The Henson Journals

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Wednesday, November 20th, 1912. New York.

A brilliant morning with warmer temperature. After breakfast Dr Briggs fetched me out to see the Seminary Library. It reflects his own distinctive interests, various learning, & untiring industry. He shewed me his books, in which he had made bibliographies on divers subject. Equipped with funds, placed wholly at his disposal by private friends, he has an absolutely free hand in the selection & purchase of books. The Pamphlet literature of the 16th & 17th centuries is represented with remarkable fullness. Not even the great British libraries contain so much. Every branch of study proper to a divine is well provided for, & the needs of the working clergyman are not left out of mind. From the teaching of small children in the Sunday School to the advanced studies of sacred Philosophy & Ecclesl science – all are provided for in this place. The library contains over 100,000 volumes, & is administered by a librarian & 6 female assistants. The latter are educated women having a knowledge of English, French, German, & Latin. Add that the buildings in which all the work proceeds, and the teachers & scholars are housed, are themselves ample in scale, & of a beautiful architectural from. By arrangement with the Board of Regents the degrees of B.D. & D.D. are given, & are said to represent a very creditable standard of work. Five years must have elapsed after the B.D. was taken before the student can be admitted to the highest degree: & for three of those years he must have been continuously [221] [symbol] engaged in theological study. The doctorate is awarded on some book, which is accepted as the sufficient result of this period of labour. All this seems very thorough. When one remembers that McGiffert is among the Professors, one needs no further assurance that the critical teaching will be at once liberal & thorough.

The Union Seminary was originally Presbyterian, but it has ceased to be so, though Presbyterians predominate on the Board of Directors, which, however, includes representatives of no less than five churches. I inquired whether Jews could be admitted as students, & was informed that there was one Jewish student now in the Seminary. He made no scruple of attending the chapel services. There are a few Episcopalian students who go through the whole course: mostly the Episcopalians take a year at Union Seminary, & then finish their training elsewhere. Appleton Lawrance, the Bishop's son, did this.

Dr Briggs & I walked for nearly an hour on the noble esplanade overlooking the Hudson. He assured me that the Modernist movement has strong hold on the Roman clergy in America: & gave me several striking instances of his personal friends who hold high office in the Roman Church, & are convinced Modernists. But, for the time being, they 'have gone into winter quarters' as one of them said. But Dr Briggs is so enthusiastic on the subject that I must needs doubt the value of his testimony.

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I asked him what reasons had induced him to become an Episcopalian. He disclaimed any doubt in the validity of Presbyterian Orders, & proceeded to explain at length the circumstances in which he consented to be re–ordained. He had been the victim of a 'heresy–hunt': & he had been much pressed to become the leader of a new 'movement', & even the Founder of a new 'Church'. But he had a deep repugnance to any such course, being convinced that to add to the divisions of the Church wd be an unpardonable thing. So he considered what his course shd be. The Episcopalians had supported him in his troubles: the Episcopal Church more than any other urged the duty & value of organic Unity: as an Episcopally ordained minister he wd both acquire the intellectual liberty which he required, & the platform for his labours for ecclesiastical unity which he desired. So, on the express understanding that his re–ordination implied no doubt in his own mind as to the validity of his original Presbyterian Ordination, he had received Episcopal ordination. This had raised the question of his retention of his Professorship in the Union Seminary, which was then accounted a Presbyterian institution. The Board of Directors considered the question, & decided that the literal expressions of the Trust deed permitted them to retain him as a Professor. Thus one consequence of his Re–ordination had been the stamping on the Union Seminary of its non–denominational character.

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We lunched very pleasantly with Dean Grosvenor & his sister in a flat commanding the noblest prospect of the Hudson & the Palisades. Our conversation turned on the Episcopal Seminary, which is said to have become a very narrow & narrowing institution. One of the students who had heard my sermon in the Presbyterian Church on Sunday morning had been so moved that he forthwith decided to leave the Seminary, & betake himself to the Yale Divinity School.

Ella went on to see Mrs Gates: but, as the time was short, I returned to the Union Seminary, & there revised my second Lecture, which I delivered at 5 p.m. in the Chapel. There was a large & very attentive audience: at the end, the President thanked me in a few well–chosen words: & so we made an end of that business.

Mrs Worthington called to see us. She has become quite thin & even attenuated in appearance so that I could hardly recognize her.

We wound up the day by dining with Professor & Mrs Adams–Brown. He is Mrs Edward Moore's brother. The Scottish preacher, Hugh Black, was there with his wife. He is a wild theatrical–looking person, with a nimbus of fuzzy hair sticking out grotesquely. He looks adequate to his reputation as a highly popular preacher of the sensational type which sectaries love.

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