The Lenten fast and the Tudor Church Militant

In a phrase shared by Eamon Duffy and Diarmaid MacCulloch, it was the "Tudor Church Militant".   Edward's Reformation, says Duffy, was "abrasive", to be contrasted with Elizabeth embracing "some of the deep rhythms of pre-Reformation religion".

The recent online publication by Anglican.net of Thomas Becon's 1551 A Fruitful Treastise on Fasting is a reminder that, alongside the ruptures of the Edwardine Reformation, there was also a preservation of some of those "deep rhythms" mentioned by Duffy as characteristic of the Elizabethan Church.

Becon's Reformed credentials were impeccable: a chaplain to Cranmer, contributor to the Book of Homilies, fled the Marian persecution, becoming a Canon of Canterbury Cathedral under the Elizabethan Settlement.  He certainly was not a forerunner of the 'avant garde conformists', as his 1559 The Displaying of the Popish Mass critiqued kneeling and recommended sitting to receive the Sacrament. 

In A Fruitful Treatise on Fasting, however, we see importants aspects of the continuity which would be significant in the life of the reformed ecclesia Anglicana.

Respect for the Fathers is evident throughout the treatise:

the holy Bishops and godly fathers of the primitive church (Preface); these authorities of the holy Doctors (chapter 14); The ancient fathers of Christ’s church (22); after the examples of the ancient holy fathers (22); the holy fathers and godly bishops of Christ’s church in times past (23).

In this relatively short work there are 6 quotes from Augustine, 3 from Ambrose, 9 from Chrysostom, and 4 from Jerome. Here is a quite traditional methodology for catholic theology. It is, in other words, a richly patristic work, emphasising the continuity of the reformed ecclesia Anglicana with the teaching of the Fathers.

At the outset he also indicates that his subject matter is particularly suited to the season - Lent.  Unlike other parts of Reformed Europe, in which the Lenten fast was rejected, Becon's work presupposes that the Lenten fast continues (and see the Edwardine legislation for the Lenten fast):

I thought it good against this time of LENT, which of long continuance hath been appointed to abstinence, to write somewhat of fasting, that might both open a way to the faithful how they may fast to please God (Preface).

While Becon unsurprisingly rejects the notion that fasting is a meritorious work - "This doctrine is an enemy to the free grace of God, injurious to the fruits and merits of Christ’s passion, and by no means to be received of the faithful Christians" - he nevertheless affirms the "true use of fasting":

fasting be without doubt a worthy fruit of repentance, and pleaseth God, when he that fasteth humbleth himself in the sight of God, confesseth his sin, repenteth him of his misdeeds, calleth for mercy, believeth to be forgiven for Christ’s sake, and studieth earnestly from henceforth to lead a life comformable to the rule of God’s word (16).

He also approvingly points to the practice, established from patristic times and present also in the pre-Reformation Church, of fasting on the eve of "certain feastful days":

The ancient fathers of Christ’s church, godly considering how necessary a thing prayer is in the church of Christ, ordained certain feastful days in the year, on the which the people should resort and come together unto the temple for to pray unto the Lord God;  and that they might come the more devoutly and pray with the greater fruit, they appointed also that the day before the solemn feast they should fast, that they might be the more apt to pray when they come together into the temple.  For where the body is burdened with meat, there the mind can have no free passage unto God.  Let them therefore that fast appoint their fasting also to this use ... Therefore if we fast, let us fast aright ;  and after the examples of the ancient holy fathers, let us alway couple prayer with our fasting (22).

And in a manner later echoed by Lancelot Andrewes, he refutes the Roman charge that the reformed ecclesia Anglicana has abandoned the ancient Christian practice of fasting:

Let us not with the abuse cast away the use:  but let us so much the more gladly exercise the godly manner of fasting, because the ungodly papists rail on us, and continually beat into the simple people’s heads, that we, which profess the gospel, abhor and condemn all fasting and praying, all commendable customs and godly ordinances (24).

The Lenten fast and fasting on the eve of feasts; the authority of the Fathers; the belief that fasting "pleaseth God"; the importance of preserving the practice of fasting even as abuses are reformed - here we see a champion of the Tudor Church Militant defending and promoting the traditional practice of fasting, and doing so in a manner that, while it has Reformed distinctives, also emphasises continuity with the Fathers and long-established practice and custom.

One final example of such continuity is also worth noticing.  At the outset of the work, Becon provides a number of quotes from the Scriptures to introduce the subject of fasting.  The first such quote is not without significance:

Yes, Becon begins his "sayings of the holy Scripture" with a quote from one of "the other Books" (also a characteristic feature of the Book of Homilies).  This is another example of continuity, mindful of how Christian communities across the centuries have attended to "the other Books".  It also gives us some insight into what Article VI would later describe as "example of life and instruction of manners".

That the Edwardine Reformation witnessed rupture and trauma is, of course, a given.  This, however, is not the whole story.  There were also continuities, continuities which would be, yes, intensified under the Elizabethan Settlement, but this was building upon elements already present in the Edwardine Reformation, including the fast in - as Becon stated - "this time of Lent".