The Henson Journals

[280]

Monday, December 13th, 1926.

Bishop Lawrence is very emphatic on the value of house to house visiting, basing his judgment mainly on his own experience, but pleading the high authority of his spiritual master, & official predecessor, Phillips Brooks.

"If the pastor is not associated with the home when there is health as well as sickness, he will be associated in his people's mind's [sic] with the undertakers – in at the deaths and funerals."

He mentions a meeting of clergy in which pastoral visitation was discussed.

"One man after another spoke of its futility. 'Far better', said they, 'to give the time to the preparation of the sermon.' Finally the chairman turned to Phillips Brooks, who had been silent, and asked his opinion. He said, 'I wish that I could devote every hour of the day to calling on my people. I know of no happier or more helpful work that a pastor can do; and I call as much as I can. How is it possible for one to preach to his people if he does not know them, their doubts, sorrows, and ambitions?'"

(v. Memoirs of a Happy Life, p. 554)

Bishop Lawrence was not naturally an orator, & he never became a great preacher. But by prodigious efforts he became quite an effective public speaker.

"It was my habit for years before going to the church to read aloud in my study every word of the service & so familiarize myself with the notices, their order and substance, that there wd be no hesitation or correction. . . . I rehearsed my sermons without notes once or twice to the unresponsive walls of my study. To my wife I owe almost everything as a sympathetic and merciless critic."

He thinks that the instruction in Homiletics, which Ordination Candidates receive in the Seminaries, is mostly mischievous. "We do all that we can to make the young man, and his sermon, unnatural & conventional." (p. 63) He rightly condemns the artificial manner of speaking in the pulpit, to which he ascribes much of "the unreadiness of men & women to listen to sermons".

"I have watched laymen, lawyers, and business men give addresses from pulpits, & it is a rare man who does not unconsciously speak in an affected pulpit voice & manner. The difficulty is too many people enjoy the pulpit tone: it makes them feel religious." (p. 64)

[281]

The poverty of Ordination candidates would seem to be as great a problem in the Protestant Episcopal Church of U. S. A. as in the Established Church of England. As Dean of the Theological School in Dean, Mass. he acquired a large knowledge of the students' circumstances: –

"Many of them were working under heavy financial handicaps, or had home anxieties. The problem of the financial aid of young men, especially theological students, is a very difficult one, and I am after forty years' experience as much at sea as to the best methods as ever. A few things are clear to me. Financial aid given mechanically and without consideration of each case is bad. I am sure that aid given to young men in college, certainly in the early years of college, with the understanding that they are to enter the ministry, is dangerous. Any method which leads young men towards the ministry along the lines of least resistance fills the clergy list with indifferent men, of whom there is too large a number now. As Bishop I have never given or loaned a dollar of aid to any candidate: as his Father in God I will not be in financial relations with him. I doubt the advisability of so–called scholarships or stipends for work done, unless the money is earned according to market–values. Better give the help outright, trust the young man, & demand of him his very best in scholarly work & practical service. With all this said, no uniform rules or methods stand: intimate personal knowledge of each young man by a wise counsellor is essential." (v. Ibid. p. 72)

The bother is that "intimate personal knowledge" of an adolescent leads, especially in the case of unmarried clergymen, to a sentimental interest, which may become a deep affection, &, then, the merits of the young man are seen through a magnifying glass, & his defects are half–seen, if seen at all. This is the root of much generous patronage, and explains many unwise Ordinations.

[282]

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Cecil Ferens came to lunch, and afterwards I gave him the requisite instructions for drawing up my will. I appointed him to be an executor together with Ella, so that the poor lady might have some competent person to advise with.

Ferguson, the Vicar of Collierley, came to see me, bringing with him a young man named Linnell, who desires to be ordained in Lent. He is not yet 23, so that his age will only just suffice. But he is already married! The main difficulty is that he is set on missionary service, & does not wish to work in England. Thus, if I consented to ordain him, I should not get for the diocese more than two years work. However, I liked the look of him, and promised to consider his application, & send him my decision in due course.

Lionel and I walked round the Park. As we entered the gate on returning to the Castle, a large owl flew out of the tree beside the gate. This must be the bird which Alexander reported seeing on the Conservatory roof last week.

The Evening post brought me a candid letter from one Percy Sargant, marked "Private & without prejudice". The writer is particularly offen[d]ed with my article "Tolerant England" in the Evening Standard, which is, he says, "utterly repugnant to the teaching of the Bible". "The general tenor of some of your articles may be likened to those lovely lawn sleeves, full of wind and worldly wisdom, but lacking spiritual wisdom." He encloses a pamphlet, "Talks on the Great Pyramid", and adds a P. S. bidding me "study the Book of Revelation from the right angle".

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