14 JANUARY 1938, Page 19

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR, —The remarks of "

Janus " and the subsequent letters appearing in your columns have interested me a good deal, and possibly you may care to publish the views of a layman who for over sixty years has been in the habit of attending church on Sundays and for the last forty years mostly in the country.

It is my firm conviction that the spiritual needs of the great majority of people are best met by a Celebration at 8 a.m. (or 8.15 a.m.) with Matins and Sermon at I1 a.m.

My Axperience is that the Choral Eucharist at 1 r a.m. repels far more people than it attracts, and on that ground alone it seems undesirable that it should become the common practice.

When away from home in country districts, to know that by attending the local church he can hear the prayers and the lessons which he has grown to love has always seemed to me to be one of a churchman's greatest privileges. I trust that those in whose hands lies the destiny of our Church are not

going to upset this.—I gin, Sir, &c., ROGER P. SING. Long Wittenham Manor, Berks.