The Henson Journals

[38]

Thursday, January 29th, 1931.

[symbol]

I did not get up until noon. Charles came to my bedroom & did the letters. I dictated to him a letter to Macdonald on the question of the projected volume on Lightfoot.

Ella and Fearne went to Birmingham, designing to spend the night there with Linetta, & then go onto Bournemouth, to recuperate after her illness.

I copied the Letter to Macdonald into my Letter book, and, in sending it to him, I took the precaution of marking it 'private'. It reads more superciliously than I meant but this parade of extreme devotion to the Great Man, exhibited by men whose only link with greatness is that they did have brief contact with him, is rather provoking!

Ought laymen to conduct burials? and baptize in the Church? Stephenson reports that in his Rural Deanery some laymen are doing both, & he wants a "ruling" from me for the guidance of his clergy. I thought it prudent to send his letter to the Chancellor. Since the Lambeth Conference permits Deaconesses to administer Baptism in Church, we cannot wonder that male workers hold themselves to be qualified a fortiori.

[39]

[symbol]

An Ordination Candidate, Frank Samuel James, came all the way from Pembroke Dock to be interviewed. He is not prepossessing to look at: walks with a limp: and has a pompous, oracular solemnity in speaking which is at once ludicrous & exasperating. Add that he will be 34 this year, & has extreme difficulty in passing the humblest examinations, & it will be apparent that he is not the type of candidate over which a self–respecting Bishop becomes enthusiastic. He is said to have some musical ability, and his 'references' assure me that he is a man of good character & congruous habits. He cannot speak the Welsh language, & thereby is disqualified for the Ministry of the Welsh Church. He expressed himself very contemptuously of the Welsh in conversation at dinner, & (though personally I loathe the Welsh) the fact that he did so damaged him in my opinion. What other profession would provide him with a career? "Not many mighty, not many noble are called" wrote the Apostle, and he found in the fact an argument for the Divineness of Christianity. Certainly, the recruiting of the Ministry, from what South called 'the offals of other professions', is a hard trial of our faith in these times. "The economy of Heaven is dark" writes a poet.

---