THE NATIONAL MISSION.
(To sza Enrroe or rim "Ssecrssna."1 Sns,--It was too wet on Sunday morning for trench-digging, and my corps of Volunteers, some five hundred strong, attended service in the charming old-fashioned village church. The service was a very helpful one, and the sermon admirable. I was astonished to learn, however, from the announcements that at the request of the Bishop of the diocese, that of Rochester, two meetings in connexion with the forthcoming National Mission, one in the Anglican and the other in the Nonconformist church, conducted jointly by their representatives, had been cancelled. The matter was widely and adversely commented on by members of the corps. I wonder if the Bishop knows that Inch' an attitude is quite inexplicable to ordinary people, and to the lay mind appears paltry and bigoted in the extreme. Never, I suppose, were men's minds more disposed to be serious and to accept spiritual guidance than now. What are we to think then when we find these who should lead us and who hold great positions in the Church so often exercised about such little things? The pity and folly of it all! I have no wish to be merely destructive and to indulge in criticism for criticism's sake, but I think I may be serving the interests of real religion if I can get the Bishop of Rochester and others who may think with him to know how such action impresses ordinary people.
—I am, Sir, de., WOODWARD ASTON. 7 Wycombe Gardens, Goldcrs Green, N.W.
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