The Henson Journals

[159]

8thSunday after Trinity, August 1st, 1909.

By an unfortunate error we failed to attend service. We omitted to set forward our watches half an hour, & were misled by consequence into supposing that the cornet which announced the service was but a preliminary call. We thus arrived just when service was ending.

I had another long conversation with Dr Denny. He speaks hopefully of the prospect of Presbyterian reunion in Scotland, but is rather discouraging as to the outlook in Canada where a project for uniting Presbyterians, Methodists, & Congregationalists is being discussed. He says that there is a prevalent reluctance on the part of the Presbyterians to unite with the others. Methodists are too oligarchic in system & too emotional in temper. Congregationalists are too chaotic. In the last Presbyterian synod, which debated the subject, nearly half the ministers & elders present abstained from voting. In Scotland the main, perhaps the only, barrier to reunion is the political issue – Establishment. I suggested that if disendowment could be avoided, it ought not to be impossible to concede the point of disestablishment. He did not dissent from this. We discussed preaching and preachers. He expressed his dislike of the too common practice of neglecting the text, & preaching 'at large'. He said that he had once admired Liddon greatly, & read all his [160] published sermons; but he had now concluded that Liddon's intellect was very inferior to his reputation. I spoke of Dean Church, & he agreed in my admiration for his preaching, adding that no Anglican preacher was more widely read in Scotland. He asked whether the Dean of Westr was highly accounted as a preacher, and I replied that he occasionally preached impressive sermons, which had secured for him a considerable reputation. He said that he had been disappointed in the Dean's attitude towards theological questions, & was inclined to doubt his concern for liberal principles in that sphere. I said that the Dean was mainly an antiquarian, too fond of ecclesiastical position to run any personal risks.

After dinner we walked on deck for more than two hours. The full moon, rising from behind a dark belt of clouds & finally escaping from them, was a splendid spectacle. I recalled Sir Walter Scott's simile in the Antiquary. He compares the moon in the clouds to a virtuous man struggling with adversity.

My conversation with Dr Denny took a direction more intimate & solemn, as we discussed the strange severity of Christ's teaching in the New Testament, & debated how it could be faithfully represented in the teaching of the Church today.

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