The Henson Journals

[17]

Thursday, May 15th, 1930.

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A brilliant morning. Ernest had breakfast early and went off on his homeward journey.

I worked at the speech on Church & State for the E.C.U. It is not very easy to speak wisely. Barnes is again conspicuous in the newspapers. He attended a meeting of Wesleyan Methodists in Birmingham, & took up his parable against the Anglo–Catholicks to the extreme delight of the sectaries. He repeated his much–resented phrase about 'attaching spiritual properties to inanimate matter', and added that 'no one could discover a spiritual presence in a consecrated wafer'. All this is as unfortunate as it is offensive. My fear is that Barnes is exasperating his opponents so deeply that they will be hustled into some fatuous reprisals. With Inge calling for 'direct action' in Newcastle and Barnes making play on the Sacrament at Birmingham, one can hardly wonder that modernism does not commend itself to some Anglicans.

Pattinson and I motored to Shadforth, where I confirmed 96 persons – 48 boys & 48 girls. The service pleased me for the candidates were attentive & reverent.

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