The Henson Journals

[199]

Monday, March 18th, 1918.

1323rd day

After breakfast I visited the church with the Rector. It contains the tombs of the parents of Lord Herbert of Cherbury, & George Herbert. It is a fine monument, with the two recumbent effigies side by side, & a whole row of children above them. There is also a fine carved screen, with rood loft, & miserere stalls. I drove to Montgomery station, about 3 miles, & took train for Shrewsbury. Thence I came directly to Hereford, where I arrived at 1.38 p.m., and found a pile of letters awaiting me. The rest of the day was expended in dealing with an accumulation of correspondence.

[200] [symbol] [symbol]

To the Bishop of Birmingham

March 19th 1918

My dear Bishop,

Some months ago I accepted an invitation to preach in Carr's Lane Church, Birmingham: & I do not think it would be either right in itself or expedient for me as Bishop of Hereford to withdraw from an engagement wh. I had made as Dean of Durham. It would, however, be a great satisfaction to me, & a great advantage to the Church, if I cd be assisted by your goodwill & approbation. Legally, as I maintain, no Bishop has jurisdiction within the walls of a dissenting chapel, wh., so far as he is concerned, is no more than a private building: but, of course, this technical point is trivial beside the large issue of our relations with those non–episcopal churches wh. have now by God's Blessing grown to be mighty instruments for the world's evangelisation. I think the time has fully come for establishing exchange of pulpits, & though the working out of a satisfactory system will take time, it is really important to keep the main question in evidence by occasional acts. I gather from many utterances of yours that you are in agreement with me in thinking that the C. of E. must take a new departure, & that that new departure must carry it into closer relations with the churches of the English Dispersion.

Yours ever,

H. H. Hereford

[201]

I licensed three curates, and instituted one incumbent – Rev. R. W. Bennett – to the parish of Linton. After the oaths had been taken, and I had signed the documents, I went into S. John's Church (the Lady Chapel), and performed the act of institution. First, I read the concluding prayers of the Ordination Service: then I read the deed of institution while Bennett knelt before me, holding the seal: then I pronounced the benediction, laying my hand on his head. After lunch I motored to Canon Palmer's house, & fetched him out to take me to S. Martin's Home for Penitents. The Mother–Superior from Brighton happened to be there, a quaint–looking old body. I was shown over the house where a score of "penitents" work at a laundry under the supervision of five sisters. I told them they might wear the vestments in their chapel, as they were not a parochial church! On the whole I was better pleased with the place than I expected to be. I wrote to the Bishop of Manchester and the Dean of Carlisle about the Church & State Report. It is clear to me that I can do nothing in the way of amending the Selborne scheme. Also I wrote to the Bishop of Bristol inquiring about the position of the diocesan chancellor: and to the Bishop of Birmingham about my visit to Carr's Lane Church. I had projected a visit to Kilpeck to inspect the Norman church, but the heavy & persistent rain deterred me from my purpose. I finished reading "Middlemarch", which I found interesting. The analysis of the religious type expressed by Bulstrode is amazingly accurate & acute.

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