The Henson Journals

[170]

1st Sunday after Trinity, June 18th, 1922.

Thirty four years have passed since for the first time I preached in Westminster Abbey. I did so on the invitation of Canon Prothero, and I stayed in this house, where now I have come on the invitation of Canon Charles, to preach again in the Abbey. In the interval between those visits how much has been attempted, & how much has failed! It was Hospital Sunday and both the Mayor of Westminster and the Lord Mayor of London attended in state at the Morning Service in the Abbey Church. There was a great congregation. I preached the sermon which I had prepared, and it was listened to very closely; at the end I had added a paragraph to connect the demand for a revision of the Articles, with the appeal for the Hospitals. As we were returning, after bidding farewell to the L. Mayor and Sheriffs at the West door, the Archbishop of Canterbury accosted me with some perturbation. He said that Gore, though he had signed, had not originated the "Declaration of Faith" to which in my sermon I had made reference; that he was much annoyed at the prominence which the Church Times had given to his name; & that I "must make it right". I replied that, of course, if Bishop Gore desired, I wd write to the papers, but that, in my judgement, the point was too trivial to merit notice. Charles, Storr, & Barnes all expressed high approval of the sermon. A representative of the "Daily Telegraph" carried off the MS; but how much of it will appear tomorrow is doubtful.

[171]

I attended the afternoon service in the Abbey. Charles preached an interesting sermon on the 2nd Commandment, the first of three on the same theme. I walked to the Athenaeum, & had tea. Sir Henry Craik was there. He had been in the Abbey in the morning, and had heard my sermon, of which he expressed great approval. He said the Archbishop was much disturbed, and had expressed to him afterwards his hope that the sermon would not be reported! I attended the evening service, which was not held in the Nave as is customary at this time of the year. The verger told me that this was on account of the grave of "the unknown warrior". The preacher was McNutt [Macnutt], Archdeacon of Leicester. He is a youngish man who is said to have done well as a chaplain during the War. He has a good voice, which he manages well. He spoke with ease, & expressed himself well. The sermon was of a type which is obsolete among educated folk, but still popular in Evangelical circles. He referred to the popular novel "When winter comes!", quoted at length a War–speech of Mr Lloyd George, and eulogised Barrie's Rectorial speech on 'Courage'. I can well believe that he is held to be an eloquent and effective preacher. I had much intimate and friendly talk with mine host & hostess before going to bed.

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