The Henson Journals

[151]

Saturday, February 5th, 1921.

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O God, Who knowest the secrets of our hears, and the whole course of our lives, Who yet hast willed to call us to Thy service, & therein to bring us into many & great dangers, have mercy on our weakness, and take away everything in us which crosses Thy purpose & insults Thy Majesty. Forgive us those things whereof our conscience is afraid, & give us those good things which we are not worthy to ask save in the Name of Jesus Chris, Thy Son, our Lord.

Amen.

Looking back on the proceedings of the "National Assembly", I do not perceive much that can re–assure or reconcile me. The forces of the High Church party are organized, and in two respects the fact was apparent–the prominence of Lord Phillimore, & the tenacity with which the faction remained in session until the end. The evident pleasure with which the ribaldry of the Bishop of St Alban's was received was very significant, and very disheartening. There is no effective Low Church or Evangelical party at all: and Liberal Anglicans are practically limited to a few individuals, of whom I can only remember Rashdall & myself. The Archbishop of Canterbury is an extremely able president; but he is not really impartial.

[152] [symbol]

I left London by the express from King's Cross at 10 a.m. & travelled comfortably to York, where I changed, & arrived at Darlington where Ella met me with the car. I dealt with some matters that awaited my arrival, & then revised an old sermon for use tomorrow.

The "Times" gives the utmost prominence to the lamentable scandal, & fills two columns with the squalid details. This humiliation does not stand alone, for another clergyman figures disreputably in the disputed will case which is now proceeding in the courts, & attracting much public attention. Just at this juncture such an outburst of scandals is extraordinarily unfortunate. What must be the effect on all those multitudes who have attended this Archdeacon's sermons (he was a popular mission preacher, and particularly eloquent on the subject of "purity"!), and fed their souls with his very pious publications? What must be the encouragement this miserable incident will give to all that multitude, who excuse their own irreligion, by pointing to the "hypocrisy" of the clergy? What material for the orators of Hyde Park Corner? What subject for conversation in working–men's Clubs, & in the bars of the public houses? The air is yet ringing with episcopal accounts of clerical poverty. Here is a striking exhibition of clerical quality! We never tire in the pulpit of denouncing the vice & folly of "Society". Here is a significant indication of our professional competence for the Reformer's task!

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