The Henson Journals

[35]

Saturday, May 5th, 1917.

1006th day

The weather continues bright & warm, but there is some wind, & the feeling in the air is ominous of change. Perhaps a fortnight of sunshine is as much as we may dare to hope for. Before breakfast I wrote to Carissima. The post brought a letter from Philip, asking me to help him to get into the Army. His father has tried vainly to get him exemption, & he now seeks some carpeted way to a privileged corner: but this he will hardly succeed in finding, and I think his true interest lies in "going through the mill" honestly. I wrote to Lawrence Holt in the interest of George, whose prospect of getting into the Wilson Company's service has failed, as their shipping losses have compelled them to reduce their personnel. So the War cuts into the plans of a Durham chorister–boy! I presided at a meeting of Chapter. There was but little business. Afterwards I went round to the University Library, & consulted Stocks about Philip. He counselled his seeking admission to an O.T.C. [Officer Training Corps]: and I wrote to Philip accordingly, adding some words recommending service in the ranks as a very valuable experience for a parson.

[36]

I attended Evensong, and afterwards had some talk with George in the garden. Then I called on Budworth at the School, & arranged that he shd preach in the Cathedral on June 10th. A crank wrote to me about the Fourth Commandment: and I replied thus:–

May 5th 1917

Dear Sir,

It cannot surely be doubtful that the 4th Commandment is not binding on Christians as on Jews, for Christians observe, not the 7th day of the week, but the 1st. Does it, therefore, follow "that we have no moral law of Sunday observance"? Does it not rather follow that our law of Sunday observance represents (or, shd represent) the Christian version of the 4th Commandment? The Decalogue is a summary of the Moral Law: and the Moral Law draws its authority, not from Moses or (specifically) from Christ, but is implicit in our relations as creatures to our Creator. But the 4th Commandment contains also a ceremonial element – the appointment of a particular day, & the enactment of a particular method of observance. This ceremonial element is abrogated, but the moral law with which it was associated by Moses, stands for ever. When we rehearse the Commandments in Divine Service, & pray that our hearts may be inclined to keep them, surely we mean that we may understand them rightly, & keep them as Christ wd have us keep them. I cannot follow your remarks on the bearing of Christ's teaching in the Sermon on the Mount. You seem to me to miss the point wholly. That the essence of transgression lies in the purpose, rather than in the act, is an aphorism of the higher morality. That it may be necessary to break the letter in order to fulfil the intention of the Law is, again, part of morality, & Christ illustrated it conspicuously by His treatment of the Sabbath.

[37]

You appear to attach strangely little weight to the Christian authority on which Lord's Day observance rests. Yet it may be Dominical: it probably is apostolic: it certainly is primitive, continuous, & practically universal. To anyone who believes that the Holy Spirit has been active within the Christian Society, such authority amounts to something more than "a human convention".

Believe me, Yours faithfully

H. Hensley Henson.

The "Times" includes in the names of "Fallen Officers" that of Fred. Thesiger, Lord Chelmsford's eldest son. He was little more than 20 years old. I remember him as a shy little fellow, rather terrified by his first experience of Winchester. The massacre of the Boys goes on gaily. More than 60 second Lieutenants are in today's list of 'killed'. These lines signed 'R. E. Vernéde' appear in the "Times".

All that a man might ask, thou hast given me, England,

Birth–right & happy childhood's long heart's–ease,

And love whose range is deep beyond all sounding

And wider than all seas:

A heart to front the world & find God in it,

Eyes blind enow but not too blind to see

The lovely things behind the dross and darkness,

And lovelier things to be:

And friends whose loyalty time nor death shall weaken

And quenchless hope & laughter's golden store –

All that a man might ask thou hast given me, England,

Yet grant thou one thing more:

That now when envious foes would spoil thy splendour,

Unversed in arms, a dreamer such as I,

May in thy ranks be deemed not all unworthy,

England, for thee to die.

(Written in the trenches)

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