The Henson Journals

[223]

17th Sunday after Trinity, September 23rd, 1923.

This morning I exommunicated myself, and, instead of celebrating the Holy Communion at 8 a.m. in the Chapel, went to my study, and finished my sermon. Undoubtedly, the facility of expression which once made the composition of sermons an agreeable task is no longer mine. Ideas come slowly, and fitting words by which to express them hardly less slowly. And I grow more fastidious. William and I motored to Egglescliffe, 4 1/2 miles beyond Stockton. I preached at Mattins to a congregation which filled the very interesting medieval church. Here Basire was the incumbent, & he marked his tenure of the benefice by introducing the woodwork into the chancel. Cosin's fondness for wood–carving appears to have been contagious. The Rector (Rev. A. T. Dingle) has held the living for 19 years. He has a pleasant voice, and read the lessons excellently. I lunched with the Vicar of Stockton–on–Tees (Rev. J. B. Purvis) who showed me the M.S. of a work on the Roman antiquities of the diocese, which he had been long working at. It was illustrated by excellent drawings of his own. After lunch we returned to Auckland. Later we motored to Hamsterly, where the 13th century parish church stands in naked solitude by itself, the parishioners living at the distance of at least half a mile. I preached to a congregation which contained a good many young men, miners & farm labourers. Rain was falling as we returned to the Castle.

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