The Henson Journals

[106]

Saturday, October 12th, 1912. New Haven.

Church history falsely written is a school of vainglory, hatred, & uncharitableness: truly written, it is a discipline of humility, of charity, of mutual love.

Sir W. Hamilton. Discussions. 50b.

The weather is dull & warm. I wrote three letters before breakfast.

I am rather alarmed to find that these Albany people have published the subject of my address on the 16th in a gravely amended form: "The Value of Historical Studies to the Higher Learning". The last clause has been evolved from the inner consciousness of Mr Commissioner Draper, & is remote from my intention, & not very clear to my understanding.

From the printed syllabus I see that all the speakers are Americans with the solitary exception of myself, &, perhaps fitly, I come last on the programme. Thereby, moreover, I shall at least have the advantage of observing the tone & type of the addresses which my predecessors deliver: & I shall avoid some pitfalls, into which otherwise I might have fallen. But the more my mind travels over my subject, the less obvious appears its connection with the function, into which it is to be introduced. Besides this, there is a horrible dubiety as to "Governor Dix", from whom – apart from the original cable which was sent on from England – nothing has been heard, though I have both telegraphed & written to him!

[107]

'The only thing that deserves to be called culture is the daughter of such 'creative freedom', or in a word 'art', and with art philosophy – genuine creative philosophy & science – is so closely related that both must be recognized as two sides of the same being; every great poet has been a philosopher, every philosopher of genius a poet. That which lies outside this microcosmic life of culture is nothing more than 'civilization', that is, a more highly potentiated, increasingly more industrious, easier & less free ant–like state–existence, certainly rich in blessing & in so far desirable, nevertheless a gift of the ages, in the case of which it frequently remains exceedingly questionable whether the human race does not pay more for it than it receives from it. Civilization is in itself nothing, for it denotes something merely relative: a higher civilization could be regarded as a positive gain (i.e. an 'advance') only when it led to an increasingly intensive intellectual & artistic shaping of life & to an inner moral enlightenment… Today all ethnographists & anthropologists distinguish clearly between morals & religion, & recognize that both in a certain sense are independent of each other: it wd be just as useful to learn to distinguish clearly bet: culture & civilization. A highly developed civilization is compatible with a rudimentary culture.'

Chamberlain "Foundations of the XIXth century" p. 25, 26.

[108] [symbol]

We spent the morning within doors: I busied myself with making notes for that hateful address, & reading. After lunch mine host & I walked for an hour & a half in front of the house conversing pleasantly, & watching the grey squirrels, which here are numerous & extremely tame. About 4 p.m. Mrs Bacon called for us, & carried us off to the Golf course, which is beautifully placed beside a lake formed for the water–supply of New Haven, & commanding a most beautiful prospect on every hand. The autumnal colourings had not the amazing wealth & brilliance which marked the Berkshire hills, but their more sober hues, reminding us of our native country, were pleasing & beautiful; while the softness of the air & the bright sun seemed rather to promise summer than to herald winter. Here Professor Bacon joined us, & we all had tea comfortably at the Club–house, conversing delightfully the while. Bacon tells me that Scott the author of the Book on the Fourth Gospel, which I read with so much pleasure this spring, is now a Professor at Kingston in Canada. We discussed the religious situation in Yale. It would seem that Evangelicalism, which prevails, is failing to appeal to the undergraduates. Some Roman Catholic students join the Y.M.C.A. of course without the knowledge of their priests. Generally I gathered that here, as in the English Universities, 'there is a slump in religion'. In both cases the reason seems hard to determine.

[109] [symbol]

There was a pleasant dinner party of academic folks. The guests were Prof. & Mrs Bacon: Prof. & rs Farman: Mr & Mrs Porter: Anson Phelps Stokes: Dean & Mrs Brown: & Miss Olney. The last lady hailed from San Francisco, where she was residing during the last earthquake, of which she gave me a lively description. I was much questioned as to the Putumayo Atrocities, of which the company had the haziest notion. My intention of addressing the students tomorrow evening on the subject was applauded. Stokes told me some stories about Figgis's visit to America, which indicate in him much lack of good temper & good manners. It is not without interest that he described the theological school at Cambridge, Mass in the most unfavourable terms, stigmatizing the professors (with the single exception of Rheinlander, now Bishop of Pennsylvania) as Unitarians. I suspect that he said Rheinlander is one of the neo–Tractarians, half sacerdotalist half socialist, who now multiply in both hemispheres. The new Dean of the Divinity Faculty, Brown, hastened from dinner to catch the train to New York, where he has temporary charge of one of the churches. Such is the physical energy of these Transatlanticks that they can travel all night & preach all day without showing any signs of fatigue.

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Issues and controversies: Putumayo