The Henson Journals

[132]

Wednesday, September 22nd, 1920.

There was no service in the cathedral, so the Archbishop walked with us round the castle before breakfast.

The briliance of the morning & the pleasant freshness of the air made this very enjoyable. From the castle eminence, the prospect of the rich plain of Upsala is most beautiful. The Abp. told me that he had received an invitation to preach in Glasgow Cathedral, & inquired whether his acceptance of it would embarrass his relations with the Church of England. I told him that in my judgement it wd not: and I added that, in view of the Lamberth appeal & our proceedings on Sunday, it might be well to emphasize the fact that the Church of Sweden, in joining hands with the Episcopal Church of England, did not intend to weaken or abandon her existing fellowship with the presbyterian churches. He expressed a desire to lecture in England on Luther, who, he thought, was too little appreciated and understood there. I agreed, and asked him to come to Durham, & lecture to the University. But the wily Swede wd make no definite promise.

The Swedish papers give disquieting information about the coal–strike. Sir Robert Horne has addresed the Trade Union Conference & urged the miners to refer their demand for increased wages to an impartial tribunal: but they have sullenly refused: & Smillie holds threatening language. This prospect is disturbing for our arrangements. We certainly cannot prudently or decently continue abroad while the country is entering on a conflict which may be the beginning of the Revolution we have talked about so often.

[133]

We made a delightful expedition by motor to Sigtuna, where we saw three churches, two of the 12th century which are in ruins, and one of the 13th which still serves the parish. Here we lunched most pleasantly at a truly admirable institution, a kind of Lutheran monastery or rather rest house. It has a chapel, cloister, & library. Working men come here to a summer school. I was enchanted with the beauty of the situation, and the excellence of the foundation. We then motored to Skoloster, and paid a too hasty visit to the chateau of Count Wrangel, now owned by the last representative of the Brake family, which is a noble mansion of the XVIIth century, containing rich collections. Among the treasures are Ziska's sword, with a chalice engraved on it – surely the strangest of paradoxes – and Charles V's shield. There is a portrait of Gustavus Adolphus, painted 6 weeks before his death, which has a curious look of Speaker Lowther. Here, as time pressed, the Archbishop & I returned by a direct route in a motor boat across the lake; we arrived at 6.45 p.m, and I was 5 minutes late in beginning my lecture.

The audience was about the same as before, & was sufficiently attentive while I discoursed on Episcopacy. At the end, the Archbishop made a few polite remarks in English, & so I made an end of my lecturing. At dinner there was a Protestant pastor from Innsbrück and his wife. Their son, a boy of 14, had come to Sweden with a party of Austrian children to be entertained by the Swedes, and had been killed by falling from a horse. The parents had been brought over for the funeral.

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