The Henson Journals

[5]

Saturday, December 5th, 1925.

Thou shalt understand, therefore, that the scripture hath but one sense, which is the literal sense. And that literal sense is the root & ground of all, and the anchor that never faileth, whereunto it thou cleave, thou canst never err or go out of the way. And if thou leave the literal sense, thou canst not but go out of the way. Neverthelater, the scripture useth proverbs, similitudes, riddles, or allegories, as all other speeches do: but that which the proverb similitude, riddle or allegory signifieth, is ever the literal sense, which thou must seek out diligently: as in the English we borrow words & sentences of one thing, & apply them unto another, and give them new significations…. All fables, prophecies, and riddles, are allegories: as Aesop's fables, and Merlin's prophecies; and the interpretations of them are the literal sense. So in like manner the scripture borroweth words and sentences of all manner thing, and maketh proverbs, and similitudes, or allegories.

v. William Tindale. [sic] "Obedience &c" p.304.

This is excellent good sense, & the modernist ring of it cannot be mistaken.

[6]

The bitter cold continues, & grows even more bitter: yesterday it was, over most part of the country, continued with thick fog. to the peril of life and limb. I stayed indoors all day, spending the time mostly in the study of Tindale's [sic] works. The Obedience of a Christian Man published in 1528 is a notable book, full of wisdom, but, of course, marred by violence. I incline to attribute the unreadableness of the Reformers' writings to 5 principal causes. viz:–

1. The Calvinistic assumption to man's total depravity which pervades and colours them.

2. The doctrine of passive submission to tyranny as the duty of a Christian man which determines their whole attitude towards civil power.

3. Their copious, literalist, & often unwarrantable quotations from the Bible, especially from the O.T.

4. Their violent & scornful denunciation of the whole system of medieval Christianity, which they envisaged as Elijah envisaged the worship of Baal.

5. The pose of their authors as desperately persecuted saints, though really innocent lambs.

We have lost touch with the older world, which explained & excused their faults, & we have grown tired of their witness.

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