The Henson Journals

[213]

Saturday, October 11th, 1919.

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I wrote to David Bulmer about his father's resignation of Canon Pyon. Also, to George. Then I tried to write a letter to the diocese, but made little headway. After lunch I walked with Godfrey to the top of Dynedor. The views were wonderful, & the autumnal tints become daily more astonishing.

I incline to decide that I will preach in Canterbury Cathedral on the incommunicableness of personal responsibility. The reversion to pagan v medieval doctrines & systems of "corporate" obligation has now proceeded to such lengths that "private judgement" is becoming an object of open ridicule in the Church of England. After all, the family & not the Trade Union or the Guild is the model of the Christian Church. And freedom is essential to family life. The bond of discipline is love, not fear. Authority not dominion belongs to the Head. But we are drifting back to "corporate" tyranny, and are coming clearly into view of a society ordered in the rigid grooves of caste. This preposterous 'throw–back' to earlier phases of social development we allow ourselves to describe as progress. The Report of the Archbishops' Committee on Christianity and Industrial Problems will furnish me with a sufficient example of the mental & moral confusion of the modern Church.

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