The Henson Journals

[52]

Friday, July 8th, 1921.

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I talked with the Dean until it was time to go to the Cathedral for the Freemasons' Service. The nave was nearly filled, and presented a notable spectacle as the Brethren wore their Regalia. I preached the sermon which I had prepared, and did my best to make myself heard. The Dean assured me that everybody must have heard, but I have my doubts. Certainly the acoustic qualities of the nave are very bad, and the exertion of preaching in it was unusually great. Avoiding the heavy luncheon with the Brethren, I lunched quietly at the Deanery, caught the 2.18 p.m. train, was met at Darlington by William, and arrived at the Castle about 4 p.m.

Lord Balfour of Burleigh is dead: he did not live to see the Union of the Scottish churches actually carried into effect, but he could see that the Bill providing for it was on the verge of passing into law. He was a heavy, rather pompous man, honest and perhaps somewhat stupid. He prided himself in the dominance which he enjoyed in the General Assembly, where, with traditional servility, the Presbyterian clergy are want to grovel to "the Lords of the Congregation". His influence on Anglican affairs, though probably undesigned, was not inconsiderable, for the Medievalists made much of him as visibly demonstrating the compatibility of "high–flying" views on the relations of Church and State with unimpeachable Protestantism!

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