The Henson Journals

[83]

Tuesday, March 9th, 1920.

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The strongest argument against non–conformist Christianity is its shameless & quite intolerable habit of self–advertisement & self–compliment. The post brings me the notice of the Anniversary of the Eastbrook Mission, at which I rashly promised to preach. It is heavily armed with photographs of the preachers & speakers, every one garnished with an adulatory paragraph. The Report is written in a spirit of almost ecstatic self–admiration, for "The Eastbrook Mission stands for Religion in Earnest, & Thrives by reason of the Untiring Devotion and Unquenchable Enthusiasm of its People." Far more than the old difficulties about "Faith and Order" does this deep divergence of religious temperament separate Nonconformists from Anglicans. I can hardly sit quiet under the discharges of mutual admiration which mark Dissenting gatherings. A company of Spanish devotees flogging their naked shoulders with knotted cords would not offend me so deeply. What is the ultimate root of this Dissenting ^practice^ habit? The inflow of the secular habit of small tradesmen & artisans into their religious practice counts for much. There is no limit to the mutual flattery of "Labour" men, as there is no limit to their abuse of one another. This, perhaps, is largely explicable as the bad taste of the illiterate. But there is a deeper root, and perhaps it is their doctrine of conversion as carrying a sure certificate of Divine acceptance. They are saved: and the saved are sanctified, therefore they must be sanctified: & ought to act on the assumption that they are. The logic sustains & buttresses the pride & ambition of common men who use great phrases!

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