The Henson Journals

[158]

Thursday, March 8th, 1923.

The fulness of the conception of Confirmation – the open confession and the laying on of hands – seems to me to have been providentially committed to our keeping, & we are bound to guard the trust jealously

Westcott to Benson 1892 (Life ii.162)

So strongly did Westcott feel on the necessity of laying on of hands as part of a valid confirmation that he directed a clergyman in the diocese of Durham to insist on the confirmation of a Roman Catholic, although he had been confirmed in the Roman Church. I incline to think this insistence on a mere ceremony to be superstitious, & more Roman than Anglican in principle!

I finished the Presidential Address. It has grown into a more considerable pronouncement than I had originally intended.

Mr Hollwey, the organizer of the ex–Officers' settlement, came to see me. He wanted me to direct the clergy to preach on the subject on Easter Sunday! This I could not see my way to do, but I support him generally.

Clayton & I walked with the dogs in the Park after lunch. I finished Neville Talbot's book. It is well–intentioned, and gives one a good impression of the author, but it is confused, slap–dash, and superficial. In his anxiety to be fair to objectors, he makes larger concessions than he knows.

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