LETTERS
Presume not God to scan
From Mr Richard Ritchie Sir: Andrew Roberts should be more care- ful (Diary, 23 October). Lady Mosley is theo- logically sound in claiming that she does not know whether Hitler is in Heaven or Hell, and Andrew Roberts is presumptuous in suggesting that Lady Mosley will join him in the one place or the other.
Besides ignoring Our Lord's command `Judge not, that ye be not judged', Andrew Roberts cannot possibly know the state of Hitler's mind when he died, whether he repented of his sins or whether he knowing- ly and wilfully wished to be separated from God for all eternity. In any case, unless we are saints, none of us is likely to enter Heaven immediately without having gone through Purgatory first (a possibility which Roberts appears to overlook).
I am afraid I detect the 'Tory party at Prayer' in his remarks — one of the more disagreeable aspects of the Church of Eng- land, to which I assume Andrew Roberts belongs. But these are serious matters and what happens after death is (or ought to be) at the heart of any religion. No Chris- tian should presume to say that Hitler is in Hell any more than he should say the same of Judas Iscariot. In the month of Novem- ber at least, we should content ourselves with praying for the souls of both. In Cardi- nal Newman's poem, when Gerontius final- ly comes face to face with God, his first reaction is to cry out `Take me away'. The Catholic knows that this is the likely response of all of us.
Richard Ritchie
36 Dault Road, London SW18
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