Henson was a popular and prolific preacher, much influenced by the famous nineteenth-century preacher ‘Robertson of Brighton’.[1] He dedicated himself to reviving the pulpit within the Church following what he perceived as a marked shift in the use of clerical time away from preaching. He attributed this to a number of factors: the Oxford movement and ritualism, with the ‘depreciation’ of the sermon as a Protestant practice that followed; the increasing range of parochial duties, in his view not always justified; and the rise of religious publishing, which seemed to offer greater rewards.[2]
Defining his influence as a clergyman by his ‘ministry of preaching’, he took great pains with his sermons.[3]. His preaching was distinctive in a number of ways. Except when it was difficult to ignore ‘extraordinary events’ or pressing Church matters, he studiously avoided topical issues. Instead, he took for his subject a scriptural text, usually from the Old and New Testament lessons appointed for each day in the Book of Common Prayer. However, while he considered the exposition of the Bible to be ‘a primary duty of the ordained minister of the Word’, the ‘general character’ of his preaching was ‘ethical rather than theological’. Preaching that took him outside of this sphere of duty, for example, in celebrating ‘jubilees’ and ‘centenaries’ at local churches when he became a bishop proved trying: ‘[w]hen can one be suffered to preach the Gospel’, he wrote in exasperation following a series of such events.[4]
Throughout most of his career, he wrote out his sermons in full or at least the most important passages. In later life this caused difficulties with delivery as his eyesight deteriorated, and as he struggled with poorly-lit churches.[5] On the few occasions when he felt obliged to preach extemporaneously, he was acutely discomfited.[6] This seems to have been the preferred mode of preaching among parishioners in the diocese of Hereford when he became Bishop; but he was never reconciled to it, even though his time for preparing sermons was now limited.[7]
In composing his sermons, he prided himself on the inspiration he drew from across denominational divides, Roman Catholic, Lutheran, Anglican, and Nonconformist.[8] His style of delivery was austere, his main concern being the quality and clarity of his exposition and argument:
Bishop Henson had no orator’s tricks. He stood in the pulpit with no other movement than occasionally fingering his glasses. His voice had considerable carrying power but could not really be called pleasing. Anything which might distract the attention of his audience, even for a moment, annoyed him intensely… Though he had learning and brilliant gifts he never preached to exhibit either. His ideal was a pastoral ministry and he continually sought to impress this upon his clergy.[9]
Perhaps to a greater extent than any of his contemporaries, Henson was concerned to disseminate his sermons widely. He published some of them locally in diocesan and parochial magazines that were largely his own work: The St Margaret’s Parish Magazine, The Hereford Diocesan Messenger and, in Durham, The Bishoprick. He collected some sermons in editions and published others in pamphlet form; in some cases, the body he had been invited to address arranged publication.[10] At Westminster, he handed the text of his sermons to waiting reporters, or took them to newspaper offices nearby if no reporters were present. Some sermons appeared, or were summarised, in national or local newspapers. Others were published in the religious press, for example, Christian World Pulpit, Christian Family Newspaper, and the Church newspaper The Guardian, although in these he competed for space with a large number of other clergymen – both within and outside the Church of England, depending on the newspaper.
Yet for all these efforts, he could assure one prospective publisher truthfully that they were not published on a regular basis.[11] Indeed, of his voluminous output of sermons (well over a thousand), only a small fraction survives. Many remained unpublished – for example, those from which he drew the sermons he repeated, on one occasion having mislaid the sermon he had prepared[12] – and it is likely that a substantial number published in newspapers or as pamphlets have not been found. Accordingly, the list of published sermons provided here makes no claims to completeness, although it will lengthen as further research is conducted.
Details of the biblical text(s) which provided the focus of his sermons are given in most cases (in the standardised style used in this edition). These indicate the extent of Henson’s scriptural range, and enable two sermons with the same title to be distinguished. Other details include the venue and occasion of the sermon, together with the congregation or society to whom it was preached, illustrating his widespread influence.
Where sermons delivered on a particular day are known to have been published in more than one place, the details of these separate publications are gathered into one entry. Where sermons preached on different dates have the same title with the same biblical text, this suggests some re-usage. But it is not assumed that these are identical, and it is useful to see how Henson occasionally returned to the same material.
See the growing list of sermons compiled by Hilary Ingram.
This includes all Henson’s sermons published in full that have been traced; it excludes reports of his sermons published in newspapers.
[1] Frederick William Robertson (1816-53; ODNB) was a Church of England clergyman and outstanding preacher; his sermons as the incumbent of Trinity Chapel, Brighton, from 1847 to his death drew large crowds from across the social spectrum. On the centenary of Robertson’s birth in 1916 Henson gave a public lecture in Brighton, published as Robertson of Brighton, 1816-1853 (1916); in 1926, he preached on Robertson again to mark the centenary of Holy Trinity Church, Brighton: ‘Robertson of Brighton’, in Church and parson in England (1927). He expressed his indebtedness to, and strong sense of affinity with Robertson in Retrospect, I, 133, 192.
[2] Henson, Apostolic christianity (1898), pp. x-xii.
[3] Retrospect, I, 189.
[4] Retrospect, I, 133; Journal, 31 Oct. 1937; 26 Dec. 1937; 8 Aug. 1938.
[5] Retrospect, I, 133-4; C. J. Stranks, introduction to Herbert Hensley Henson, Theology and life (London, 1957), 7-8; Journal, 26 Dec. 1937 and 27 Feb. 1938.
[6] Journal, 29 Sep. 1912.
[7] Journal, 21 Apr. 1918; 26 May 1918; 9 June 1918; 20 Oct. 1918; 16 Apr. 1919.
[8] Henson, ‘An appeal for unity’ (1901), in Godly union and concord: sermons preached mainly in Westminster Abbey in the interest of Christian fraternity (1902), 139-40.
[9] Theology and life, p. 9. Warden Anson of All Souls had given Henson three pieces of advice about public speaking at the outset of his career: to stand still, stand straight, and take his hands out of his pockets – Journal, 30 June 1886.
[10] See introduction on this website to ‘Henson’s books and pamphlets’.
[11] Henson to William Dawson & Sons Ltd, 8 Mar. 1911, NLS, MSS 355/79.
[12] Journal, 1 Sept. 1918, 15 Sept. 1918, 13 Oct. 1918, and 26 Sept.,1937.