The Henson Journals

[123]

3rd Sunday after Epiphany, January 22nd, 1922.

I celebrated the Holy Communion in the Chapel, being much disturbed by the clamour of birds which, I suspect, are nesting in the roof.

After breakfast I visited William in his bedroom. He is beginning to weary of lying in bed, a good sign. This is the first collapse he has had since he came here, 16 months ago, so that there is no need to draw ill–omened conclusions as to the Northern climate &c. But his illness is horribly inconvenient.

I took up a book, published in 1912, which I have never got to read – "The People of God, an Inquiry into Christian origins" by H.F. Hamilton D.D." a Canadian Professor, who has since died. The "Introduction" has an excellent account of the change in the estimate of the Bible which has taken place in recent years, and the great disadvantage which this has involved to the preacher. I wrote a letter for distribution in Gateshead, as a preliminary to the procession of men on Good Friday which the clergy there are desirous of organising, & which I have promised to lead. I entered a copy of this letter in my Journal for my own soul's health.

Then I wrote to Cosgrove, seeking information about a parson named Blackwall who, on paper, would suit well enough for S. Cuthbert's, Gateshead, but who may be, for ought I know to the contrary, grotesquely unsuitable.

Ella and I walked in the Park, and found the snow nearly vanished, but the paths very slippery.

I read through the closing sections of Wells's "Outlines of History" and was rather startled by the tone & tendency. His slapdash generalisations are perilous stuff for the half–educated minds which mostly will read his book: and his persistent assumption that "official & orthodox Christianity" is practically dead will do harm. His onslaught on Gladstone as the supreme example of pseudo–education produces lively protests from his collaborators. "It, (the Oxford system) turned the mind away from living contemporary things: it showed the world reflected in a distorting mirror of bad historical analogies: all the fated convergencies of history were refracted into false parallels." Wells's account of recent Irish politics is quite astonishingly shallow and partisan. It gives an ill impression of his judgment, for one must needs make a test out of such portions of his work as lie within one's own knowledge.

[124]

To every Christian Man whom it may concern in Gateshead–on–Tyne

My dear Friend,

On Good Friday I hope to come to Gateshead, and to lead a Procession of Men through the streets in order that the solemn meaning of the Day may be set forth publicly to all the People, and are ourselves may be helped to live more worthily as men who do indeed believe that on Good Friday Jesus Christ was crucified to save us from our sins.

I ask you to join in the Procession yourself, and to do what you can to persuade other men to do the same. The times call for Christian Witness, clear, constant, & courageous, for the World is in an ill case, and its desperate state can no longer be hidden. We know that the root of the evils which afflict mankind is within men's hearts, and that the only effective remedy must be one that makes them right within. One Power there is, and only One, that is strong enough to save us from our sins, & that is the Power of the Love of God, revealed on Calvery. There, on the Cross, "God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself", and to every man who accepts that Gospel of God's Love there is given power, God's power, to resist and conquer sin.

I invite every Christian man, whatever his denomination may be, to come with me through the streets of Gateshead on Good Friday, & publicly to confess the Gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified.

With the prayer that God may bless & direct you,

I am,

Your faithful Friend & Bishop,

Herbert Dunelm:

Ash Wednesday 1922.

[125] [symbol]

I have received a copy of an Address presented to the Abp. Of Canterbury asking him to appoint a Commission "to find a basis of doctrinal agreement on matters which are the subject of controversy between different sections of the Church of England." This address is stated to have been discussed at a series of meetings presumably by the signatories. These are 27 in number, & include the following 9 bishops – Oxford, Bristol, Chelmsford, Chester, Hereford, Lichfield, Manchester, Peterborough, and St Alban's. "Liberals" are represented by Glazebrook and Raven. "Anglo–Catholicks" by Atlay, Knox, and Spens. The Address expresses belief in the possibility of reaching agreement "both on the essentials of the Christian faith, and on the more important of those points of controversy which have bitterly divided us in the past." The Signatories "are convinced that in spite of her failings the C. of E. stands for a certain vital aspect of Christianity, & that shd prove possible for the vast majority of her members to agree upon an unambiguous statement of her doctrines to which they could give general adherence." They disclaim any desire of making "a new test", but wish that the proposed statement should "be regarded as an expression of the Church's official teaching." They dwell on "the actual pastoral problem which is presented by directly contradictory teaching in different parishes in respect of doctrines wh. Are closely bound up with the devotional life of all Christians." They suggest that "any such commission can only adequately achieve its purpose by systematic work extending over a long period", and set down "four considerations" which should govern the selection of men to serve on the Commission.

This is really a proposal for revising the Thirty–nine Articles, or for providing some alternative statement which might fulfil better their professed object viz. "the avoiding of Diversities of Opinions, & the establishment of consent touching true Religion."

Such a Commission could only get to work on the assumption that the C. of E. is free to revise the doctrinal tradition i.e. that it is a Protestant Church.

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