The Henson Journals

[79]

Tuesday, December 1st, 1914.

120th day

The wind has fallen: & the temperature also. I finished the Oxford Sermon, with which, however, I am altogether discontented. I attended Evensong in the Cathedral. Colonel Grimshaw, who is in charge of a battalion of recruits, called on me. He seemed very much interested in the house.

After dinner I wrote again to Charlie Cunninghame, who is clearly much drawn towards the Papist persuasion. His letter indicates more agitation of mind than knowledge or intelligence. It is very rarely that the spiritual issue is rationally determined. Some personal influence operating along the lines of sentiment & emotion, & fitting in surprisingly with some exceptional experience, is commonly the determining factor. Something also must be allowed for the activity & unscrupulous methods of the proselytisers, who set themselves to create a situation of mental perplexity, which in some cases they are themselves quite powerless to rectify. This young man is more than commonly homeless & friendless. His professional lot, on the threshold of the dramatic career, casts him into the company of Papists, & carries him away from Anglican influences. He would seem predestined to be a 'convert'!

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