The Henson Journals

[411]

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14th Sunday after Trinity, August 24th, 1913, The Hague.

'Freedom of discussion & speculation was, as we saw, fully realized in the Greek & Roman world, & then an unforeseen force, in the shape of Christianity, came in & laid chains upon the human mind & suppressed freedom & imposed upon man a weary struggle to recover the freedom which he had lost.'

History of Freedom of Thought, p. 247.

Thus the Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge expresses himself about the Christian Faith. Inevitably one contrasts the ardent declaration of the principal missioner of that enslaving creed: "With freedom did Christ set us free: stand fast therefore, & be not entangled again in a yoke of bondage". The Apostle would have been startled by Dr Bury's language. Nor is it easily to be harmonized with such judgements as those of Dr Hort, and Dr Glover, to name two Cambridge scholars whose words are in my mind. Dr Bury's immediate predecessors in the Chair of Modern History – Bp. Creighton & Lord Acton – would hardly have endorsed his dictum. They would have asked for a definition of 'freedom'; and pressed for a more precise account of the 'chains' which Christianity has 'laid upon the human mind'.

[412]

It is a notable 'sign of the times' that a Regius Professor of Cambridge should publish for widest popular reading a book which is a frank attack on Christianity. The scornful tone of Gibbon is sustained throughout: and the reader becomes quickly conscious of a personal loathing for the Christian Point of View which underlies everything, & sometimes finds rather surprising expression. The Author quotes with evident relish the flagrant blasphemies of Voltaire, Tom Paine, and Swinburne. Francisco Ferrar [sic] is depicted as the martyr of reason & freedom of thought. Even the coarse blasphemers who defile the London Parks are championed. Children are to be taught 'that "distrust thy father & mother" is the first commandment with promise'. It is not perhaps surprising that Dr Bury refers to the Roman Church with obvious sympathy: & reserves his most scornful language for Protestantism, and especially for 'liberal Anglicans'! Obsessed by his conception of Christianity as a religion of intellectual servitude, he welcomes a Church which accepts that version of the Faith: & resents as a personal reflection every attempt to vindicate for Christ's Religion a worthier character. When one tries to infer his own beliefs from his pages, one can hardly avoid the conclusion that he is a materialistic Rationalist. He describes Ostwald's Monism with significant sympathy, and even maintains that it may properly be described as 'a religion'.

[413]

We went by tram to the English Church, arriving full early. The Chaplain's house adjoins the Church, which is set in a pretty garden. There was a large congregation. I preached from Isaiah II. 2–4 about the prospects of peace in the modern world. Afterwards Mr & Mrs Ratford took us to lunch with the American minister, Mr Bryce.

After lunch we (i.e. Mr Bryce, Ratford, & I) had a vivacious discussion on the social outlook. Like all Americans he is extremely reluctant to admit anything discreditable to his own country. He shewed signs of restiveness when I made an allusion to the extraordinary scandal now parading at Albany, & would admit nothing derogatory to the scoundrel who now runs "Tammany", 'Boss Murphy'. I was interested & distressed to hear him allude to the Marconi episode as evidence that corruption obtained also in Great Britain: & he was politely incredulous when I assured him that no serious person believed that there had been any real dishonesty in that melancholy business. He gave me an interesting account of the attempt to restrain the "Standard Oil Trust", and shewed how total had been its failure. And he was confident that the superior brains of the "Trusts" would always defeat the efforts of the Socialists. On the whole, he thought this was to the general advantage. Yet he admitted [414] that there was grievous hardship to individuals in the existing régime. He instanced from his own experience the case of Lowell, a town which had recently been the scene of sanguinary strikes. Once the heads of the industry had lived with their workmen, & been respected, even beloved. The sterner competition of the present day had compelled them to link their industry into a greater concern, to 'speed up' methods, and reduce expenditure. They soon discovered that they no longer needed the old skilled workmen, but could get their work well enough done by inferior men imported from Europe. Hence an infinitude of suffering, & resentment!

We were taken to Scheveningen, where we had tea with Countess Bentinck, whose son is on the Embassy here. The tram–line runs through the Park. We saw the Peace Palace which is to be publicly inaugurated next Thursday. The inevitable Carnegie provided £300,000 for this building. It is as an architectural effort not offensive. Scheveningen was the place from which Charles II departed for England. We were interested to see the quaint caps of the fisher–women in the streets.

We dined in the Hotel pleasantly enough, save for the too close proximity of a party of Jews, of whom the men smoked cigarettes in the intervals of the courses, to which none the less they appeared to do ample justice. There are too many Jews here for comfort: vastly too many for charity!

[415]

Mr Bentinck was at some pains to explain to me the political situation in Holland, which is sufficiently confused. The burning question on which sides are taken is the question of Education, shall it, or shall it not, be religious? The Papists & a section of the Protestants combine to make this issue paramount: & in this partnership it follows here as everywhere else that the Papists score. The Liberals, too weak to form a government by themselves, have offered 3 seats in the Administration to the Socialists, who have declined the offer, preferring liberty of criticism to the responsibilities of office. This decision, however, has diminished their credit among the people, who see in it a proof of the factions & unpatriotic spirit of Socialism. It is thought that a moderate Administration may be formed by a coalition of the Liberals with the conservative Protestants: but even if such an union can be effected, it will have no elements of stability, and will certainly fall to pieces shortly.

I noticed the journal of the "Keswick Convention" lying on a chair in Countess Bentinck's house. I infer that she at least, & perhaps other members of the family are captivated by the neurotic sentimentalism of that strange movement, which makes one despair of the sanity of Evangelicalism.

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