The Henson Journals

[78]

3rd Sunday in Lent, March 7th, 1920.

Brilliant sun after the rain. I went to the Cathedral & received the Holy Communion. The opening words of the Epistle – "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; & walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us & hath given himself for us" – struck me as well–suited for my use in addressing confirmation candidates; & when I got back to the Palace I fitted them on to my notes for the day.

Ella went with me to Dilwyn, where I confirmed 35 candidates, and to Old Radnor where I confirmed 7. In the interval we lunched with Mrs Beeby very pleasantly.

Old Radnor Church is nobly placed at the top of a considerable hill nearly 900 feet above sea–level. It is a fine structure of the late XVth and early XVIth centuries, & contains some features of unusual interest. (1) The noble screen which runs right across the church carrying its rood loft intact. (2) the carved organ–case of the pre–Reformation time. (3) the fine open carved roofs. (4) the curious ancient font reputed to be a Druidic altar adapted to Christian uses. (5) the stone seat set in an alcove in the western, where, it is surmised, the official who had charge of the excommunicated had his place. Mrs Lloyd, the parson's wife, gave me a small tractate on the church which she had compiled. As we entered the church there was a sudden blizzard of wind & snow: when we came out the sun was shining, and our journey home was pleasant enough. The evening lights showed the fair country very fairly.

[79]

"The sacraments are not to be compared to a legal conveyance where a technical error, of which we are not aware, will invalidate the deed. They are spiritual instruments & the conditions of their validity are not technical or material, but spiritual and moral."

"If St Iranaeus' principle is sound that 'where the Spirit of God is, there is the Church of all grace', we cannot deny the existence of 'all grace' in those churches in which we recognise the Spirit of God".

"The verdict of experience leads us to the conclusion that at different periods of history God has used various forms of ministry and Church Government for the good of the Church, & that all three chief types, episcopal, presbyterian, and congregational, have been valid for some purposes & invalid for others. What we may learn from the experience of the past is that for the true welfare of the Church what is needed today is not to choose one type to the exclusion of others, but to combine what is good & useful in them all."

These are extracts from 'a charge delivered by the Rt Rev. H. Whitehead Bishop of Madras at his 3rd visitation on January 21st 1920. They mark a great change of attitude on the part of a man bred in the "straitest sect" of High Churchmen. I remember him as the close friend of Henry Wakemen, himself one of the narrowest High Churchmen I have fortuned to know.

[80] [symbol]

March 8th. 1920

My dear Bishop,

I must thank you heartily for sending me your charge which I have read with deep interest & large agreement. It is strong, courageous & constructive.

It is a very notable thing that in all directions experience is leading English clergymen into new & more generous thoughts of non–episcopal Christianity.

I recall as I write what was said to me by the late Bishop Dowden of Edinburgh, and the late Bishop Doane of Albany U.S.A., with both of whom I have the privilege of some conversation shortly before they died. They both started in the Episcopate with the unbending Tractarian attitude established in their minds, & life had taught them to lay it aside as intolerably inconsistent with its teachings. Bishop Jayne, lately of Chester, might be added to their number: & I think I shall do you no injustice if I add also your name to the list. From Scotland, America, England & India the witness is identical.

I look forward to meeting you in the Conference at Lambeth, &, perhaps, we may find ourselves co–operating in an effort to move forward on the lines of humble acknowledgment of God's Providence in History.

In England within the last year there have been many conferences of Anglicans & non–Anglicans, & many important resolutions [81] have been adopted. There are, however, evidences of a vigourous movement of re–action to which the "Anglo–Catholic Conference" in London will give expression.

I am sometimes inclined to think that a disruption of the English Church, in which the Romanizing section of the "High Church" party would secede to Rome, may be an indispensable condition of effective action in the interest of re–union.

Believe me, sincerely yours,

H. H. Hereford.

The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Madras.

I wrote to the Master of the Temple promising to preach for him on the 25th July. My list of preaching pledges ought now to be complete:–

1.	March 21st	Bradford. Parish Church (2)
2.	" 22nd	Eignbrook Congregational Mission
3.	April 4.	Hereford. The Cathedral.
4.	June 6.	Cambridge. The University.
5.	July 11.	Westminster Abbey
6.	" 18.	S. Paul's Cathedral
7.	" 25.	The Temple

How these discourses are to be prepared it is not quite easy to see, nor yet what I can preach about most wisely. But clearly the subject of Reunion must take a prominent place in them. In view of the Lambeth Conference that is inevitable.

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