The Henson Journals

[99]

Wednesday, June 27th, 1923.

"I came to the Prayer Book out of a dissenting school, and it was the largeness & freedom of its declarations which struck me as the great escape from their narrowness & sectarianism."

F.D. Maurice. 1867. (Life. ii. 571.)

I spent the morning, partly, in writing letters: partly, in preparing notes for the speech, which – if opportunity be given me – I propose to deliver in the House of Bishops. In the afternoon, I played bowls with William.

I read through the Report of the Royal Commission on Ecclesiastical Courts issued in 1883. We have not advanced an inch in the 40 years that have passed since then: but the position has greatly worsened.

The weight of the Episcopal Bench, personal and official, has diminished enormously: the interest of the British Public in all ecclesiastical questions has diminished hardly less: the strength of the lawless elements within the Church of England has increased greatly. One effect of the Enabling Act has been to make Parlt entirely opposed to taking any concern in the affairs of the Church. As the public importance of ecclesiastical affairs declines the power of faction steadily increases. A small organized section, such as the E.C.U., or "Life & Liberty", wields an influence which is out of all proportion to its numbers or its quality. It only needs to alter the method of appointing the Bishops to give complete control to the party of confusion.

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