The Henson Journals

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Thursday, November 22nd, 1928.

But the day of Warham, like the day of the earlier Humanists, was nearly over. Already now in his 79th year, he was destined to retire early from the scene; and yet not before he had witnessed some part of the great revolution which cast down his order from their ancient dignity. It was not for him to withstand the revolution, like Fisher: he dallied with the elements of change: and when they grew into a combination that was intolerable in his eyes, it was his part to hurl against them the feeble thunderbolt of a dying protestation.

Dixon's History of the C. of E. vol I. p. 27

The parallel between Warham and Davidson is suggestively close. Both were set to rule in times of unprecedented difficulty, and neither was temperamentally fitted for the task of facing a crisis. The death of the Tudor primate inaugurated the ecclesiastical revolution out of which the Establishment grew; the retirement of his Georgian successor seems likely to lead in the catastrophe of Disestablishment. Both men had the strength and weakness of opportunism, its strength in quiet times, its fatal weakness in times of difficulty.

[190]

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Rawlinson writes to accept the Durham Canonry, though not without some indication of anxiety as to the adequacy of the income. As to that, I can say nothing. A man must decide for himself whether or not he can exist on £1000 a year.

Then I finished the sermon for Seaham Harbour, and, when that was done, fell to clearing my table with a view to setting to work on the Charge in good earnest. The accumulation of books, papers, & pamphlets added to the letters is a bewildering problem.

In the afternoon Lionel and I walked round the Park. Ella and I dined with Colonel and Mrs Headlam in order to meet Dame Caroline Bridgman. We had much pleasant conversation. The good lady has recovered sufficiently form the indignation with which she regarded me when I wrecked the Shropshire Bishoprick Measure, which was her particular hobby, to enable her to discuss with temper & good sense the situation created by the rejection of the P.B. Measure, and I was interested, though hardly surprised, to find that our opinion coincided. The Church will be irreparably discredited if it acquiesces in the dominance of the House of Commons.

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