The Henson Journals

[240]

Wednesday, April 14th, 1926.

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The present dearth of ministers was discussed in the Synod of Glasgow & Ayr held in Glasgow yesterday. One speaker (the Revd W.S. Brownlee, Clydebank) stated the situation in the Church of Scotland thus:

"This year there cd. be no more than 17 students licensed in the Church, next year there wd be 26, the following year there wd be 23 – a total of 66 students in these years to be put against the normal demands of the Church, which worked out at exactly double that number, 132."

The only suggested remedy seemed to be the admission of older men with a shortened course of training. One speaker declared his preference for "the pick of the women." "It might well be the wisest course that the Church cd adopt wd be to admit women to the ranks of the ministry." So the leaven is working on both sides of the Tweed. A female ministry will come into being because on practical grounds it has been found to be indispensable! But once created, it must grow rapidly: &, as it grows, the whole discipline of the Churches will have to be re–cast! What a vista of shame + conflict is opening!

[241]

"A centenary commemoration is an act of thanksgiving: at it cannot but be also a public affirmation of spiritual allegiance. We thank God that for a century past, His Trust has been proclaimed in this place, and specially we thank Him for the gift of His Servant, Frederick Robertson. We affirm, humbly and with determined minds, our allegiance to the Truth for which that holy Teacher stood, and of which he "being dead yet speaketh." Christ's Religion, we acknowledge, is not, cannot possibly be, vitally concerned with anything but the vindication in this bewildering & difficult world of Christ's claim to be the rightful Lord of human life in all its whole range of activity. Circumstances may change, have changed, are changing wonderfully. Conditions of the spiritual Service may vary almost infinitely, but here has ever been, & must for ever be, its essence – a personal discipleship to a present Master. Only so can Christianity persist in the failing world. "Jesus Christ is the Same, yesterday, and today, yea and for ever." "The world passeth away, the last thereof, but he that doeth the Will of God abideth for ever."

[242]

I continued work on the Brighton Sermon, and wrote a letter to R.I. Campbell. There came to lunch Mr Herbert Guthrie Smith and his sister Elmer (now Mrs Norman Scott) who, as Ella reminds me, was a bride's maid at our wedding. He is an intelligent person, interested in birds, and an authority on the birds of New Zealand, where he has his dwelling–place. He says that many men might be employed in New Zealand in the work of afforestation. We motored to Garscabe, and had tea with Sir Archibald & Lady Campbell (of Succoth). The house is well equipped with pictures including some Italian & Dutch masters. The son of the house, George Islay Campbell, a civil young gentleman enough, is about to be married to Miss Clematis Waring.

I had some talk with the quaint creature who co–habits with mine hostess, a kind of cousin, Donald, who comes & goes with the mystery of a family ghost, & the regularity of a postman. He reads erratically, thinks eccentrically, & dogmatizes Scottishly – a typical, middle–aged Scot of the paganized modern type.

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