111E NATIONAL MISSION OF REPENTANCE AND HOPE [To TEE EDITIM.
or THE " SPECTATOR."'
Sur, Within the next few weeks the Anglican Church will be entering upon its National Mission of Repentance and Hope. The reason for entering upon that Mission at the present time is of course connected with the great and devastating war in which nearly every European country is now engaged. It is happily a bfission in which all classes of Churchmen can and will unite. Its primary object is, I suppose, the renewal, and at the same time the raising to a higher standard, of spiritual life among Churchmen in order to prepare them for what awaits them during and after the war. But the Mission, like the Church, is national, and let us hope that the effect of the great volume of united prayer which will result from the Mission will prove beneficial both to the Church and to the nation. Repentance is always timely. Hope is ever sustaining. The deeper our repentance the more certain our hope will become. The hope of every one in this country, save a negligible few, is for the victory of ourselves and the countries allied with us. Why not therefore give expression to our hope fully and honestly during our _National Mission If we believe, as we all of us do, that our cause is just, we are entitled, nay, it is our duty, to pray for victory. We all desire peace at the earliest possible moment, but no one desires peace without victory. Why not then say what we mean ? Why try to 'hoodwink the Almighty Think too of the effect it would have on our soldiers who on the various battle-fronts are making the supreme sacrifice if they knew that the united prayers of the Church during the National Mission were going forth on behalf of that without which their sacrifice will have been in vain. Let us pray for peace indeed with all our hearts, but for victory first. I know I am not the only layman who holds this view.—I am, Sir, ate., Jesus T. Tatvis-CLecie. Whalley Abbey, Whalley, Lancashire.
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