The Henson Journals

[89]

Tuesday, January 16th, 1923.

I celebrated the Holy Communion in Christ Church, at 8 a.m. There seemed to be most of the Incumbents of the Rural Deanery present. We breakfasted in the Vicarage. At 11 a.m. the Litany was sung by Macdonald, and I addressed the clergy. After the service I went for a brief walk. Canon Parish was at lunch. At 3 p.m. I addressed the clergy on the subject of Divorce . There was an animated discussion, which protracted the meeting, until past 5 p.m. On the whole I was pleased with general willingness of the clergy to listen and to consider. Most of them expressed their approval of my proposal that a Commission should be appointed to consider how Christian principle ought to find expression in the marriage law of the modern state.

I preached in S. Oswald's Church, where the dedication Festival was being observed. Then Macdonald took me & Knowlden to see some strange wireless–telegraphy machinery, which I don't understand & which therefore disconcerts rather than interests me. Finally, we attended the concert of the Unemployed, the crowd which sent me a Christmas Letter in 1921 . There was a short religious service, & I pronounced the Benediction. A moving spectacle. Then we got home about 10 p.m. having been "at it" for at least 14 hours with hardly a breathing space. If 'hustle' could hasten the Kingdom, Macdonald would manage it!

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