The Henson Journals

[179]

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4th Sunday after Easter, May 10th,, 1914. Benwell Tower.

Being awake early, I read in bed Macewen's "History of the Church in Scotland' [sic], a very interesting and well–written book. He notes in connexion with the early Scotic missions the strange co–existence of scandal & confusion at home & conspicuous evangelistic ardour abroad. 'When darkness brooded over the centres of the Church, lights were kindled on her outskirts'. I think we are witnessing the same remarkable coincidence at the present time. How is it to be explained? Partly, perhaps, the domestic scandal breeds disgust in independent minds, & predisposes them for foreign enterprises. Thus an uncomfortable home induces in children an eager wish to get out of it. Partly, corruption in the home church may be the effect of a general ferment, social, political, & intellectual which loosens all bonds of use & wont, & facilitates every form of extraordinary action. The activity of the missionaries will be but one aspect of the general movement. Partly, men fly from their doubts, and seek to re–assure themselves in the world of action for their new sense of defeat in the world of thought. Christianity, stricken in its theologies, is rebuilt in its practical triumphs.

[180]

I preached at Jesmond Parish Church at Mattins in [sic] behalf of the Church Missionary Society. There was large, but by no means a crowded congregation. The coins in the collection numbered nearly 700: and the building is said to be capable of seating as many as 1100: yet it looked full. The offertory only amounted to £25.5.0: but the parish sends in to the C.M.S. about £700 yearly, and this year raised in addition over £900 for the Swanwick Fund. It is extraordinary, & indeed inexplicable, but it is the fact that the C.M.S. calls forth in its supporters the same kind of self–sacrificing enthusiasm as the Church moves in a fanatical High Churchman, or the Papacy in a modern Papist. I lunched with Inskip, the Vicar. He told me much about the rather squalid bickerings which have harassed the Bishop of Newcastle since his appointment to the see. It is melancholy to see so much unscrupulousness & personal venom in the minsters of the Sanctuary. Canons Lister & Gough appear to be the mainstays of the rebellion against episcopal authority.

The churchwardens at Jesmond keep a register of the duration of every sermon. Mine took 32 minutes. I was amused, but not surprised, to see that Canon Ottley of the Imperial Sunday League held forth for 57 minutes. The churchwardens, however, appear to have dealt faithfully with him afterwards.

[181]

The Bishop shewed me his garden, & the glass–houses in which was wondrous fair promise of nectarines, peaches, & grapes. He has a simple candid joy in all these things, which makes me think him sincere, & therefore deserving of regard.

I preached at St Thomas' Church. This is extra–parochial. The parson is a large man, with a great voice, & 13 children! There was an immense congregation, and, though my discourse was rather 'over the heads' of many, it listened with close attention to my words. I preached from S. Peter's words: 'Can any man forbid the water &c?', & referred to Kikuyu.

After supper the Bishop & Bishop Ormsby (who is also staying here) had a considerable discussion with me as to the necessity of the Virgin–Birth to the idea of a Divine Incarnation. These old gentlemen are well–intentioned, but ignorant of modern criticism, & very nervous of the possible consequences of any departure from the beaten path of orthodoxy. "All that any of us can fairly ask of you is that you, as a Bishop, will refuse to be hustled into another heresy–hunt" – that was my final observation to the Bishop, who replied that he could promise so much. That is about as far as one can reasonably hope to bring a modern Bishop.

[182] [symbol]

I am coming to the conclusion that no credit whatever ought to be attached to the hostile statements about Straton, which are accepted as postulates in London. It is admitted that he has raised the income of his diocesan fund from under £2000 to over £4000 per annum. I am assured that he commands the confidence of 'the quayside' – an expression which I interpret to mean the mercantile community. It is not to be denied that he was encountered by an insolent & unscrupulous opposition when he came in to the diocese, and that he carried himself with patience & dignity. The men who have mostly insulted him, & created the unfavourable impression which is so general, are themselves very unattractive persons. Vibert Jackson seems to be scarcely sane: Lister is a venomous old man, disappointed in the matter of preferment, & no longer influential in Newcastle. Gough impresses me as a 'windbag' on the make. Bishop Straton is destitute of the superficial graces, which clothe their owner with popularity: and such confidence as he receives he has to merit. He takes a very simple, almost crude, view of the ecclesiastical situation, &, perhaps, fails to make equitable allowance for the shock which his direct speech & methods causes to clergymen, habituated to the sophistries of "Catholicism". But he believes what he says: and has no 'cards up his sleeve'. The lay–folks like this.

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Issues and controversies: Kikuyu