The Henson Journals

[43]

Quinquagesima, February 15th, 1920.

"Either we have something to teach people which is greatly worth their learning, or we are no more than the paid advocates of a silly superstition" ̶ that searching dilemma was proposed to me in the Athenaeum by the Bishop of St. Asaph.

The glass was falling, and the roads wet when, accompanied by James, I started in the motor at 9.15 a.m. We reached Presteign in good time, & I preached in the parish church to a considerable congregation. Then we walked in procession to the cemetery which was (as I judge) about half a mile distant. Here I consecrated the burial ground. One of the choir men carried my pastoral staff. We lunched at the Bull Hotel as the guests of the Rector (Kewley). After lunch we motored to Discoed, rather more than 2 miles distant, & forming part of the parish of Presteign. Here I preached again. The little church was well attended. After service I consecrated an addition to the churchyard. We returned to Hereford after the consecration, arriving in the Palace about 6.30 p.m. The rain fell at intervals, & marred the dignity of the function by the interposition of umbrellas. Also the mud on our skirts was not effective from an artistic point of view.

Today, according to the newspapers, Jowett preaches in Durham Cathedral in the absence of the Bishop of Durham, and in presence of the Mayor & Corporation. Welldon is certainly a very unstable and foolish person, but his action may none the less have importance. It "forces the pace" for good or for evil.

[44]

My dear Llewellin,

I am glad to know that you are pressing your people to take serious thought about the duty which rests on Christian parents to present their infants for Holy Baptism. The Church of Christ in all ages has attached the highest spiritual importance to the Sacrament of Baptism, not hesitating to affirm "the great necessity of this Sacrament where it may be had". The Rubrick declares without hesitation that "children which are baptized, dying before they commit actual sin, are undoubtedly saved".

You will, of course, be very careful to guard against giving the impression that the Church of England teaches the truly horrible doctrine of the damnation of unbaptized infants, a doctrine as insulting to the character of God, as it is wounding to the conscience of man. Rather, you will insist with Richard Hooker that "of the will of God to impart his grace unto infants without baptism, in that case the very circumstances of their natural birth may serve as a just argument", and that "those sentences of holy scripture which make sacraments most necessary to eternal life are no prejudice to their salvation that want them by some inevitable necessity, & without any fault of their own".

Having made quite clear that you are thinking not of the children's fate but their parents duty, you can point out that the offices of the Church are appointed for its members, & that unbaptized persons are not members [45] of the visible Church. The Burial Service is not to be used in the case of unbaptized persons. That is the Law, and it is both right and reasonable.

You will, therefore, in the case of unbaptized children, use some suitable service expressing a sure confidence that they are in the Hands of their Heavenly Father, & that His Love enfolds them: but the appointed service in the Prayer Book must, as the Rubrick orders, be reserved for those who have been baptized.

Christian parents are deeply blameworthy if they refuse to their infants the solemn privilege of being brought within the Christian Church from the very beginning of their lives. Nor can I doubt that such refusal is displeasing to our Divine Lord whose tender words, "Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not for of such is the Kingdom of God", have been rightly understood by the Church as a sufficient authority for Infant Baptism.

With the prayer that God's Blessing may rest upon you, and on your people.

I am,

Very sincerely yours,

H. H. Hereford.

The Rev. J. G. Llewellin

Vicar of Clodock.

[46]

Friday February 16th 1920.

Dear Mr Swinnerton Dyer,

I am obliged to you for writing to me with so much frankness, & I appreciate your desire to bring about a better situation in Westhope.

But neither you nor I can be determined in our performance of personal duty by threats, not even if we should dislike & deplore the translation of those threats into action.

If Mrs Martin's allegiance to the Church of England hangs on the point of a personal repugnance to her parish clergymen ̶ based, so far as I can perceive, on no reasonable ground ̶ I cannot think that it is religiously of much value. It might be better for her spiritual interests that she should profess herself a Roman Catholic. The Roman type of Christianity appears to suit some temperaments, & it might suit hers. At least she would be released from the deplorable unreality of her present position.

If I may claim the right of offering you a word of counsel, I should say, Do what is your evident duty viz: open your chapel, ask the Vicar to officiate, & use your influence to restore harmony in the parish. Let your sister take her own course. She too must finally answer for it before Him, who alone may judge us all.

It would be exceedingly wrong to allow her to succeed in an irrational and uncharitable course by the pressure of an improper and irrelevant menace.

[47]

On Monday, the 8th. March, I have to confirm at Onibury. If you are at home, I could call on you about 5.30 p.m., and we might have some talk, if that were agreeable to you.

Yours sincerely,

H. H. Hereford.

The "Modern Churchman" for February has an article on "Christianity & Education" by Cyril Norwood, Master of Marlborough, which is worth reading. It notes the ill effect of the "incessant controversy & agitation over salaries":–

"I want to say that no man who puts a serious value on money in the sense that he wants to leave something behind him, no one wants to make money, shd enter the teaching profession. And I cannot disguise the feeling that during this prolonged salary agitation the moral standard of the profession has tended to go down. There is less unselfishness than there used to be: there is less otherworldliness than there used to be: there is finally rather less industry than there used to be. I do not say for one moment that the agitation was not necessary: a teacher shd be able to marry & bring up his children & die somewhere else than in the poor house. But you cannot conduct an agitation for material benefits over a long term of years without having some materialising effect on the young members of the profession, & the result at present is that though the material prospects were never better, the type that is coming forward to serve is not quite so good as it was.

Apply this to the clergy.

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