New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1904-04-17
CANON HENS0N'S PROTEST
rbe Traditions Of Deans Yard-4
Demand for an ETpurgated Bible.
London. April g

secf OF reaction against the spirit OF historic
-,rna The deans and canons OF Westminster
- found their comfortable stalls and Libraries
-n-.es with the benignant spirits Of the Ben
sr..,re monks who walked In the cloisters. at
! 80 eight services daily from mathis to com
lines and painted missals for recreation. and
- have Involuntary broken out in revolt
s-s,nst the ecclesiasticism Of the place. In
ss~,blous times there were political intrigues
"a rersecutions in what was left Of the Abbots
use as when Dean Pakenham. installed in the
i'm Of Mary. dragged out his life in prison
.r-sng the Elizabethan period. or when Dean
vguiarns followed the fortunes OF Charles I and
IN regicide in power at the Jerusalem Cham
,sr and Presbyterian preachers in the Abbey
rrlpit, or when Dean Atterbury, who had been
s.,ching Jaoobite plots in a secret hiding place
.sbina the fireplace OF his library, was arrested
!, his nightgown when he was prepared 10
,,srch down Whitehall in lawn sleeves and pro-
lain James III King at Charing Cross. With
ne established order IN politics and dynasty
.ss shirt OF revolt in the Deans Yard has been
s-ected mainly against orthodoxy in religion
a. srst Il was dogma against which one or an
cher dean or canon recoiled. and now the
afle itself is openly challenged by the success
s,-s n the dreamy Benedictine monks who fell
,slpep IN their cells over their Illuminated pages.
Dean WiIberforce was not in residence at
Westminster long enough TO identify the his
,oric cloisters with any OF his eccentrcities and
vsearaes, but Dean Bucxland carried with him
N the Yard from oxford the scientific ardor OF
the famous Bridgewater treatise on geology
and natural theology and filed the Abbot's
house with fossils monkeys and snakes and
n rave dinners there 10 the members Of the Royal
Society. After this revel Of science in the mo-
rastic cloisters came Dean Trench. the student
~ language and man OF letters. and with the
eourtlv Dean Stanley. the most sympathetic
historian Of the Abbey there was frank con-
fession Of latituIinarian views In polity and
dogma As the standards OF churchmanship
were raised al ST. Pauls the grounds OF faith
were broadened at Westminster. and the Deans
Yard. with it's secluded cells and secret passages
behind the Chapter House and around the old
yefectory OF the monks, swarming with
schoolboys became a maze OF heterodoxy and
rationalsm. Congregations sleeping decorously
under academic preaching outside the Abbey
would not have been rudely aroused and wan
tonly disturbed II discipline could have been
maintained in the literary and scientific group
In the Yard. Canon Farrar. the eloquent
preacher ~ ST Margaret's. made great hub
bub by giving the ignorant and unregenerate the
benefit Of the doubt and proclaiming a message
Of eternal hope in place Of everlasting punish
ment and until he retired 10 the Deanery OF
Canterbury ecclesiastics distrusted him and con-
sentative churchmen wondered what he would
DO next. Canon Gore. while he was in residence
at the Abbey. demonstrated that a real thinker
IN the English Church could be as broad in his
principles OF Interpretation OF Scripture as he
high in ritual and practice. and he ruffied
ferred to go through life IN q spirit OF childlke
trust in the old ideas and the conventional ways
The new disturber OF the religious peace is
Canon Hensley Henson. who breaches at st.
Margaret's and is full OF the fire OF controversy.
He is barely forry-one and has an ascetic. in
tellectual face; and he has been a strenuous
worker, winning first class IN modern history
and a fellowship al All Souls becoming the
head OF oxford House. Bethnal Green and sub
sequently Vicar Of Barking. select preacher at
both universities. chaplain to the Bishop OF ST.
Adams. incumbent Of St Mary's Hospital and
finally canon in the Deans Yard with the rec
torship OF the Official church of the houses OF
Parliament His father had been the late Lord
sslisbury's coach at oxford. and his advance
ment might have been promoted by this ad-
TenttoVs influence; but he had shown his ca
pacity as an organizer Of Christian work in the
East End Of London, and he had succeeded in
interesting thoughtful men at the universities
N his style Of preaching. With his STOPPING
figure. slender frame. youthful face and simple
dignity, he looks like one Of the more ascetic
monks OF the Benedictine period at the Abbey;
sno he is the most dilgent student and the
most forcibe preacher in Deans Yard. He is
Independent. fearless and possibly reckless in
taxing Up problems which other preachers are
mill
ihey have the hardihood 10 consider them in the
retirement Of their libraries or in conversation
with trusted friends. He has not hesitated 10
euack Bishop Gore for denying to a priest IN
he Diocese Of Worcester the privileges OF lib
cry Of thought. which he himself had exercised
n writing Lux MundP': he has baited Dr. Cliff
toro into controversy over the education cues
aon; he has made friendly overtures TO the
"esleyans and displayed a tolerant spirit in
SEEKING 10 forecast the reunion OF the churches
eno he has shown himself TO be in sympathy
win higher criticism and the purely literary
movement in theology. In many ways he has
\ maze his Influence felt as a preacher and a
Oontroversialist. and has already come TO be re
saroea as the "enfant terrible" Of the Anglican
communion
Canon Henson's article on The Future OF the
0loie' In the current number Of The Fort
-e"uF Review" has startled both conservative
SNuIeninea and NoncOnformists with the bold
= 7Ss OF The challenge TO accepted traditions and
.,esS' and he is already condemned as a Ration
s'st and mischief maker more dangerous than
-. 'a1i11dinarian Dean Stanley. or the versatile
'e' tongued Canon Farrar, the natural foe
- OF dogma. This article. which has been
-'sa ont by the centennial celebration OF the
-.'ehh ano Foreign Bible Society, is ingeniously
octeo 50 that condemnation OF unexpur-
&c Scripture as the historical record OF an
- Eastern tribe with primeva ideas OF
-. ana as recital OF unedifyng anecdotes
- shocking or puerile is balanced by gilt
eeneralizations respecting the restoration