The Henson Journals

[151]

Monday, April 21st, 1919.

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"They talk (but blasphemously enough) that the Holy Ghost is president of their General Councils: when the truth is, the odd man is still the Holy Ghost".

In these words Selden cuts the sinews of clericalism, old & new. I observe that to make sure of "the odd man", and then to transform him into the Holy Ghost, is the normal procedure of clericalists. They wire–pull and job with cynical astuteness in order to secure a majority in advance of the session, and then make a point of inaugurating the proceedings with a Celebration of Holy Communion, and a very devout singing of the "Veni Creator" all kneeling! Thus they gull men into forgetting what has gone before, & how secure the result has been made. I do not think I am mistaken in thinking that there has been a great development of wirepulling in the Church of England since the "Catholick" faction became dominant. There was always a considerable amount of rather squalid manoeuvring about the distribution of Crown patronage, but not anything comparable with the present organized planning for definite purposes. Partly, the democratisation of ecclesiastical life is responsible for the change. We are tied and bound to the familiar devices of public meetings, representative committees, &c &c, and the number of individuals interested, more or less corruptly, in the Church's administration is ever multiplying. So "the odd man" becomes more than ever important.

[152] [symbol]

Bishop Jayne of Chester sends me the printed letter in which he bids farewell to his diocese. It is not a long or a great document, but it is not without a certain value as a "sign of the times". He thinks that the main obstacle to Christian work is the division of belief & practice about the Holy Communion: "Is it not notorious that within the bounds of the Anglican Communion at the present time, beliefs are entertained on this subject wh. are not merely divergent, but are mutually destructive?" This is no doubt the case, but who cares? To my thinking the really serious feature of the present situation is the fact, (which the War has emphasized) that the Churches are no longer of any real importance. The modern world has moved away from them, and is only bored by their conflicts. In a secularist society all forms of religion are equally absurd, and the most picturesque & complaisant are the most tolerable. Is this new indifference the result of a dying down of the primary beliefs on which Religions rest? or, is it merely the consequence of the rise to power of the multitude which was always brutally secularist, but has only now become vocal and dominant? "Kikuyu", of which the Bishop speaks so solemnly, only arrests the attention of the public by its uncouth sound. It raises a laugh, & points a gibe, nothing more.

[153] [symbol]

I arranged my papers relating to the Anson Memoir, with a view to Miss Anson's arrival. After lunch I motored Dicey to Kilpeck, and shewed him the little gem of a Norman church. Miss Anson and her sister arrived just before dinner.

I wrote a letter to the "Times" in answer to several which appeared in that journal. Mrs Berry's mother died this morning, and Mrs Berry must needs attend the funeral. So we are bereft of the cook precisely at the time when the house is filled with guests. Could anything be more untimely and provoking?

Miss Anson will certainly be disappointed at the state of the Memoir. So far as the amount of material goes, the book is well advanced. Taking the Clarendon Press Memoir of Sir William Markby as a standard, I have about 40,000 words as against 35,000, with the President of Magdalen's contribution yet to come, and the concluding chapter unwritten. There must also be some extracts from the Journal, & letters. Thus there is quite sufficient material in quantity, but it is lamentable in heterogeneousness & confusion of arrangement. My expectation is that the general verdict will be that the book was not worth writing: that it is lopsided, and scrappy: that the editorial contributions are ill matched in form & temper to the bulk of the book: that it is excessive as a memorial of a public man, and quite inadequate as a tribute by a friend!

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