laudable Practice

As he reviews the doctrine of Absolution in A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume I (1796), John Shepherd notes that "the ancient church" saw Absolution embodied in four practices: The dispensation of Absolution, as practised in the ancient church, is reducible to these four heads: 1. The Absolution of Baptism, and of the Supper of the Lord, or sacramental Absolution. 2. The Absolution of reconciliation to the church, and re-admission into its communion. 3. The Absolution of word and doctrine, or declaratory Absolution. 4. The Absolution of prayer, or precatory Absolution. These four heads shape his review, as he addresses each in turn. We begin, then, with the Sacrament of Baptism: The sacrament of baptism was esteemed by the Fathers the most universal Absolution. To adopt the words of antiquity, it was the grand, the divine indulgence in the Christian church. It was the Absolution, or remission of all those sins, which the party baptized...

He told them that the house of theirs to which he alluded was this their church, in which he now addressed them for the first time; that their most welcome and proper manner of bidding him God-speed would be their patient obedience to his teaching of the gospel; but that he could put forward no claim to such conduct on their part unless he taught them the great Christian doctrine of works and faith combined. Thus did Mr. Arabin preach himself into the living of St. Ewold's in Barchester Towers . Trollope here echoes what was a significant critique of Solafidianism. That critique was the mainstream view of the 18th century Church of England and maintained by the 'Orthodox' into the 19th century. A fine representation of this critique is seen in the primary visitation charge of Thomas Burgess, Bishop of Salisbury (received holy orders in 1784, consecrated to the episcopate 1803), delivered to his clergy in August 1826. In the preface to the published version of the charge, B...

The fact that George Bull was 71 when he was consecrated Bishop of St Davids has already been referenced in our readings from Nelson's 1713 Life of Bull . Bull's age had a particular impact on one aspect of his episcopal ministry - the administration of Confirmation: It was matter of great Grief to the good Bishop, that by the Decay of his Strength, and by his frequent Indispositions, he was prevented from Travelling over his Diocese, in order to administer in all the Parts of it, that Holy Apostolical Rite grounded upon Scripture, as expounded by Catholick Tradition, which for some time hath been known and distinguished in the Church, by the Name of Confirmation ... Nelson's description - "that Holy Apostolical Rite" - reflects the settled, consistent understanding of Confirmation found amongst Anglican divines across the 'long 18th century'. The apostolic nature of the rite is seen in, for example, a 1693 sermon in the Diocese of London, ' A Sermon...

'Inclusive Orthodox' is a term I have never warmed to. Nor is it a term I have ever used to describe myself. Today's post is an attempt to explain why this is so in five reasons. Firstly, the term became popular within a TEC constituency in the early 2000s and came to be also found in other parts of the Protestant Mainline in the United States. This locates its origins in the cultural and ecclesial concerns of the Mainline in the early 21st century United States. It is, then, a response to a very specific cultural and ecclesial context. Its application to other, quite different, cultural and ecclesial contexts is, at the very least, a matter for some debate. Seeking to apply the term on this side of the Atlantic strikes me as unconvincing as British political parties following the trends of US politics: this tends to be embarrassingly awkward at best and usually out of step with the actual concerns and experience of British society. Put bluntly, Inclusive Orthodoxy is a mic...

'Everybody agrees that is the worst in Christendom.' This was the somewhat startling judgment of Mary II, when considering the decayed state of the Church of Ireland shortly after the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. These are the words with which Patrick Little (editor) opens the volume of essays that is The Church of Ireland Under the Stuarts (2025). The essays, covering a wide range of subjects - from the role Trinity College Dublin to cathedral music, from the devotional life of the episcopalian second Earl of Cork during the Interregnum to the role of the bishops in the Irish House of Lords - might be considered as something of a revisionist response to the words of Queen Mary. The Church of Ireland which emerges from these essays has greater spiritual, intellectual, and cultural vibrancy than recognised in Old Hat accounts and enduring populist mythology. The intellectual and cultural vibrancy owed much to Trinity College Dublin, driving the "distinctiveness" of th...

In his review of Absolution in A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume I  (1796), 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 dis...