The Henson Journals

[160]

Saturday, August 11th, 1923.

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The Anglo–Catholics assume that since the breaking–up of visible unity, (which they now commonly assign to the year 1054,) the Holy Spirit has ceased to direct the Church; that all sectional developments are to be rejected as uninspired; that it is our present duty to go back to the historic breaking–point, ascertain what the common tradition of the Church was then, & begin to build ourselves on that foundation, as if the intervening centuries had never been. The monstrous character of this assumption is obscured when it is regarded only in the ecclesiastical & liturgical spheres, but it is sufficiently evident when regarded in the moral. Is there anyone who would seriously contend that we ought to carry ourselves back to the moral standards & procedures of the 11th century, and reject all subsequent developments? And, if such a proceeding must needs appear grotesque in its extreme absurdity, why should it be taken as needing no defence that the same proceeding should be obligatory in other spheres? Is it not precisely within the sphere of morality that we should expect to find the activity of the Holy Spirit most evident? And, if we find that in the sphere of morality the argument for a Catholic Church fails of application, can we avoid a doubt of its validity everywhere else? The more I reflect on the Anglo–Catholic variant of the argument which the Papists advance, the more inferior it appears in cogency & attractiveness to the original. That at least is coeval with history.

[161]

I wrote several letters, among them one to Foy, the Patronage Secretary, recommending Rainbow of Trimdon for appointment to Beamish. I made an attempt to put together some notes for sermons, or rather talks, tomorrow, but I was interrupted by Ella, who carried me off on a futile effort to see Dennis Webster and his Spanish wife, who have a poultry farm a few miles off. We found the blinds drawn, & were told that he was in Scotland. Divers neighbours came to tea, among whom were General and Lady Lane. He is the brother of Lady Northbourne, & uncle to Robert James, the husband of Lady Serena. He spoke of him in high terms. I had a good deal of conversation with the old soldier, who has a frank taking manner, & talks freely. He lost his only son in the war, and both he and his wife have lost the sun from their world by consequence. They are but representative of a great multitude, perhaps the majority of their class, for the county families suffered cruelly. It is not to be wondered at that there is a great volume of English opinion which still clings to the hope of "making Germany pay". What, they ask bitterly, has been gained by the sacrifice of our boys if the victory they gained is to be frittered away by nerveless diplomatists unable or unwilling to see through the cunning protests of the Germans? Yet nothing can be more certain than the fallacy of all such reasoning. What we all need is peace, not vengeance.

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