The Henson Journals

[65]

Thursday, September 13th, 1928.

Where plenty smiles, alas! She smiles for few,

And those who taste not, yet behold her store,

Are as the slaves that dig the golden ore,

The wealth around them makes them doubly poor.

Crabbe. 'The Village' Book i.

Thanks to the press and the cinema the exasperating spectacle of unshared wealth is pressed on the working, (& unemployed) multitude of the poor in the XXth century far more continually & startlingly than in the XVIIIth & XIXth . The effect on their minds of the enormous fortunes announced in the newspapers almost daily as having been left by wealthy individuals, often the leaders of industries which are described as 'ruined', is extremely unfortunate. If it were not for the heavy estate–duties, which make sure that a substantial part of these great accumulations should pass to the public exchequer, I doubt whether their existence could be maintained against the resentment of the masses. Indeed it needs not that one should be a poor labourer dependent for the materials of one's thinking on the cheap press & the movies, in order that one should feel an unconquerable repugnance at the spectacle of colossal wealth in the hands of vulgar individuals, who seem destitute of every moral claim to exceptional fortune.

[66]

I worked at the Congress Sermon, for which I have not yet discovered a suitable text. Mainly, what I want to emphasize is the great danger we are in by reason of the ignorance of elementary Christian faith & morals which marks the multitude of English folk, & which has been disclosed rather disconcertingly in the Prayer Book Revision controversy. I want to appeal for a worthier sense of proportion among ourselves so that we may cease to wrangle about the trivialities which divide our parties, and may give our whole energy to the things which really matter viz. teaching and discipline.

I walked round the Park, & lighting on a group of five unemployed miners, I sate with them on the grass, & talked for more than half an hour. They are very dejected and humble. This protracted idleness, &, perhaps, a too–restricted food supply, have broken their spirit. The Times publishes the last 3 special articles on the state pf the mining industry in Durham & Northumberland. They are written with knowledge, discrimination, and sympathy. But they are frankly pessimistic about the future of mining in these parts.

[67]

An Indian Christian, himself a graduate, remarked to the writer, 'You do not fear devils, & so they cannot hurt you, but we know that they exist.' To missionaries who have not yet gained their confidence, such Christians may describe their Christianity in terms conventional in the West, but the prime significance of Christianity is for them, not the Christian experience our Western theologies express, but this; Christ is stronger than devils, & can deliver from their power those who trust in Him. To drive out devils is part of the ordinary routine of Christian service, & even the humblest Catechist who fails in this is held unfitted for his work. Within the sphere over which Christ rules, Christians are safe from demonic powers, but if they leave that sphere they are again in peril. It is on this account that no Christian may be present at ceremonies where there is idol worship. Idols are nothing; but where there is idol worship devils are active, & can destroy the Christian who has entered the sphere over which they rule. It is this that S. Paul meant, when he warned the Corinthians against communion with demons.

v. The Gospel of S. Paul by Sydney Cave. D.D. p. 163.

(Hodder & Stoughton. 1928).

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