THK CHURCH AND THE AKMY. 



205 



really cribbed from another heretic, the late George Tyrrell. I 

 was not quite certain of the words. The precise words are in 

 his much-abused letter. 



Written Communications. 

 The Rev. Prebendary H. E. Fox, M.A. 



Canon Hannay has ably described the condition of the religious 

 life of the Army as it appeared to him ; and much of his criticism of 

 the influence of the Church, both at the Front and at home has, 1 

 fear, some foundation. But there are features both there and here 

 which are overlooked by the ordinary observer. While what the 

 Canon has said, with one or two exceptions, deals with the obvious, 

 I will not say superficial, there is naturally very little about the 

 deeper influences of religious life, about which those who look for 

 them, and know how to do so, could give a more hopeful picture. 

 This occasion is hardly a suitable one for the discussion of this part 

 of the great problem. But many facts have come to my knowledge, 

 which show that there are forces at work and agencies employing 

 them, which do produce results on a considerable scale, and far more 

 real and permanent than all the good things rightly attributed to 

 the Y.M.C.A. or the Church Army, or even the average Chaplain. 

 Inquiry from those intimate with the work of the Soldiers' Christian 

 Association or the Open- Air Mission, would produce evidences of a 

 spiritual power laying hold on human nature, and of the actuality 

 of what is meant by the old-fashioned words " conversion " and 

 " godliness," far more than are generally known. These are realities 

 which the men can understand and welcome, and which they can 

 distinguish from the platitudes of those good people with the 

 best intentions, who hardly know how to reach the deepest needs of 

 the human heart, or how to give the Divine answer to the cry, 

 perhaps scarcely understood by him who makes it : " God be 

 merciful to me, a sinner." 



The Rev. Chancellor J. J. Lias, M.A. : — 



Many of us instinctively feel that inasmuch as the revelation of 

 God in Christ is the last to be vouchsafed to man on earth, it is 



