THE CHURCH AND THE WAR.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR.'] SIR,—In your correspondence, under the heading of " The Clergy and Military Service," the crux of the matter hardly seems to have been touched on, for is it not the question whether the Church is or is not making the best of the opportunities given her by the war to fight those evils which we are told are on the increase through the war? To fight evil one must have some sympathy and understanding with regard to the evildoers and their tempta- tions, and what good parson has not lamented the difficulty of understanding the point of view of all but one class—his own? I have seen a letter from a Soots " Tommy " who prophesied that " after the War " the parsons would have to be taken from among the men who have been in the trenches. " Our chaplain, he do not know what the men have to go through." " The brother- hood of the trenches " is admittedly the only good thing about the a•ar. It has bred a mutual understanding, sympathy, and admira- tion among men of the most widely divergent bringing up, experience, and outlook. From this brotherhood the young cleric alone is debarred, though he of all men is most likely to preserve after the war its lessons and traditions. Only the best of ChaPlains, who manages, though an officer, to share the priva- tions and dangers of his men, may attain unto it. But it is well known that there are more applications for chaplaincies than can be entertained, and that the best kind of chaplain is not very often born, but has more often to be made. Very opportune, then, seems the suggestion of Mr. Robson that the Church, like every other profession, should spare her young men for a season to bind up the wounds of our soldiers and wash their feet. The lessons of humility, sympathy, and understanding that they would thereby learn would stand them in good stead when they were trying to carry out the Master's further behest, "Feed my sheep."
—I am, Sir, &e., A ME3IDER OF THE C. OF E. AND A V.A.D.
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