The Henson Journals

[46]

Friday, August 18th, 1922.

[^written in Greek^]

This was spoke not to the Pharisees, but to the [^Greek word^] and we may not therefore discount it as irrelevant to ourselves. What does it mean here and now? Christ illustrated and emphasised His words by holding a little boy in the midst of his disciples: and He spoke in answer to their question. [^written in Greek^] Primarily He was correcting an error in their minds. What was that error? What is its modern expression?

My cold was so heavy that I remained indoors all day long, sitting by the fire, & reading anything that seemed interesting. The ladies went out in the motor, which developed trouble again, & was brought home with difficulty. This is a serious nuisance.

I had some talk with mine host about Burmah. He said that the Burmese had no castle system, and no native nobility; that the Buddhist worship was never congregational; that the Buddhist hierarchy contained no parallel to the bishop, the principal authority being vested in the Abbots of the great monasteries. A few years ago, English visitors could enter the temples freely, but now they were required to take off their shoes. This was the result of the quickening of the national self–consciousness, itself inspired form India. Bolshevism was now beginning to make itself felt.

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