The Henson Journals

[315]

4th Sunday after Easter, May 17th, 1908.

Gow celebrated at 8 a.m. There were 24 communicants.

There was a large congregation at Mattins, but it was more than commonly feminine. Hine–Haycock intoned the service, and assisted at the celebration. I preached and celebrated.

Merton and Ernest Bennett came to lunch.

The Bishop of Pretoria, whom I knew well 21 years since as Carter of the Eton Mission, came to see me this afternoon.

At Evensong there was a fair congregation. I preached on the 'Love of Money'. Aiken–Sneath intoned the service.

The Admiral, Custard, & Denham came to supper.

[316]

The Lectures at Yale are fixed for the following dates:–

1. Wednesday, April 21st
2. Friday, April 23rd
3. Monday, April 26th
4. Wednesday, April 28th
5. Friday, April 30th
6. Monday, May 3rd
7. Wednesday, May 5th
8. Friday, May 7th

Preaching pledges as follows:–

April 25. Preach at Yale.

? May 2. Preach at Harvard.

[317] [symbol]

On Tuesday and Wednesday (May 19 & 20) I sat daily from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. in the Church House working at the revision of the Prayer–book. We did not make very much progress.

On Wednesday night I travelled by the express from King's Cross to Edinburgh, arriving to the minute. I drove along Prince's Street to 39 Palmerston Place, admiring the beauty of the scene.

After breakfast mine host & I walked to the Assembly Hall, and attended the opening of the proceedings. The new Moderator, Dr Theodore Marshall, is a fine figure of a man, & fulfils his duties with dignity. I slipped away, under Reid's guidance, to pay visits of courtesy to the rival Assemblies. The U.Fs have a fine Hall, & conduct their business with gravity. The members have the aspect of earnest & even enthusiastic men: but the 'Wee Frees' are a horde of squalid savages. The discussions on the claims of individuals seeking admission to the Ministry of the Scottish Church were keen, & interesting: but they left me wondering what might be their value to the Church, & what risk they implied of grave wrong to individuals. As a court for judging heresy I cannot think a numerous Assembly to be satisfactory. In this respect our Erastian tribunals are better constituted. Fleming took me off to lunch at his club. Sir Ralph Anstruther [318] [symbol] was of the party. I prepared his two daughters for Confirmation, but had never met him. The U.Fs spent the afternoon in debating their disestablishment policy. Many unwise & uncharitable things were said, but the division showed that the party of strife is waning. For no more than 380 voted for the resolution, & no less than 167 voted against it. The bulk of the assembly abstained from voting.

The next day (Friday, May 22nd) we went to the U.F. Moderator's breakfast in the Music Hall. The proceedings began with prayers &c, & after breakfast, there were some short speeches. I had to speak briefly. The main part of the day in the General Assembly of the Estd Church was filled with the Reunion debate, to which the proceedings overnight in the rival assembly added zest. An excellent speech was made by Norman McLeod, & Prof. Patterson spoke on the same side. A venomous–looking man named Wane did all the mischief he could on the other side, & was seconded by a strange–looking fanatic called Sutherland, but Lord Balfour spoke effectively, & in the end they were shown to be but a fraction of the Assembly. Later in the day there was an Appeal & Petition from a lady & her son on the subject of unfermented wine in the Holy Comn, they being strong tee–totallers, & conscientiously unable to communicate like ordinary Christians!

[310] [symbol]

Lady Frances Balfour, Col. Burn, Dr & Mrs Scott, and a parson from the Shetland Islands dined. I found Col. Burn's conversation most interesting. He was a friend of Curzon, who asked him to go to India as his military secretary. He had raised & commanded a regiment in the Boer War. Lady F.B. tells me that Cooper murmurs against my admission to the Assembly, & that the Lord High Comr inquires anxiously whether I am 'sound'!

On Saturday, the 23rd May, I got up betimes, and went for a walk along Prince's street before breakfast. The loveliness of Edinburgh filled my eyes & stamped itself on my mind. The green turf, through which the dark rock pushes in naked wedges which cast fantastic shadows, is wonderful. The gardens brilliant with flower–beds form a splendid foreground: & the line of buildings along the crest of the hill, though hardly including a single notable fabric, are yet by some happy instinct of grouping combined into an effect, at once dignified & romantic. In truth I am altogether in love with 'Auld Reekie'. There was not much of importance stirring in the Assembly. Delegates from the Churches in England attended, & some kindly references were made to me. I observed with some interest that they confessed resentment at the exclusive attitude of the Church of England and some consciousness of pressure from the Dissenters to take sides against that church. In the afternoon I listened to the 'Scottish Kensit', the Rev. Jacob Primmer, [320] [symbol] who attended at the bar of the house to prosecute an appeal, or rather two appeals, against the action of the Presbytery of Edinboro. The man is a short, stout, bearded creature, with a loud voice & a ribald wit, not dissimilar to our Kensit, with whom he is naturally compared. He was listened to with much gravity, and his appeal dismissed.

Then I attended the reception of the Moderator's lady, which rather bored me. After this, mine host took me to the Grass market, and then to the Grey Friars Churchyard where is the Memorial to the Covenanting Martyrs who – to the number of 18000 as the inscription affirms, though I suspect that most of these fell in battle as rebels – were martyred during the reign of the restored Stuarts, 1661–1688. In this churchyard are gathered many sepulchral monuments of Scottish families – monstrous erections at once sinfully proud & woefully ugly. Alexander Henderson & William Carstares were side by side. Here also I came upon the tombs of my wife's ancestors – the Dennistouns of Dennistoun. This churchyard seemed a revelation of Scottish character, in which individualism is so marked a feature, that it shapes the very fashion of their sepulchres. Moreover it threw light on the sectarian divisions of Scotland. As they will not lie side by side in a cemetery but must needs build walls round their several graves, so will they not worship together, but must needs have as many churches as worshippers!

[321] [symbol]

In the evening we dined at Holyrood. Lloyd–George, who is here for a Licensing–Bill demonstration, was one of the guests. I got a few words with him on the Education question: he seemed the reverse of optimistic. My friend, Miss Jean Bruce, had arranged that I should take her in to dinner, so that I was quite happy in that matter. Indeed she was so gracious as to get her Grace's permission to carry me off to the private apartments, & show me the quaint pictures of the child Mary, & the child her son. The latter represents the boy kneeling at prayer with a company of nobles.

On Sunday, the 24th May, I preached in S. George's. There was a large & very attentive congregation. Afterwards I lunched with Dr Scott, & met Prof. Kay (Prof. of Hebrew at S. Andrew's). Then I returned to mine host. At tea–time there came in Mr Caie, the minister of S. Matthew's, Morningside, where I had arranged to preach. This arrangement was duly carried into effect. The Church, which is handsome and commodious, was crowded to excess; & the attention was excellent. The elders came in to the vestry afterwards, & thanked me. At supper, Prof. Paterson & Prof. Kay came in, and we had much & pleasant conversation. Assuredly there is good stuff in this Church of Scotland, & we of the English Church are great fools not to get on terms with it, & to have its support in the ill times which are coming upon us.

[322] [symbol]

On Monday, the 25th of May, I attended the Moderator's breakfast at the North British Hotel. The Moderator himself took Miss Jean Bruce, & left me to solace myself with Miss Dalrymple, who proved a cheerful & amiable companion.

The proceedings at the Assembly, were neither uninteresting nor unimportant. In the forenoon, an hour was spent discussing the 'form of process'. The presbyteries are responsible for maintaining good discipline within their bounds: but this involves an indefensible combination in the same hands of the functions of prosecutor & judge. A motion was made limiting their duty to the preliminary inquiries, & providing for the reference of a case certified by them to be judicable to some central court for judgement. This however, was rejected in favour of a milder proposal.

I was hospitably given lunch by Fisher in his club, & with us came also the redoubtable Prof. Cooper. He spoke incessantly of the extreme value of daily services, & public catechisnig [sic], so that there was no need for me to say anything, whereby doubtless friction was averted.

On returning to the Assembly, I found that the Formula debate had just begun. By an overwhelming majority the Presbyteries had rejected the new formula proposed to them at the last General Assembly. Five new formulas were proposed, & all were rejected. Finally, on the motion of Dr Scott, supported by Prof. Paterson, the whole [323] [symbol] subject was referred to a Committee, with instructions to bring it forward again next year. Warr, the minister of Rosneath, moved the abandonment of the whole matter for the time being; & he led into the lobby 103 members of Assembly, but he spake without conviction & without impressiveness, & his following was mainly made up of the opponents of all change.

One old man – Gillan – made quite a moving speech against any alteration of the existing formula: his speech, though plainly counter to the sentiments of the House, was greatly applauded. The Committee received 237 votes. It is evident that no more than half the members were in attendance.

Then I attended a meeting in the 'Edinburgh Café' to promote a monument commemorating Calvin, whose 'quarter–centenary' occurs next year. Patterson spoke admirably. I moved a vote of thanks to Lord K. for presiding. Finally we attended the reception at Holyrood. There was a fearful crush, and I was rather bored especially as I failed to discover Miss J. Bruce until just when we were going off. She introduced me to her brother, a soldier quartered at Stirling. We got our carriage after some delay, & reached home about 20 minutes before midnight.

[324]

On Tuesday, May 26th 1908, I attended the session of the Assembly in the forenoon, & was rewarded by hearing an admirable speech from Dr Wallace Williamson, the junior minister of S. Cuthbert's. He was seconding the Report of the Home Missions Committee, which had been moved in a rather declamatory speech by Dr Martin, the minister of the Barony Church, Glasgow. Of both these speeches it must be said that they belonged rather to the type which we associate with a public meeting than with that which we should think proper to a deliberative body.

Cameron Reid took me to see the portraits (engravings and photographs) of the Moderators from George Buchanan until this present time. From the reverential way in which these portraits had been spoken of by several Members of the Assembly, I expected a series of oil paintings, such as that of the Deans of Canterbury preserved in the Deanery there: & I was inwardly amused at the spectacle of a set of prints & photographs such as many an English incumbent collects of his predecessors in his course. It was one more evidence of the patriotic megalomania thro' which the Scotch see everything Scottish! After lunch Reid & I went to the Scottish National Exhibition, where we looked at the pictures. There are many excellent portraits by Raeburn. In the industrial section who shd we run into but Miss J. Bruce with a gay party from Holyrood? Returning to Edinburgh I made early purchases, & then went to dine with W. Forrest, [325] a learned pundit of the U. F. Church, who is just back from Palestine. Then I 'took up my carriages', & made tracks for the Waverly Station, where I caught the night express for King's Cross.

On Ascension Day May 28th 1908, I preached in S. Margaret's at 11 a.m: and then went off to Lowestoft, and preached there. I stayed the night with Tupper Carey, the Rector; and on Friday morning made the round of the docks, & watched the fishermen discharging their catch on the quays, where it was rapidly sold by auction. In the afternoon, I returned to Westminster.

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Issues and controversies: prayer book revision; Yale lectures; licensing bill; formula debate; Assembly; education bill