The Henson Journals

[104]

Friday, September 3rd, 1920.

I finished, with Fearne's assistance, preparing these abominable lectures, & then set to work to clear up my room, & make my preparations for departure. [William helped in tying up the letters, papers, &c, and in replacing the books which had been accumulated for the lectures ‒ a melancholy and dusty performance. Streeter and Lilley came in to say Goodbye, and we ended the day by dining at the Deanery, where the Dean & Mrs Waterfield were very pleasant.]

So ends my brief episcopate in Hereford, begun in a tempest of abuse, concluded in a stream of eulogy ‒ both equally undeserved. I am really sorry to go, partly, because I was beginning to get hold of this diocese, partly because I am dismayed at the task which lies before me in Durham. Certainly, when I came here, nothing seemed more evident than that I had reached the last stage of my career. Yet, here, after 2 1/2 years, I am called to a new, and vast enterprise. My personal unworthiness is more apparent than ever, and I at least cannot be deceived by the enthusiasm of my friends. For, indeed,

"Best friends would loathe us, if what things perverse

We know of our own selves, they also knew:

But what, O Lord, if Thou who knowest worse,

Shoulds't loathe us too."

So I am turned to penitence by the humiliating plaudits of my friends. "There is mercy with Thee: therefore, Thou shalt be feared."

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