Painted Windows / Studies in Religious Personality

since; years have come, but they have whispered little; as was sai

elieve in the Virgin Birth, so it said, feels himself entitled to a living in the diocese of Durham. They f

parish priests. Dr. Henson has to complain. The work of the Church must be carried on. Evangeli

ishop of Durham, one of the ablest intellects in the Church of England, and hitherto one of th

nson, a greater scholar and a profounder thinker, has spoken to me of this new movement in the Bishop's mind with a deep impersonal r

he most fatal of all neutralities is that which

major interest lies in his abiding psychology, and no change in theological opinions will affect that psychology at all. Attach to him the label of "modernist" or the label of "traditionalist," and it w

ley Cocksure. Never was any man more certain he was right; never was any man more inclined to ridicule the bare idea that his opponent could be anything but wrong; a

e. He has climbed. He has loved climbing. Perhaps he has so got into this bracing habit that he may even "climb down," if only in order once more to ascend-a new rendering of reculer pour mieux sauter. I d

ending constantly forward, jerking every now and then to emphasise a point in his argument, the light in his bright, watchful, sometimes mischievous eyes dancing to the joy of his own voice, the thin lips working with pleasure as they give to all his words the fullest possible value of vowels and sibilants, the small greyish face, wi

iet, almost somnolent, with the enduring memories of Cuthbert Tunstall and Butler, Lightfoot and Westcott, add a most telling vivacity to the slim a

ory of the place, showing the pictures and the chapel, exhibiting curious relics of the past-a restless and energetic figure, holding its own in ef

intellect emerges with slow emphasis to play its part on the world's stage. In the case of Bishop Ryle one is conscious behind the pleasant, courtierlike, and scholarly manner of a background of very wholesome and unquestioning moral earnestness. But in Dr. Henson one

friends; but it would almost seem as if he had ever regarded Christianity as a thesis to be argued, not a religion to be preach

op is not deeply concerned with all moral questions, that he is in the least degree indifferent to the high importance of conduct. But for myself these excursions, earnest and well-intentioned as they are, proclaim rather the social energy of the good citizen th

n in the kingdom, a figure among scholars, a power among organisers, a very able, sincere, and trenchant personality, who has thrown the whole weight of all he has to give

d so effectually all the forces of his personality into the intellect that it is now impossible for him to see religion except as an intellectual problem. One thinks, too, that he

g to be established by reason, not commended by appeals to the sentiments; not for one moment, all the same, would he countenance the famous cynicism of Gibbon-"The various modes of worship, which prevailed in the Roman world, were all considered by the people as equally true; by the philosophers as equally false; and by the magistrate as equally useful"-for no man sees more clearly the p

mon on the Mount, dissected the Prodigal Son as a study i

erialistic politics. Moreover, although he modestly doubts his effectiveness as a public speaker, he has shown an acute judgment in these attacks which has not been lost upon the steadier minds i

democracy. It needs, therefore, great strength of mind to face a body of men who have lost all interest in his religion, and to address them not only as economist and h

materialistic dreams of the social

not greatly serviceable to human progress. They may even turn men aside from the road of actual progress, for the indul

ication of the social reformer's oratory. "Let us

Hypnotised by their own enthusiasm, they allow themselves to use language which is not only altogether excessive, but also highly inflammatory. I am bound honestly to say that I think some of the clergy are great offenders

ries the war into th

ar from being able to count upon the popular discontent, are compelled to organise an elaborate

prolong his work, is taught that he may with perfect justice adopt the policy of ca'

rs' dishonesty every day, eight hours of a man's second or third b

ainst it on the measure of their success in making it fail. There are confessedly many grave evils in our industrial system, but there are also very evident benefits. It is, like human nature itself, a mingled thing. Instead of exaggerating the evils, the wiser course would surely be to inquire how far they are capable of remedy, a

, something of his courage, and something of his wholesome good sense. But, also

challenged with an identical critic

aving created or stimulated spiritual discontent by rhetorical exaggeration, he points to the discontent as itself sufficient proof of the dissatisfaction of materialism! Ou

o the attitude of the Pharisees towards Christ, and of the Roman Power to the earliest Christian communities? May it not b

extension of that liberalising, enfranchising, and enriching spirit which has already destroyed so many of the works of feudalism. B

on, year in and year out, a quiet, persistent witness by word and life to "the things that are more excellent," the unseen things which are eternal, we too shall be "holding the world toge

from the Bishop's attack upon the social reformer something much deeper than successful logic, something which expresses itself in the works of other men by the language of sympath

ishes at least a more seemly vision of the human family than that which now passes for civilisation. Is it not possible that the day may come when a gi

. But he is not a Christian, for his hopes and fears, his preferences and dislikes, his standards of success and failure, are different from those of Christians. The Church will not pretend

be determined by the convenience of politicians or by the conventional ethics of the world of busin

, and if it will work and if it is just I will support it; but until you have found this scheme, what moral right do you possess which entitles you to unsettl

than that of a shepherd seeking the lost sheep of his flock. If the socialist must think again, at least we may ask that the Bishop should sometimes raise his crook to defend

nk he would move his flock on to new pastures as seldom as possible. This will not do, however. The social reformer tells the Bishop who thinks democracy has rejected religion that "the hungry she

ed, is not light; it is only the wick of a lamp which must be fed constantly with the oil of compassion-that is to say, if its light is to shine before men. The Bishop dazzles, but he doe

is courage, and his devotion to his work; one honours him for his intellectual qualities, which are of a high and brilliant order

MAUDE

dies' College; Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. Worked at the Victoria Women's Settlement, Liverpool, for three years and then in the country parish of Luffenham; Lecturer in English Literature to the Oxford University Extension Delegacy; joined t

MAUDE