LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
[In view of the paper shortage it is essential that letters on these pages should be brief. We are anxious not to reduce the number of letters, but unless they are shorter they must be fewer. Writers are urged to study the art of compression.—Ed., "• The Spectator."j PRAYER AND DUNKIRK
SIR,—Excellent as it is, Canon Barry's article under the aboVe heading does not, as it seems to me, touch the ultimate problem involved. May I venture to carry the discussion a stage or two further? In common with the great majority of my fellow countrymen, I have no doubt about the final victory of the forces now engaged in the war against Nazidom and Fascist Italy— that unholy alliance. But, as a Christian, I find myself compelled to face the possibility (remote though it may be) of defeat, and to ask myself what would happen, in such circumstances, to my faith in a loving God. Would it, could it, survive such a catastrophe?
Facing that issue, I turn to (a) such knowledge of the ways of God as I have drawn from consideration of certain facts indica- tive of the terms under which man lives on this planet, of which the most important seems to be that there is no evidence any- where that God will do for us what is within our power to do for ourselves. To put it crudely, God does not manufacture munitions, nor train armies. Those are our affair. If defeat came upon us because we were not as well prepared as it was in our power to be, would that event demonstrate that faith in God's love as futile? By no means. (b) I look at the history of the Christian era. Do I always find that the temporal prosperity and security of Christian nations and communities were preserved from destruction at the hands of pagan invaders? I do not. Considerations of space preclude illustrative instances, nor should they be necessary to the readers of The Spectator. (c) I turn to the New Testament. Do I find there any warrant for the belief that a righteous cause must always and inevitably prevail, in the sense that the nation or nations defending it can never be defeated? I do not. What I do find is something quite different.
I find a " theory of life," or a " faith," which " has overcome the world," which is nowhere better set forth than by St. Paul in Rom. viii, 35-39. There are all the possibilities of a Nazi victory detailed one by one, and there is the triumphant claim that when all is said and done, they cannot " separate us from the love of God." If Hitler reigned in England the darkness of the bottomless pit would descend on our civilisation indeed. But those who " have overcome the world " could throw his victory in his face. " This you have done, and there is nothing more you can do" (see Our Lord's words, St. Luke xii, 4). The defeat of England would not be the defeat of the kingdom of God, for that kingdom is " not of this world," but " within " the hearts of its subjects.—Yours obediently, All Hallows-on-the-Wall, E.C. 2. H. MARTYN SANDERS.
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