22 JANUARY 1916, Page 11

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPBCTATOlt."1

Srs,--Your correspondent " Plain Speech " exhorts the clergy to preach the best of all sermons : " the declaration that they themselves will abstain from alcohol while the war lasts." A very large percentage of us cannot take part in this Spectator campaign because we were abstainers long before the war began. We cannot urge our people to adopt wear us a war self- denial (if it be self-denial), when for ourselves it would mean the continuance of our ordinary habits. We cannot lead the way, for we are there. And entirely as we sympathize with the Spectator, we cannot preach that " best of all sermons." In the face of " Plain Speech's " criticisms, one almost feels that

Carew Vicarage, Pembroke.