5 OCTOBER 2002, Page 30

According to Matthew

From Mr Patrick Moule Sir: Matthew Parris (Another voice, 28 September) has forgotten his early upbringing. 'The hosts of Gideon' didn't prowl and prowl around; it was the troops of Midian. J.M. Neale, that great hymnographer, got it right: 'Christian,' he said, `up and smite them, counting gain but loss.' He would hardly have cast Gideon, one of Israel's heroes, as one to be smitten by the Christian warrior.

Patrick Moule

Yetminster, Dorset