The Henson Journals

[141]

3rd Sunday in Advent, December 14th, 1902.

I celebrated at 8 a.m. in the Abbey, and in the course of the service, asked for prayers on behalf of the Archbishop of Canterbury, who is reported to be seriously ill.

I preached at Mattins in S. Margaret's: the congregation was small in numbers, & poor in social type. I begged hard for the Rochester Diocesan Society, but only raised £24, which was sufficiently disappointing, especially as I left myself little voice for the afternoon sermon in the Abbey.

There was a large congregation at 3 p.m. but not unusually large. I rather suspect that the Dean's Saturday afternoon lectures are affecting injuriously my Sunday afternoon congregations. People who have come to the Abbey on Saturday, are disinclined to repeat the process on Sunday. I preached for about 35 minutes on "Judgment by associations". On the whole, the people seemed to be attentive.

At Evensong in S. Margaret's, Kirshbaum preached a very good sermon: & afterwards I gave a very short instruction on "Judgment".

Lyster Jandron came to church & supper.

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