The Henson Journals

[234]

Good Friday, March 25th, 1921. Lady Day.

Far be it from me to glory, save in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world hath been crucified unto me, and I unto the world.

[passage written in Greek] Galatians VI. 14

This great exclamation of S. Paul may serve as the text of the address which I must give in the Victoria Hall tonight after the procession. The frame of the address will be 3 questions, & the substance will be the answering of them. 1. What was the Cross before Jesus was crucified? 2. What did He make the Cross to mean? 3. What is the Cross to me here and now? Perhaps I might be able to lead up to the great hymn of St Francis, greatly rendered from the Latin into English by R. E. Prothero. He sent me the translation in March 1888, when I was in the Oxford House. His letter made a deep impression on me at that time when I was much exercised in mind on spiritual things: He wrote searchingly:–

"it is selfishness, purified it may be of much earthly dross, yet selfishness still ̶ refined, perhaps, till it wears the disguise of self–denial, which is our greatest spiritual enemy. We work among the poor, the sick, the needy: yet we work more for ourselves than for Christ."

The shaft went home then: and the wound still smarts.

[235]

O God, I love Thee! not to gain

The bliss of Thy eternal reign:

Nor to escape the fiery lot

Prepared for those who love Thee not.

Thou, Thou, my Jesu, on the Tree

Didst in Thine Arms encompass me.

Thou didst endure the Nails, the Lance,

Disgraces manifold, the Trance

Of bloody Sweat, and boundless Seas

Of Anguishes and Bitterness.

Nay, even Death's last Agony

And this for me, for sinful me!

Most loving Jesu, shall this move

No like return of love for love?

Above all things I love Thee best

Yet without hope of interest:

Not thus to gain Thy heavenly home,

Nor to avoid eternal doom:

But as Thou lovest, so do I

Love, and shall ever love, simply

Because Thou art my God, my King

The Source, the End of everything.

S. Francis Xavier translated by R. E. Prothero.

[236]

The weather was unkindly, and the procession in Sunderland was carried through in falling rain, a circumstance which lessened its size, & its impressiveness. Still there were many men & boys walking with the clergy. The mayor walked on my right hand, & the Rural Dean on my left. Clayton carried the pastoral staff. There was a large gathering of the people all along the route which was fairly long. The Victoria Hall was not more than 3/4 full, perhaps not more than 2/3rds. But even so the assembly of men only was impressive. An extempore prayer by the Mayor's Chaplain, a Wesleyan Minister named Craggs, was bombastic, irrelevant, and unduly long. The singing of the hymns was good: but my address failed to "grip" the audience. It was too evidently lacking in what Evangelicals call "unction". After service we motored back to the Castle arriving about 10.5 p.m. Surely it cannot be altogether without significance that the Bishop & the Mayor should head a procession through the streets of a great city on Good Friday: that the procession should include thousands of men; & that it should be witnessed with respect by a great proportion of the inhabitants. Is there any other country where this spectacle could be witnessed? When it is remembered that the Mayor is a Nonconformist, the significance of the proceedings is increased. The newspapers and cinemas have taken up a very friendly attitude to the procession; & this circumstance also is suggestive.

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