The Henson Journals

[56]

Saturday, February 21st, 1920.

I read through the canons of 1640. On the whole they provide the best statement of Laud's ecclesiastical theory and policy. He emphasizes his dislike of Rome but gains no confidence thereby from the Puritans whom he insults by classing them with the Romans as equally disloyal to the Church of England. He makes the mistake of assuming that objections based on religious conviction can be removed by arguments addressed to the reason. Gardiner is, perhaps, something more than fair to these canons. They "were not wanting (he says) in that reasonableness which has ever been the special characteristic of the English Church. They do not simply fulminate anathemas, they condescend to explain difficulties, & to invite charitable construction" (History, IX. 143). He compares the Canons with the Scottish Covenant: "The Covenant claimed to be, and in the main was, the voice of the Scottish Church & people. The canons were only in a very artificial sense the voice of the English Church, & they were in no sense at all the voice of the English people". Gardiner places his finger on the weakness of Laud's whole position: "Where Laud erred was in failing to see that an argument always derives its practical force from the mental condition of those to whom it is addressed". (ibid. p.145) He speaks suggestively of "Laud's feeble grasp on the realities of life". I remember that John Doyle once said that he thought I was just like Laud! It is rather an alarming suggestion, and I think there are important differences between us!

[57] [symbol]

Feb: 21st 1920

My dear Hardinge

I heard, when too late to catch hold of you, that you were at poor dear Raleigh's funeral: & I was chagrined at having missed you.

You should not, I think, be unduly alarmed at your boy's reluctance to be confirmed, & on no account should you seem to force his decision. I must needs speak with diffidence as I have no personal knowledge of him; but I am sure ingenuous boys of his age do sometimes shrink from Confirmation for the best reason in the world, a keen sense of the supreme obligation of sincerity in those high latitudes in which acts of Religion must find meaning and value.

If I were on friendly terms with him, I would gladly talk over the matter with him, but I fear the suggestion of a strange Bishop would be too disconcerting! You say rightly that we live in a strange time. I do not know what to make of it, but it certainly adds enormously to the perplexities of all in authority, of parents, perhaps most of all. But you will clearly be right in letting your son see & understand that, though you & his Mother do deeply desire that he should take his stand as a Christian, you do so venerate sincerity, & so fully acknowledge the rights of his conscience & reason that, after talking it all over with him, you are content to trust the decision to himself.

With kind regards to Lady Hardinge,

Always yours v. affley

H. H. Hereford.

[58] [symbol]

The Diocesan Missioner, Mr Wall, called to see me, and to explain his domestic situation. He is still homeless, & agents tell him that in Hereford alone they have no less than 200 applicants for houses. The situation worsens daily, for the standard in houses is ever rising, & the houses themselves are ever wearing out. The Trade Unions hinder & hamper the provision of new houses intolerably. Their power is more firmly rooted than ever, for Mr Justice Peterson has just given a verdict in their favour in the case of Hodges v Webb. He had reserved judgement a fortnight ago, & the judgement is published in the "Times" of today. In this case an electrician foremen was driven from his employment, not because he belonged to no Trade Union, but because his Trade Union was not approved by another and more powerful Union! What with Prohibition in America and Trade Unionism in Great Britain the sonnet of Wordsworth reads oddly, "The flood of British freedom" seems doomed "in bogs & sands" to "perish"

And to evil and to good

Be lost for ever.

There seems no case for the personal liberty left in Englishmen: no concern for self–respect surviving in the Christian Church.

My short letter on the rating of the tithe rent charge owned by parochial incumbents appears in the "Times". I wrote it in answer to Lord Sheffield whose letter seemed to me misleading, mischievous, and ill–natured.

William came to be prepared for Confirmation. He is a good lad, & I think sincerely interested in the matter.

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