26 APRIL 1957, Page 15

BOND AND FREE

SIR,--On a point of theology. In your leading article last week you said, 'To say that all men were and even should be treated as the sons of God was, therefore,, to initiate a revolution as extreme as any before or since.' Surely this should read, 'To say that all men should be treated as and even might be- come the sons of God was . . .' etc. (John i, 12 and Rom. viii, 14.)

No doubt your conclusions are sound. But they would be even more sound if they were drawn from right principles. For I believe that a great deal of harm can follow from the not-so-uncommon assumption that not only does God set an infinite value on His creatures but in doing so k He is only giving them what, after all, they deserve.

And to be told that he must love his fellow-men not only for -what they arc intended to be but also for what they actually are would seem to at least one person to Make the practice -of the Christian faith even more difficult than it already is.—Yours faithfully,- J. N. F. EARLE IS Cowper Street, Redfield, Bristol, 5