Mexborough & Swinton Times – Saturday 25 May 1940
Our Refuge and Strength
The King’s call to prayer comes at a grave moment not only in the history of our Empire but of the whole world. We may reflect bitterly how the hypnotic trance which grips the small European neutrals and the nervous and short-sighted dallying of America leave the Allies to bear the brunt of a cause that is Christendom’s, but the stark reality of the situation now offers us no immediate comfort other than Cromwell’s curt injunction to trust in God and keep our powder dry.
It is the strength that is in us and that added strength which, if we will, we can draw from God which will keep the banners of Christian culture flying from our battered bastions even with the Hun hammering at our very gates. And so on Sunday let us all with one accord come together in one mighty surge of uplifted faith. Let us thus forge for ourselves an unassailable unity of spirit, purging our souls of puny misgivings. There is open to us a never failing source of spiritual power which our Nazi foe has spurned and derided. We must draw deeply from this limitless reserve; the issue has gone beyond reach of ordinary effort and we must rouse ourselves, put on the whole armour of God, and face inflexibly the furies of the fundamental struggle upon which we are now embarked. In the coming days much may depend upon the staunchness of the nation.
Germany will send over her hellish legions of bombers, and we know what to expect from dastards who revel in directing their murderous attacks against helpless hordes of refugee women and children already well-nigh demented with weariness and terror. The nation’s prayers must be not only for power to strike back and resolution to fore? home the counter strokes, but also for steadfastness to withstand the vilest blows of a merciless adversary aimed at its very heart.
Our creed is of triumph through suffering and, sustained by the faith of two thousand years, in this dire crisis it is demanded of us that, like our great Master, we do not flinch from the ordeal which faces Now or never we must fight the good fight with all our might, refreshed and uplifted by the great act of prayer in which our Sovereign leads us.