The Henson Journals

[5]

Wednesday, September 3rd, 1930.

A most glorious day from start to finish – cloudless sky, brilliant sunshine, no wind, mild but not enervating atmosphere.

I received 4 letters – from Lionel, from the Editor of the English review, from Dennis, the Baptist minister whom I have accepted for Ordination next trinity, and from the Vicar of Stranton. The last wanted advice as to his treatment of a Roman Catholic girl who desires to be married to one of his young men, and to be admitted to the Church of England. After breakfast I went to the library, & wrote an answer to this inquiry and made a copy of my letter.

Then, Mrs Murray took us for a picnic at an old tower, which was very enjoyable. We were joined by Buff's daughter, a quaint little child named Ann. After luncheon we motored to An–bigland, and had tea with General & Mrs.

The lady showed us the garden which was notable, even in this country of notable gardens. On our way home we stopped to see the Sweetheart Abbey. The ruins seen in the declining sun were most beautiful.

[6]

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The old woman in charge of Sweetland Abbey told us with pride that she was a Catholick. When Mrs Murray asked her whether she had seen the gathering of Freemasons for their Provincial Grand Chapter, which was held in the ruins at night when her late husband was Provincial Grand Master, she replied that she remembered the occasion well. Then, turning to me she said proudly "I sprinkled holy water on them". I thought of John Haas and his "O sancta simplicitas!" There was the gleam of consecrated malignity in her eye, and her trembling hand, twisted with rheumatism, would have grasped the faggot with eagerness, & added it to the heretick's pyre with joy. Fanaticism is by no means extinct in the world even now. It has only changed its form. The Bolshevists of Russia are true brethren of the Parisian Leaguers who massacred the Huguenots, and the Revolutionaries who carried out the September Massacres. Here and there as in Tennessee and Malta the religious variety survives, but they have an archaic aspect, and are more curious than repulsive.

[7]

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I noticed in the local paper the report of a meeting of a Presbytery, in which, after discussion, it had been unanimously decided that £400.00 was an excessive stipend for a parish minister, & that for the future £350.00 should be the amount. When the present value of money is taken into consideration, £400.00 is the equivalent of not more than £260.00 The Presbyterians of this district cannot be said to spoil their clergy! The financial state pf the Churches throughout the Western World, & especially in Great Britain, is rapidly worsening. Economy, rendered indispensable by the rapid increase of taxation & the waxing unemployment of the people, is affected first and most easily in the sphere of voluntary expenditure. Thanks to the demented sectarianism which, in revolting against the established Churches, elevated "voluntaryism" into a Protestant principle; the resources of the non–established Churches (and all are now non–established or disestablished except for the Church of England) are wasting quickly. The new popularity of projects for uniting Churches is derived less from a quickened sense of fraternity than from a desire to reduce expenses!

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