Sir Henry's Charity

One year of missionary service in India was too much for the health of Dr. Henry Simpson Lunn. He returned to his native Lincolnshire, life having apparently robbed him of the purpose toward which his 30 years of youth had devoutly and painstakingly moved. These years of preparation had culminated in the degrees of M. A., B. Chir., M. D. and in marriage to the daughter of a canon. What to do at 30? It was the year 1888.

About a year ago Sir Henry Lunn, rich, respected, wrote a personal letter to the Very Reverend, the Provost, St. Mary's Cathedral, Edinburgh, which recorded his life's result:

I have always held that the head of a large business is entitled to a reasonable remuneration for his work, and that he is trustee for all beyond that sum.

In a complex civilization like ours, where the rewards of commercial success are very great, the primitive idea of tithes has become an anachronism and an absurdity, and no system of proportional giving can satisfy the demands of justice, where the income is often many times that of a prime minister or a president of a state.

You will, therefore, understand me when I tell you that, prefatory to the important engagements which I have undertaken to fulfill on my journey round the world, I have definitely decided to divest myself of all my property and form an incorporated society which will provide the necessary funds for continuing in the future the publication of the Review of the Churches, issued to the clergy of all communions, as it is now, at a heavy loss to support all movements for church unity and international peace, and further other religious and social ends.

You will appreciate the relief it will be to me, as I start out to visit the leading cities of the United States and the capitals of our dominion, to know that the question of financial gain from business developments has entirely passed out of my life.

And last week announcement of Sir Henry's benefaction, it probably runs into several millions of dollars, was given to the world by him from the Hotel Biltmore, Manhattan. The significance of the gift lies in the fact that Christian unity has hitherto been one of the most orated and one of the least supported ideals in Christendom. Great churchmen like Bishop Brent, Cardinal Mercier, John R. Mott, have given much of their lives to it, but few philanthropists* have given their fortunes to it. Now there is money, as well as voices, to propagate the ideal.

Fittingly, Sir Henry's money has come from tourism. He began by arranging cheap tours for overworked church folk. He found himself with a flair for making tourists happy. He bought interests in hotels. He invested heavily in Switzerland. During the past 30 years, hundreds of thousands have traveled about the world under his watchful care.

At the moment, Sir Henry is himself girdling the globe under the auspices of the World Alliance for International Friendship Through the Churches and other similar organizations. He preached last week in Trinity Episcopal Church, Manhattan.

*John D. Rockefeller Sr. is an exception, but even his benefactions to agencies promoting Christian unity are small in proportion to his other gifts.