The Henson Journals
Fri 10 October 1930
Volume 51, Pages 88 to 89
[88]
Friday, 10th October, 1930.
Protestant Churches, says the Dean ^[Inge]^ approvingly are "content to be factors in a changing civilization, critics of new experiments, but not because they are new, & upholders of a morality which is based not on tradition but on the broad principles of the Gospel applied to modern problems". But what if their criticism be rejected & the morality which they conceive to be required by the broad principles of the Gospel be set at naught , will the Protestant Churches still be "content to be factors in a changing civilization"? If so, then they can no longer say with S. Peter "we must obey God rather than men'[sic]: if not then they will stand, not less than the Roman Catholicks with whom the Dean contrasts them, in opposition to the main stream of civilization. The 'mental atmosphere' which 'Science, now wholly emancipated' is creating will, perhaps, 'exclude', not merely 'the whole world–view of Catholicism' but also the whole discipline of the Christian life, and the hopes & fears of Christian Faith.
[89]
I started to write a sermon for S. Nicholas, Durham. Xan Wynne Willson came to lunch, & afterwards walked with me in the Park. He is a good lad, but woefully tongue–tied. Possibly the last trait is less prominent when he is in the company of his coevals.
Charles & I motored to Ferryhill, where I addressed about 150 men in the Parish Hall. Lomax presided in his own inimitable manner. I spoke on the Lambeth Conference, & afterwards invited questions. For half an hour the men asked me questions of the most varied description but mostly connected with Unemployment. We came away about 9 p.m. I trust that no harm was done.
It is hard to say whether a meeting of this kind is, or is not, of any real advantage. On the one hand, it may be urged that the Bishop comes nearer to the men, who see him, exchange words with him, &, perhaps, feel a personal liking for them. On the other hand, the Bishop may make an ill impression, & weaken his personal influence. Sometimes – & that was, I think, the case tonight – the Bishop finds occasion to prick the bubble of some local misunderstanding, and to say something which needs to be said, but could hardly in any other situation be so said as to reach the poorer folks.