall by thy side,’’ he said, “and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall NOT come nigh thee.” This was the last word I had from either o f them. I have had none other since, but I know that this faith is the real thing—the faith which endears men to God and which would, should they be called upon to make the great sacrifice, ensure for them, through ,Jesus Christ, a much higher promotion. At twenty minutes past five, Tuesday morning, I had the narrowest escape from death that ever man had. I heard a shell coming and threw myself into a hole hard by. The shell burst just over the hole and killed and wounded my surrounding com rades. Only a few o f us, six in number, reached the trenches, only to receive a terrible baptism o f shell fire, Lying flat at the bottom o f the trench, covered with dirt by the bursting shells, gasping for breath, the end did not seem far away, when God spoke to. me, “ I will never leave thee nor forsake thee” and I knew I would be safe from then. Now this experience is no exaggeration—I honestly felt God’s presencé. Oh, that any one who knows not Christ, chancing to read this, would accept Him and prove Him to be all that is said o f Him. The promise o f God was graciously fulfilled, for later during the fight, one, bullet tore a hole in my tunic, another shot away one o f my tunic top buttons, and a third hit my equipment at the back and glanced off the brass buckle. The Lord had placed a shield round about me. Another incident I must record, clearly establishes the love Christian men have one for another. During the shell fire previously mentioned one o f the six men had curiously enough carried in dear Horace Wake o f the 4th, who had been wounded
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