The Henson Journals

[31]

5th Sunday after Trinity, July 4th, 1920.

Miss Mundella, Ella, & I drove to the Abbey for the opening service of the Lambeth Conference. The bishops robed in the Great School. I walked as Bishop of Durham immediately in front of the Bishop of London. The service was most impressive. I could not but be moved at finding myself placed in the very same stall which I occupied when I came to the Abbey as Canon 20 years ago. As the Bp of London did not communicate, I led the Bishops to the Altar. Ryle's sermon started well, but ended rather in a pathos. He made a long & earnest appeal to the Bishops to restore the word 'holy' to the Nicene Creed, from which it had been inadvertently dropped out at the Reformation! I thought that at least he would advocate the omission of the 'filioque'! Then I rested for 1 1/2 hours, when I went to Lambeth, & had an hour's private conversation with the Archbishop. He appealed to me to help him in drafting the Encyclical Letter, saying many flatterous things about my power of expressing myself in lucid & dignified English &c, &c. I told him that I wd do what I cd; & insisted that the essential thing was that, in the matter of Reunion, the Conference shd go forward, & not again abide in platitudes. He agreed, & seemed rather relieved when I drew a distinction between the presbyterians & other non–episcopalians. He has evidently agreed to get Gore, Bernard, Ryle, Copleston & King brought back into the Conference.

[32]

The Abp. is evidently apprehensive of something like a dead–lock. He points out that for the first time all the subjects on the agenda are both pressing & highly controversial. I said that there was no use blinking the fact that the conflict on first principles was reaching a point within the Anglican Communion which threatened disruption, & that, perhaps, disruption wd not be the worst thing. "I could not be the Abp. in whose time the High Church party was driven out of the Church of England", he said. He will probably give in to a threat of secession, whereas my firm belief is that any such threat wd certainly not mature in action.

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