The Henson Journals

[20]

Thursday, August 23rd, 1928.

Awaking early, I killed the time until I was called by reading the posthumously published volume of Rashdall's Sermons entitled 'Principles and Precepts', which, I am pleased to see, is in a second edition. They are admirable compositions, full of learning which is not paraded, and transparently sincere. Inevitably, I ask myself, why did this preacher fail so signally to attract? That his failure as a preacher was total can hardly be denied. Nobody went to hear him at Lincoln's Inn, and when he preached in Westminster Abbey the congregations were uncommonly small. Three reasons, perhaps, may be suggested. First, he had an execrable delivery and an unprepossessing appearance. He read his sermons, and read them badly. He made no effort to be audible, & often was not so. Next, he was, undeservedly indeed but none the less decisively, odious to the church–going public, which, mainly through the persistent vilification of the 'religious' press, regarded him as a dangerous heretick. Lastly, his appeal was too exclusively intellectual. He avoided excessively everything that was sentimental or emotional. Here, I judge that he was mistaken, for sentiment & emotion cannot, and ought not, to be neglected even in the interest of the intellect.

[21]

The day was hazy, but promising. We left the house about 10.30 a.m., picked up the Braleys at Doddington, & went on with them to Beal, where we crossed the sands in a crazy motor, which punctured half way across, to Lindisfarne. Here we walked to the Castle, where at first we were refused admission by the mariner in charge, although I sent in my card. The owner was out, but his son, a boy of about 14, and his tutor, a weedy–looking young man named Frodsham, a son of the Bishop, were in the house, & showed us over. From the roofs, very noble views are gained. Then we lunched on the beach, under the shelter of an aged boat. The weather was now fine and sunny, but it worsened as we walked to the parish church. Here we fell in with a poor–looking parson, who turned out to be the Vicar. He showed us his church, a commodious but uninteresting building, partly Norman. He exhibited an Elizabeth cup of 1579, and Elizabethan registers. From the Church we went to the ruins of the priory, now admirably maintained by the Board of Works. This was a cell of Durham, & the Church, builded in 1093 by William de Carileph was a bijou edition of the Cathedral. It had now come on to rain, & we returned to Wooler under a dropping sky.

[22]

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The Protestants are curiously obtuse. They seem resolved to demonstrate their practical ineptitude. It is now stated that they are protesting to the Prime Minister against Lang's translation. The implication is that they think the action of the House of Commons ought to be interpreted as finally disposing, not merely of the Revised Book, but of all that it stands for. Their only objection to Lang is that he was a prominent champion of the rejected book, an objection which may be urged against 37 out of the 43 bishops! Hinde, the Vicar of Islington, who is, I suppose, their most influential leader among the clergy apart from the Bishops, announces organized prayer for Evangelical purposes because the rejection of the Prayer Book demonstrates the effectiveness of specific & persistent petitioning ! Piety so completely divorced from common sense, modesty, & humour has been rarely displayed so grossly. I am glad to be in the black books of these pitiful fanaticks, &, if I had any doubt as the rightness of the course which I have taken, they have assuredly removed it. I think that Jix and Inskip, who, however frantically Protestant, are men of affairs must begin to lament the ardour of their supporters. No public man can afford to be made ridiculous, & these absurd Fanaticks will certainly do that for them both.

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