The Henson Journals

[74]

5th Sunday after Trinity, June 30th, 1918.

1427th day

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A beautifully fine day, and neither hot nor heavy. Mr Berry fetched me in a taxi soon after breakfast. He is a tall man, goodlooking, with an alert intelligent look, and a pleasant manner. I was told that he is about 36 years old. He wore the hood of an Oxford M.A. and belongs evidently to the "progressive" section of his Church. I suspect that he regrets the collapse of the "new theology" movement. There was a large & attentive congregation in the morning, where I preached on "Reunion", taking for my text: the closing sentence of S. John's first epistle: "Little children, guard yourselves from the idols". I lunched with Mr Keape, who entertained me when I made my memorable visit to the Digbeth Institute in 1909. At 3 p.m. I went to a meeting of the Soho Brotherhood, and gave an address to about 300 men. At 6.30 p.m. I preached again at Carr's Lane to a very large congregation. My text was: "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord: & shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved". After the service I was taken to an open–air service for the Navy Mission, and gave a short address. This was rather a poor performance, & confirmed me in my dislike of such services. The taxi that had been ordered failed to turn up, & I kicked my heels outside the parish church for ½ an hour while another was fetched. At last I got home, tired but not wholly discontented with the day's experiences.

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