The Henson Journals

[199]

Tuesday, March 30th, 1926.

I went again to the dentist, and had my two surviving teeth extracted, not without pain in spite of cocaine in the gums. So now I am a fangless snake, fit only to make sport for the multitude! The great practical question, whether any reasonably trustworthy substitutes can be provided, remains to be answered.

Ralph replies to my inquiry about Streeter's young "Liberals" with his usual good sense. He sets down what he can remember of his letter to Streeter thus:–

"The letter (sc. that which the said young "Liberals" propose to send to "The Times") is a very bad tactical blunder, and if you can stop its publication, I hope you will. The bishops are preparing quietly to move Canute's chair back a bit, but if they are called upon to stand & deliver, they will say, and must say, that the C. of E. stands by the Creeds as interpreted by the Catholic Church. It is unfair to appeal to Durham and Liverpool: they cannot do anything. If a young man has a troubled conscience, his proper course is not to write to the newspapers, but to lay his case before the bishop in whose diocese he wishes to work. Several men who have since risen to high positions have done this, and [200] have been accepted for ordination by bishops who knew their views."

I doubt whether this reasonable course will satisfy the exacting conscience of conceited & inexperienced youth.

I wrote to George thanking him for his excellent photograph, & sending him the Westminster sermon.

Few things are more embarrassing than the affection of persons whom you yourself don't really like, but whose approaches you can hardly repulse without displaying a rudeness which is indefensible! W. Gadd, the Rector of Burnmoor, sends me a copy, dated 1652, of the History of John and Manuel Comnenü [sic], Emperors of Constantinople, from the press of Ackersdyck. He inserts this note: "This book which is very scarce was the source of 'Count Robert of Paris', the novel by Sir Walter Scott: and is a fine specimen of early Greek printing in clean & perfect condition, and bound in full vellum, gilt tooling, and was the property of John Stuart Blackie, whose name & autograph appear on the fly–leaf. A copy of this work was sold in 1828 for £4."

Now why I should I be placed in the situation of receiving a present for the Rector of Burnmoor?

[201] [symbol]

From beggars for my clients, from fools for my worshippers, and from sluts for my servants,

Good Lord, deliver me!

From the barren subtlety of lawyers, from the slippery shiftiness of politicians, & from the blind restlessness and calculated selfishness of commercial speculators,

Good Lord, deliver me!

From a scholar who smells of books, from a sportsman who smells of horses, and a mother who smells of babies,

Good Lord, deliver me!

From genius without sense, from talent without love, and from creeds without humanity,

Good Lord, deliver me!

From the three infallibles, the Roman Pope, the editor of a party newspaper, and a woman when she is in the wrong,

Good Lord, deliver me!

From a man without brains, from a woman without religion, and from a poet without sense,

Good Lord, deliver me!

From a Tory without sense, a Liberal without sentiment, and a Radical without reverence,

Good Lord, deliver me!

From a fair woman when she weeps, from a false[202] woman when she smiles, and from a clever woman when she talks,

Good Lord, deliver me!

From the British House of Commons and from infinite babblement of reasonable & unreasonable fools,

Good Lord, deliver me!

From prejudice that blinds the truth, from sophistry that juggles with truth, and from faction that poisons truth

Good Lord, deliver me!

Professor Blackie's Litany.

Bishop Croft, whose "Naked Truth" I edited in 1919, would probably have been included among the advocates of small bishopricks if he had been living now. He insists on the practical impossibility of confirming all who ought to be confirmed in the large areas over which the English bishops exercised jurisdiction. But, then, he held it integral to a right administration of the laying on of hands that the Bishop should "duly examine each one" beforehand. In his hatred and horror of Rome, Croft was prepared to go great lengths in the Puritan direction.

---