ORDINANDS AND MILITARY SERVICE
Sta,—As a Deacon ordained since the outbreak of war—at Michaelmas—I was very interested in Mr. Wallace-Hadrill's letter on Ordinands and Military Service. The present scheme has the advantage that any man desiring to be reserved for divinity studies must be approved by the Bishop, which is a help to him if accused of cowardice, and a help in weeding out bona-fide ordinands. I do not think the majority of ordinands are likely to imagine that their vocation is first and foremost to render service to the nation. That is the mistake of the " German Christian " heresy. Our vocation is first and foremost to render service to Christ, which at the moment entails serving the nation, but serving it in Christ's way. And Christ's way of service probably differs for different ordinands. Is it not right that the Bishops should advise each man separately? As regards Mr. Wallace-Hadrill's contention that the majority of ordinands will not run the risk of being called cowards, I would rejoin that it is better for the Church that any such man keep out of her ministry. No man should take up the service of the Gospel unless he realises that it is the world's most vital need, that it is the life without which life would cease to have any meaning for him personally, and that in it he must bear the reproach of the Cross, that is, he must be exposed to false accusations of cowardice, of pettiness, of lack of enterprise and misdirected effort, and of a great many other things beside. He must be small and despised, and therefore effective. If he is afraid of this, he has not loved Christ unto the death nor taken up His Cross. If he thinks that when evil abounds there is any job more urgent than the service of the Gospel, then that Gospel is not for him the ultimate salvation of God, for it is when evil presses that we know whom we really trust. Let him take service with men, if his trust is there, and then learn by experience that it is God in whom all things repose. The Church in the meantime will carry on, for God will give us all the leaders we need.
Remember Gideon at Gilead, and King Henry V on St. Crispin's Day, and Garibaldi to his troops. And remember that Our Lord was but one man, yet what a Man! It is quality of faith, not numbers, that works God's work.—Yours P.S.—The Church may well say to doubting ordinands what Mordecai said to Esther, namely, " If thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then shall relief and deliverance arise to the Jews (i.e., the Church) from another place, but thou . shalt perish, and who knoweth whether thou art not come to the kingdom for such a time as this? " (Esther, iv, 14).
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