The Henson Journals

[135]

Saturday, February 22nd, 1930.

I received an invitation to preach in St. Cuthbert's, Edinburgh, on May 25th, when the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland will begin its session: also, I received an invitation from the College of Medicine in Newcastle to deliver the inaugural address at the beginning of the winter session in October 9th. With really amazing folly I accepted both invitations.

I spent the morning in revising my sermon, and preparing notes for an address tomorrow.

At 2 p.m. I left the Castle, and motored (by way of Piercebridge, Catterick, Ripon, Harrogate, Skipton, Clitheroe, Whalley) to Blackburn where I had arranged to stay for the week–end with the Bishop. The distance, 109 miles, was traversed in 3 hour 20 minutes, which is not bad going. I dined with mine host & hostess, there being none other present save only an odd–looking female in some dependent character. The Bishop of Blackburn and his wife are both very interesting & attractive. Their family histories are well represented in the engravings on the walls. George Herbert, The Marquis of Worcester who held Basing House for the King & Lord Clive at once arrested my gaze.

[136]

This is a very charming family. All the constituents of terrestrial felicity appear to be here combined. Both the Bishop and his wife are in the fullness of their natural powers: both are well born, healthy, and handsome. They are evidently attached to one another by the warmest affection, and their three delightful children are so many guarantees that their affection will not decline as the years pass. I notice that the house is well provided with good modern books, and, though there was little opportunity for me to examine the book–shelves with attention, a cursory inspection showed many volumes which indicated scholarly tastes and intellectual activity. Canon Sinker whose opinion may, perhaps, be affected unconsciously by a certain sense of subordination as unwelcome as it was unfamiliar to the Vicar of Blackburn, who, before the coming of the Bishop, had been 'cock of the walk', tells me that his popularity with the people is diminished by a certain aristocratic aloofness of manner & the absence of that gushing eloquence which they so greatly admire & so absurdly over–value.

[137]

This pitiable weakness of the Church in England is not inexplicable. Christendom is not the result of a process of individual conversion to Christianity solely or mainly. Christ's religion, approved by the governing few, has been imposed on the subject masses, with the consequence that only a fraction of the people is deliberately and intelligently Christian. In recent years, this action of the government imposing the religion on the nation has ceased, & for more than a generation Christianity has been left to its own persuasive force. The power of the State is freely lent to every other cause – public health, education, &c. – but Religion is now supposed to be so completely a matter of individual concern, that, however notoriously incompetent for such a decision a man may be, the State will no longer concern itself with assisting his choice. The inevitable consequence of leaving religion to individual choice has followed. The vast majority of individuals neglect religion altogether. Would it be otherwise with health or education if these concerns were left to the untrammelled freedom of the private citizen? Why is there need for the vast army of inspectors who are charged with the business of goading reluctant individuals to do what the law requires?

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