[22 Paradise Rd., Northampton, Mass.]
I have now received the complete set of letters up to no. 5 of September 28th. I was much surprised by getting, the day before, your long and interesting log of your voyage. I had previously assumed that No. 1 was the letter posted from Southampton, so that this new No. 1. arrived as a complete surprise. I was glad to get your brief news of the beginning of your term, with larger classes, andMorrow, Elizabeth Cutter;a1 Mrs. Morrow,1 anddogs'Boerre' (Norwegian Elkhound);b7'cantankerous';c3 Boerre apparently as cantankerous as ever.
IRichardses, thehost TSE before departing Magdalene;b1 had a pleasant weekend – ordered a black gown, surplice and hood, for hall and chapel respectively, and was glad of a weekend in the company of the Richards’s before they leave for Harvard. They were in a somewhat confused state, as their flat in London had been burgled the night before – extremely inconvenient at the moment of making their final preparations to depart for three years. IHayward, Johnwhere TSE visits him;j5 alsoRothschilds, the;a1Rothschild, Victor
I am going to have inoculations against colds – my only usual winter malady. The weather remains pretty good. Chieffinances (TSE's)TSE's Income Tax;a1 worry in most people’s minds at the moment is their income tax in January. CatsOld Possum’s Book of Practical Catspublished;c6 have appeared and I await reviews: 2 ChristianBoutwood Lectures (afterwards The Idea of a Christian Society)approaching publication;b1 Society should be ready in a fortnight.3 ICocktail Party, TheMartin Browne's preference for a popular play;a3 amBrowne, Elliott Martinadvises TSE over next play;d2 chewing over Martin’s requirements, and wondering whether they can be fitted in with what I can do and what I may find worth while trying to do. He would be glad to have a play that was ‘modern’ rather than historical, and in verse: so far so good. But ‘the utmost simplicity of subject and treatment is desirable’, and ‘of course one can’t depend on any previous knowledge whatever in the audiences, and any prolonged willingness, or ability to think’. But if I could hit upon the right subject, the practice in popularisation might be useful.
IMatthews, Walter R.as historian of Anglican Church;a1 know Dean Mathews4 and some of his writings, and will look up anything he has written about Church History, though I do not know that any one person to-day has [sc. is] considered the authority on the history of the Anglican Church. IHale, Emilyreligious beliefs and practices;x1compared to TSE's;a5 find a good deal of difficulty in replying to your observations, because in these matters the differences of forms of thought go so deep that two people may easily be using the same words and talking a different language. IndeedChristianityorthodoxy;c4iniquities of liberal theology;a6, I think that a recognition of the different languages is perhaps a necessary preliminary to any understanding; and one can hardly overestimate the importance of seeking first for understanding and only after that for agreement. When you speak of ‘basic fundamental principles’ ‘common to all religions’, for instance, the implications to you are likely to be something that I cannot accept. What I should be prepared to admit, and I think that it is orthodox enough, is that in any religion, even the most primitive or degraded, there is some awareness of spiritual reality on the part of the worshippers. But I am certainly not prepared to say that it is what is common to all religions that is important; that there is no difference between twilight and noonday, because there is light in both of them; and I will not say that we have no means of judging that there is something essential to Christianity which is given to no other religion, and that there is in Christianity itself a series of degrees of purity and completeness. There seems to be implicit in what you say, the assumption that it is arrogant to assert that there is more truth in one religion than in another – arrogant to assert that there is a peculiar revelation to Christians in the Incarnation of Jesus Christ by the Virgin Mary. I cannot accept the assumption that ‘broad-mindness’ [sic] is always and in every application a virtue, for it may lead to the most serious error.
AChristianityorthodoxy;c4and creed;a7 ‘creed’ in the strict sense, is not something which can be changed. To change creeds ‘as men’s minds change’ is to give up transcendent reality altogether, and accept the momentary position of the flux of human notions as the only truth possible.
AsChristianityUnitarianism;d9impossibly various;b6 for Unitarianism, I doubt whether contemporary Unitarianism can be discussed at all, for the reason that there is no particular belief which appears to be necessary for any two Unitarians to hold: so that all there is to discuss is the beliefs of particular Unitarians, which vary all the way from those of Dr. Perkins, which seem similar to those of the extreme Modernist Anglicans, to a kind of ethical culture at the other extreme, which has no very secure basis for any ethics.
WhenChristianityChristendom;b2the Church Visible and Invisible;a4 you say that ‘no group has the right to claim precedence as the Church over another group’, I am willing to admit that there may be many in the Invisible Church, because of their rightness of aim and worthiness of character, in spite of not consciously holding the Faith; but if there is to be a Visible Church on earth, as I believe our Lord intended and himself founded, then some are members of it and some are not. Exactly where we draw the line is another question.
I am painfully aware of the poverty of my expression, in dealing with the most difficult of all matters for interpretation: it is a discussion which must be constantly resumed from a different starting point. AndHale, Emilyrelationship with TSE;w9TSE's reasons against marrying;c5 IEliot, Vivien (TSE's first wife, née Haigh-Wood)the possibility of divorcing;f2in common and canon law;a5 feel that there must be some very deep and difficult root of misunderstanding, because of what you refer to at the end of your letter. It is very hard and very painful for me to have to mention a subject which, on two or three several [sic] occasions, I thought I had said all there was to say about. I see no reason to suppose that anything will alter my situation: and the attitude of the Church and of myself towards divorce is clear; and the legislation of a year or two ago has no bearing upon it. IChristianityvirtues heavenly and capital;e1its foundations;d8 am afraid that patience has to have deeper foundations than illusory hopes.
ThisHale, EmilyTSE's love for;x2apparently undimmed but dwarfed by war;e4 has been a difficult letter to write, and has taken me several days: that is why it is the only letter this week. I shall pray for you, my dear, more intensely than ever; and I have no need to remind you how much I stand in need of your prayers. We must try to submerge our own griefs in those of the world, which were never greater than now.
1.ElizabethMorrow, Elizabeth Cutter Cutter Morrow (1873–1955), benefactor and philanthropist – widow of Dwight Morrow (1873–1931), U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, 1927–30, and Senator – was the active, enterprising President of the Alumnae Association of Smith College; from 1926, a Trustee of the Board. She served as Acting President of Smith College for the interim year 1939–40.
2.Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats was published on 5 Oct. 1939, with a first printing of 3,005 copies; price 3/6d.
3.The Idea of a Christian Society was published on 26 Oct.
4.WalterMatthews, Walter R. R. Matthews (1881–1973), Anglican priest and theologian; Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, 1934–67.
4.E. MartinBrowne, Elliott Martin Browne (1900–80), English director and producer, was to direct the first production of Murder in the Cathedral: see Biographical Register.
11.JohnHayward, John Davy Hayward (1905–65), editor and critic: see Biographical Register.
4.WalterMatthews, Walter R. R. Matthews (1881–1973), Anglican priest and theologian; Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral, 1934–67.
1.ElizabethMorrow, Elizabeth Cutter Cutter Morrow (1873–1955), benefactor and philanthropist – widow of Dwight Morrow (1873–1931), U.S. Ambassador to Mexico, 1927–30, and Senator – was the active, enterprising President of the Alumnae Association of Smith College; from 1926, a Trustee of the Board. She served as Acting President of Smith College for the interim year 1939–40.