The Henson Journals

[181]

18th Sunday after Trinity, September 25th, 1921.

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No faith founded on truth can ever die except that it may rise to a better life. Believed or not believed, known or not known, it abides forever in heaven till the hour appointed by the Father.

Hort. p.89.

Another brilliant day. The inevitable distraction of entertaining guests is extraordinarily unfavourable to pastoral, and a fortiori to episcopal efficiency. A certain detachment from common life is the indispensible condition of realizing the august & awful characters of the Christian minister's function. When he is leading the conversation of a party, putting himself out to please and interest, he is actually frittering away his emotional resources in advance of his duty. And not only emotional. The mischief goes deeper. The sense of gravity, the recollectedness, & mental concentration which are requisite for any preaching or ministration which shall assist and not hinder the Faithful, are all compromised & endangered by the gay insouciance & roaming chatter which are the normal, and fitting character of social intercourse at the breakfast table. I am persuaded, after 34 years experience, that solitude and abstinence are the twin conditions of a Christian preacher's efficiency. There is an undefinable but quite perceptible difference when these are lacking. It is certainly one of the graver disadvantages of the episcopal function that, more often than not, its exercise cannot be assisted by either solitude or abstinence. The Bishop must ever travel, and be "hospitably entertained"!

[182] [symbol]

Ella, the Chelmsfords, Craik, and I motored to Pittington, where I preached and celebrated the Holy Communion. There were 80 communicants. Dawson Walker read the service. Pemberton read the lessons. I was struck by the excellence of the singing, which may fairly be ascribed to Hughes's influence. We lunched at Ramside, & had much pleasant conversation with the Pembertons. We attended Evensong in the Cathedral. The Scarbroughs were there. The anthem by Blow, "I was in the spirit", was admirably sung. We had tea in the Deanery, & then returned to Auckland. Chelmsford and I walked in the Park for an hour before dinner. We started talking about the Cambridge Conference, which has plained [word unclear]startled him. He may, perhaps, be taken as a fairly representative layman. After dinner our conversation turned on Missions in India. I asked him whether he could endorse Bishop Westcott's statement at the Lambeth Conference that there had been no treason among the German missionaries. He replied in the affirmative. He says that Lord Reading attends service in Church on public occasions. This procedure appears to me even more inconsistent with religious neutrality than the attendance of a Christian Viceroy for while the latter might be interpreted as the natural result of personal conviction, the former could only be defended as significant of official policy. He speaks well of missionary work in the matter of education, but not very hopefully of the attempt to evangelise India.

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