The Henson Journals

[147]

Monday, September 5th, 1921.

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Another brilliant day. General Oldfield writes to tell me that the soldiers appreciated my sermon: "I took the opportunity to ask several men of different ranks & ages how much they understood of your sermon. There was no doubt they liked it immensely. The usual Chaplain is not a trained speaker, and we were v. lucky to have this chance". It was "awfully decent" of him to tell me this, & the knowledge has a certain practical value. Mine host had to go to London. I motored Ella and Mrs D. & Peggy into Oxford and left them there while I went on to Cuddesdon. On the way I had much talk with William. At Cuddesdon I found the Bishop of Winchester who, when he knew that I had been staying in the Isle of Wight, immediately divined that I had learned the dislike of the people there to his scheme for dividing the diocese of Winchester. I told him that, if opportunity should arise, I should certainly oppose the project in the National Assembly. He seemed rather disconcerted at this. Sitting in the garden I talked with Burge about my sermon at the Birmingham Congress. He was strongly in favour of my preaching on the doctrinal issue raised by the Cambridge Conference. He shewed me in confidence the draft of an address to the Abp. of C. asking him to appoint a Committee to consider how far doctrinal agreement was possible in the C. of E. I told him he was pursuing a will o' the wisp: & nothing cd be gained by that means.

[148] [symbol]

There is no doubt that Burge is being encouraged to consider himself specially called to play the role of an ecclesiastical mediator. He allows himself to take seriously the dutiful language of these "Anglo Catholics", whose principles he cannot approve, & whose policy he cannot perceive. He is characteristically slow to think that anyone can be less candid than himself, & he is swayed more than he knows by the enormous convenience of being on friendly terms with his clergy. I told him that there was no real possibility of reconciling 'Anglo–Catholics' & 'Protestants': that a 'National Church' could tolerate all types of tolerable Christianity provided that they wd accept its system: that such acceptance was now definitely refused by these "Anglo–Catholics": and that their theory did not admit of compromise.

Mr Ogle with his wife & step–daughter came to lunch. We sate for an hour in the garden, & talked 'large'. I wrote to George. Mine hostess gives a melancholy account of the state of this parish. The squire is a loose–living man, & has recently debauched one of the village girls. The parson is an Assyrian, who was once a Roman Catholic priest, and is believed to be still unchanged in his convictions. He is reputed to be very learned in the Oriental tongues, but so eccentric in his behaviour as to justify some doubt as to his sanity. The smallness of his income matches the inadequacy of his service. "The hungry sheep look up, and are not fed". All this is melancholy enough.

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