The Henson Journals
Mon 23 December 1929
Volume 49, Pages 34 to 35
[34]
Monday, December 23rd, 1929.
The newspapers give great prominence to the announcement of fresh trouble in Birmingham. Simmonds, lately assistant curate of S. Mary's, Tynedock, being required to give a written undertaking to the Bishop of Birmingham as a condition of his institution to St Aidan's, Small Heath, Birmingham, has refused. On the Bishop's refusal to institute, the patrons of the benefice are bringing an action against him. The Bishop "in view of the fact that the issue is not really a legal one at all, but a moral & spiritual one, and the law not in doubt" does not propose to appear in the proceedings. I think that the Bishop has blundered badly, first, in requiring from Simmonds extra–legal pledges; next, in refusing to defend himself in court. As himself a pronounced Modernist he should remember that the procedure which he adopts towards "Anglo–Catholicks" may easily be adopted by other bishops towards "Modernists". One of the prosecuting patrons is the Bishop of Truro, himself an old law–breaker.
[35]
I read through "One God and Father of All, a Reply to Father Vernon' by Eric Milner–White and Wilfrid L. Knox. It is a very effective & well–written rejoinder, & goes far beyond its immediate purpose. As a controversial piece against Rome it is excellent, none the less so for being brief & tersely expressed. I allowed myself to write a complimentary letter to Milner–White.
A Primitive Methodist Minister, named E. B. Holtby, came to lunch, & to interview me with respect to Ordination. He has been 12 years in his present ministry, and is now 36 years old. He has taken his degree, both in Arts and in Theology, in Manchester University, but he seems to know little of the distinctive Anglican position. He appears to have but a slight apprehension of the essential gravity of the step which he desires to take, though, he told me, he has been considering it for some years past.
I had an unpleasant interview with Mrs Hodgson for I thought it right to tell her plainly all that had passed respecting Harold. I urged her to write to the Warden of [Wadham], and ask how K. was getting on; & I made my continued assistance contingent on his reply.