The Henson Journals

[255]

Friday, April 23rd, 1926.

"An Erasmian reform could not have made a basis for modern civilisation. The Renaissance south of the Alps was indeed already decadent, as we can see by the change which was coming over the arts. Rougher hands than those of Colet, Erasmus and Fisher were needed to liberate northern Europe from the stifling atmosphere of the Middle Ages. And yet, from our present point of view, the Reformation checked the progress of the religion of the Spirit. This was not the fault of the Reformers, but the inevitable result of the civil war which disrupted and distracted Christendom. In time of war the prophet and seer are not wanted. Effective partisan cries have to be devised, which will appeal to and be understood by the masses… In the long & bitter struggle which was to decide which parts of Europe were to be Catholic & which Protestant, both sides were narrowed and hardened. The Roman Church was never again Catholic, & the Protestant Churches forgot the principles which justified their independent existence."

Inge. Hulsean Lectures. p.23.

[256] [symbol]

I read through Ralph's Hulsean Lectures on "The Platonic Tradition in English Religious Thought". They are admirable in form and substance, forming a convenient & authoritative summary of his teaching. Every page is a lump of quartz gleaming with ore. His easy mastery of every subject to which he puts his hand breeds in me a kind of despair.

I walked for more than an hour on the Front before lunch, and walked again with mine host during the afternoon. I asked him whether he found that as an Anglican he had a larger sphere of usefulness than he had enjoyed as a Nonconformist. He replied in the negative. The income offered to the Incumbent of Holy Trinity, Brighton, was £1000. Of this he gave £400 to his curate, & declined acceptance of the rest this year. He possessed a private income of £1200 per annum. This circumstance and his generosity could not be regarded as permanent factors. He told me that he had asked the Bishop of Chichester to allow him to invite some leading nonconformists to preach during the Robertson Commemoration: & he had been refused. This seems to be a somewhat surprising decision at this time of day.

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