The Henson Journals

[500]

Friday, July 7th, 1916.

704th day

I finished "Belief and Practice". It is a dull, pretentious book by a Scottish Episcopalian, who has persuaded himself that he has discovered such an argument for rigid Episcopalianism as cleanses that hard theory of its intolerable narrowness. "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet". It is a good rule in religious discussions to judge the argument by its conclusions. These new Anglican 'reconcilers' reverse the method, & insist on playing tricks with the old arguments while clinging even passionately to the old conclusion: whereas all the pother arose about the intolerable character of the latter. The former would have served well enough otherwise. The reasoning which he offers as justifying his rejection of the Roman claims is really fatal to his own thesis. He discloses the set of his interest, and the bias of his mind, in the eager yet embarrassed effort to define the 'Mass', and the Virgin Mary is always referred to as "Our Lady". Not rarely he seems to be talking elaborate nonsense: but this circumstance arises rather from a confused mind than from any conscious lack of candour or lucidity.

The "Times" contains an extensive summary of the Report of the Archbishop's Committee on the Relations of Church and State, and has a non–committal leader on it. The leader in the "Guardian" is hostile, and rather contemptuous. The exclusion of Deans from Convocation and the admission of Curates is a proposal which may serve to disclose the bias of the Report! No serious attempt to grapple with the real problem, viz: that of the franchise, is made: & the only really new suggestion is that of a Committee of the Privy Council to act as a kind of "buffer state" between the new Church Council (which is only the Representative Church Council under a fresh name) and the Houses of Parliament. My first impression of the Report are certainly not favourable.

[498]

I went to the little hospital where Marion now mostly spends her time, and talked to some of the wounded. All are very cheerful & simple. Yet it is a miserable spectacle, provoking melancholy thoughts. After dinner I took Marion for a walk on the cliffs. We heard the sound of heavy guns (as we conjectured): and this continued intermittently until nearly midnight. The night was too unfavourable for Zeppelins to permit the supposition that a Zepplin raid was in progress.

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