The Henson Journals

[137]

Sunday after Christmas, Holy Innocents, December 28th, 1924.

Of Heathen religion, the motto, we may say, was God in Nature; of Christian, it is God in Man; of Jewish, God over both.

Martineau Essays. Ii. 442

Would it not be truer to say that the motto of Jewish Religion was 'God in Man', and that of the Christian Religion was 'God in the Man'? The distinctive feature of Judaism was the prophetic doctrine that "the Spirit of Man is the Candle of the Lord": and the central revelation of Christianity is summed up in the declaration of the Johannine Christ, "He that hath seen me hath seen the Father". But Martineau was misled by his association with Unitarianism.

I celebrated the Holy Communion in the Chapel at 8 a.m. Ernest assisted. He reads well, & carries himself with reverence. We numbered seven communicants in all.

I wrote to my two God–sons, and to a shirking curate, Riding, who withdraws his acceptance of Blackhall, because the church is hideous, and the parson's house unattractive! These are not heroic times, nor are our clergy heroes.

The 'Observer' contains a review by Inge of Welldon's edition of S. Augustine's "De civitate".

I read through Vernon Storr's admirable little volume on "The Problem of the Cross", which he had sent me.

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