"This is the Communion of charity": Jeremy Taylor on praying the Psalter and Christian unity

In the preface to his The Psalter of David (1647), Jeremy Taylor provided a beautiful account of how praying the psalter could renew a bitterly divided Christendom in "the Communion of charity". Written amidst the violent confessional conflicts that marked the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in these Islands and as the viciously bloody Thirty Years War drew to a close, Taylor urged Christians to see in their shared praying of the psalms a means for "the advancement of an universall Communion".

Taylor's words continue to resonate, emphasising the significance of Christians across ecclesial traditions praying and reciting the psalter. It suggests that, as Anglican Christians, we can be closest, in "the Communion of charity", to our brothers and sisters across the Christian traditions - Gaelic-speaking Reformed congregations in the Western Isles of Scotland, ancient Benedictine monastic communities in the heart of Europe, Ethiopian Orthodox praying in church forests - when we are praying the psalms at Morning and Evening Prayer:

hee that is ready to joyne with all the societies of Christians in the world, in those things which are certainly true, just and pious, gives great probation that he hath at least, animum Catholicam, no Schismaticall soul, because he would actually communicate with all Christendome, if bona fides in falso articulo, sincere perswasion (be it true or false) did not disoblige him, since he clearly distinguishes persons from things, and in all good things communicates with persons bad enough in others. This is the Communion of charity, and when the Communion of beleef is interrupted by misperswasion on one side, and too much confidence and want of charity on the other, the erring party hath humane infirmity to excuse him, but the uncharitable nothing at all. This therefore is the best and surest way, because we are all apt to be deceived, to be sincere in our disquisitions, modest in our determinations, charitable in our censures, and apt to communicate in things of evident truth and confessed holinesse. And such is this devotion; the whole matter whereof is the Psalms of David, and the prayers Symbolicall, and alike in substance, and of the same expression throughout, where it is not altered by circumstances.

So that I thought I might not imprudently intend this Book as an instrument of publike charity to Christians of different confessions. For I see that all sorts of people sing or say Davids Psalms, and by that use, if they understand the consequences of their own Religion, accept set forms of prayer for their Liturgy, and this form in speciall is one of their own choyces for devotion; so that if all Christians, that think Davids Psalmes lawfull devotion, and shall observe the Collects from them to be just of the same Religion, would joyn in this or the like form, I am something confident the product would be charity, besides other spirituall advantages. For my own particular, since all Christendome is so much divided, and subdivided into innumerable Sects, I knew not how to give a better evidence of my own beleef, and love of the Communion of Saints, and detestation of Schisme, then by an act of Religion, whose consequence might be (if men please) the advancement of an universall Communion.

Why I support the ordination of women: a High Church reflection

A number of commenters on this blog have asked about my occasional expressions of support for the ordination of women to all three orders. With some hesitation, I have decided to post a summary of my own views on this matter. The hesitation is because I have sought on this blog to focus on issues and themes which can unify those who identify with or have respect (grudging or otherwise!) for what we might term 'classical' Anglicanism (the Anglicanism of the Formularies and - yes - of the Old High Church tradition). Some oppose the ordination of women (and I have friends and colleagues who do so, Anglo-Catholic, High Church, and Reformed Evangelical). Some of us support it (again, friends and colleagues covering a wide range of theological traditions). Below, I have organised my thinking around 5 points (needless to say, no reference to Dort is implied). 1. The Declaration for Subscription required of clergy in the Church of Ireland states: (6) I promise to submit ...

How the Old High tradition continued

Charles Gore's 1914 letter to the clergy of his diocese, ' The Basis of Anglican Fellowship ', can be regarded as a classical expression of the Prayer Book Catholic tradition. A key part of the letter - entitled 'Romanizing in the Church of England' - addressed the "Catholic movement", questioning beliefs and practices within it which tended to "a position which makes it very difficult for its extremer representatives to give an intelligible reason why they are not Roman Catholics". Gore provides the outlines of an alternative account and experience of catholicity within Anglicanism, defined by three characteristics. What is particularly interesting about these characteristics is their continuity with the older High Church tradition. Indeed, the central characteristic as set out by Gore was integral to High Church claims over centuries: To accept the Anglican position as valid, in any sense, is to appeal behind the Pope and the authority of t...

Pride, progressive sectarianism, and TEC on Facebook

Let me begin this post with an assumption that will be rejected by some readers of laudable Practice , but affirmed by other readers. Observing Pride is an understandable aspect of the public ministry of TEC. On previous occasions , I have rather robustly called for TEC to be much more aware and respectful of the social conservatism of the Red states and regions in which it ministers. A failure to do so risks TEC declining yet further into the irrelevance of progressive sectarianism. At the same time, TEC also obviously ministers in deep Blue states and metropolitan areas - and is the only Mainline Protestant tradition in which a majority of its members vote Democrat .* With Pride now an established civic commemoration, particularly in such contexts, there is a case for TEC affirming those aspects of Pride - the dignity of gay men and lesbian women, their contribution to civic life, and their place in the church's life - which cohere with a Christian moral vision. (I will n...

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