The Henson Journals

[242]

Easter Tuesday, March 29th, 1921.

The temper of every man is to be judged of from the thing he most esteems; and the object of his esteem may be measured by the prime object of his thanks.

South.

"Where thy treasure is there will thine heart be also" said Christ. "To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain" wrote the ardent Paul. "Having eyes full of an adultress, and that cannot cease from sin" is an expression in 2. Peter which suggests the same connexion between the set of the mind and the type of the character. How decisive should be the effect of an education designed to fasten the mind on worthy objects! And yet how constantly do we see the most wisely & carefully educated turning their hearts with eager devotion to the very objects from which their education was carefully planned to preserve them! The fact is that a man's nature is highly composite, and that the really governing factors in it may lie dormant and unsuspected for years, and that when at length they leap into life, in response to the appropriate stimulus, all the artificial habitudes created by education fall away, & lose all power. Only then does the man's spirit perceive and claim its 'treasure', and in the process find its true allegiance, and disclose its genuine quality. This may stand for a description of the spiritual process known in the churches as 'conversion', and it explains how violent may be the change in life which that process may involve. "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things have passed away: all things have become new."

[243]

I wasted the whole morning in considering whether I would write anything on the Lambeth Appeal, and if I did, what form it should take. On the one hand, I doubt the value of adding anything more to the tiresome and properly–speaking exhausted controversy about Orders. There is really nothing more to be said on either side. The materials for a decision are now easily accessible, and the publick is weary of the discussion. On the other hand, I think it might be worth while to clear away some of the cant, and re–state the issues plainly. The situation in the Church of England is certainly very critical. A vast "leap in the dark" has been made, so to say, per incuriam [through negligence], in the Enabling Act. A crowd of ill–informed enthusiasts have come on the scene, eager to translate into legislation the fine phrases of the "Life & Liberty" platforms. Half–educated & muddle–headed, but very ardent, these new reformers are vastly taken with the Lambeth 'Appeal'. The reply of the Free Church Committee ought to open their eyes. Lacey has a letter in today's issue of the "Times" under the heading, "Reordination". I wrote a brief rejoinder, & sent it off. Until the demand for 'Reordination' is frankly and finally abandoned there is no use whatever in discussing Reunion.

I motored to Darlington to meet Knight who arrived by the 5.47 p.m. train. We had much talk together. He seems to have made up his mind to accept Houghton–le–Spring, and to be in good spirits over the prospect.

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