laudable Practice

In his review of Absolution in A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II (1801), John Shepherd declares the fundamental doctrinal position underpinning the practice of Absolution in the Prayer Book: The ancient teachers of Christianity, whether Priests or Prelates, arrogated to themselves, in the dispensation of Absolution, no power, which was not purely ministerial. Agreeably to the doctrine of Holy Scripture, the Fathers unanimously maintain, that "God alone can forgive sins."  By 'ministerial', Shepherd means that which is stated in the Absolution at Morning and Evening Prayer: and hath given power, and commandment, to his Ministers, to declare and pronounce to his people, being penitent, the Absolution and Remission of their sins: He pardoneth and absolveth all them that truly repent, and unfeignedly believe his holy Gospel.  The forgiveness of sins is a fundamental work of the Godhead, as Shepherd sees reflected in patristic di...

From Jeremy Taylor's Golden Grove sermons, for " the summer half-year ", Sermon XII, ' Of Christian Prudence, Part III '. Taylor's critique of extraordinary claims to the Spirit offers an important defence of the religion of reasonable, sober, ordinary Anglican piety. Here is wisdom, urging us to hold to "the ordinary ways" - characterised by "reason, and sober counsels" - that lead to "the common country": But if any man pretends now to the Spirit, either it must be a private or public. If it be private, it can but be useful to himself alone, and it may cozen him too, if it be not assisted by the spirit of a public man. But if it be a public spirit, it must enter in at the public door of ministries and divine ordinances, of God's grace and man's endeavour: it must be subject to the prophets; it is discernible and judicable by them, and therefore maybe rejected, and then it must pretend no longer. For he that will preten...

In July 1705, George Bull - consecrated bishop in April - arrived in his new Diocese of St Davids.  In his visitation charges, as he addressed "the principal Parts and Branches of [the] Pastoral Office", Bull made clear his expectations for the preaching ministry of the clergy.  Nelson, in his 1713 Life of Dr. George Bull , notes the Bishop's advice to his younger clergy, advice which might be surprising to contemporary Anglicans: To qualifie them for Preaching, he pressed the Knowledge and Understanding of the holy Scriptures; and in order thereunto, some Skill in the learned Languages, with good Judgment and Discretion, and not without a tolerable Share of Elocution. He advised young Divines, not to trust at first to their own Compositions, but to furnish themselves with a Provision of the best Sermons, which the learned Divines of our Church have published; that by reading them often, and by endeavouring to imitate them, they may acquire a habit of good Preaching thems...

Following on from Friday's post on PECUSA worship in 1900, and reflecting on a recent photograph from Pohick Church with the description "the old Virginia tradition", I came across Old Churches, Ministers, and Families of Virginia (1857), by William Meade, Bishop of Virginia 1841-62. Meade refers to the "liberty" and "variety" regarding the surplice that "has ever existed in the Church of Virginia". What is more, he also presents this as within the canonical context established and maintained by PECUSA: As to the vestments, the same liberty and the same variety has ever existed in the Church of Virginia, without interruption to its harmony. It is well known that the controversy in our Mother Church concerning the use of the surplice was a long and bitter and most injurious one ... At the revision of the Prayer Book by our American fathers, this and other changes, which had long been desired by many in England, and still are, were at once mad...

In March 1900, the US publication Literary Digest provided a fascinating glimpse of life in the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America. Noting the "marked demarcation in matters of doctrine and worship" within PECUSA, the article provided a breakdown of "the relative strength of the High-, Low-, and Broad-Church parties". High Church is defined as "not elaborate ritual alone" but also "the importance of the sacraments" and a belief "in the place of the church, as preceding the Bible, not founded upon it". Low Church is taken to mean "attach[ing] less importance to the sacraments", being "evangelical in method, and sometimes "employ[ing] extempore prayer". As for Broad Church, it refers to "the liberal constructionists, sometimes of the Bible, oftener of church practises". Perhaps what is most significant about these introductory comments is that a Low Church, evangelical tradition...

In recent years, laudable Practice has turned to the commentary of John Shepherd on the Book of Common Prayer. Beginning in March 2023 , we considered his  A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church of England (1796). June 2024 commenced a series of posts - concluding in August 2025 - on the Holy Communion in his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II (1801). Today, at the beginning of June, the month when ordinations usually take place in Anglican churches, we begin a series on Shepherd's review of Absolution in the theology and practice of the Prayer Book.  Shepherd opens his consideration of Absolution in the Prayer Book by stating his intention to place it in the context of "the primitive Church": Without stating in detail the disputes that have existed between Christians of different denominations, and which have oftentimes terminated in contrary extremes, I propose to give a concise...