'A place of full security': Bishop Bull and the Middle State after Death

From Bishop Bull's sermon 'The Middle State of Happiness or Misery', an extract which can function as an exposition of the quiet, trusting piety of the Prayer Book Order for the Burial of the Dead, expressed in the invocation of Revelation 14:13 at the graveside, the Lord's Prayer, and the prayer following:

Almighty God, with whom do live the spirits of them that depart hence in the Lord, and with whom the souls of the faithful, after they are delivered from the burden of the flesh, are in joy and felicity ...

It is this "place of full security" that Bull sets forth, to our comfort:

This discourse is matter of abundant consolation to all good men, when death approacheth them. They are sure, not only of a blessed resurrection at the last day, but of a reception into a very happy place and state in the mean time. They shall be immediately after death put in the possession of paradise, and there rejoice in the certain expectation of a crown of glory, to be bestowed on them at the day of recompense. Fear not, good man, when death comes; for the good angels are ready to receive thy soul, and convey it into Abraham's bosom: a place, wherever it is, of rest, and that not a stupid insensible rest, but a rest attended with a lively perception of a far greater joy and delight, than this whole world can afford. A place of the best society and company, where thou shalt be gathered to the spirits of just men, to the holy Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, and Confessors, and familiarly converse with those Saints and excellent persons, whom thou hast heard of and admired, and whose examples thou hast endeavoured to imitate. A place that is the rendezvous of the holy Angels of God, and which the Son of God Himself, visits and illustrates with the rays of His glory. A place where there shall be no wicked man to corrupt or offend thee, no devil to tempt thee, no sinful flesh to betray thee. A place of full security, where thou shalt be out of all possible danger of being undone and miserable for ever. A place from whence all sorrow (because all sin) is banished; where there is nothing but joy, and yet more joy still expected . This is the place that death calls thee to. Why therefore shouldest thou be afraid of dying? yea, rather, why shouldest thou not, when God calls thee to it, willingly and cheerfully die, desiring "to depart, and to be with Jesus Christ, which is far better?" If thou wert to fall into a lethargic state when thou diest, and have no perception of comfort till the last day; if darkness were then to overshadow thee till the light of Christ's glorious appearance at the resurrection came upon thee; this might reasonably make thee unwilling to die, and desirous to continue longer here, where there is some comfort, some enjoyment of Christ, though imperfect. If such a purgatory, as the supposition of the Roman Church hath painted out to the vulgar, were to receive thee, well mightest thou be not only unwilling, but also horribly afraid to die. But, God be thanked, Christ and His Apostles, and the disciples of the Apostles, have taught us much better things. "Wherefore, let us comfort one another with these words."

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...

'Whether the Lutheran Churches have right Ordinations and perfect succession of Bishops': Jeremy Taylor, 'Episcopacy Asserted', and Lutheran orders

Amidst the bitter controversies over episcopacy in the Three Kingdoms during the early 1640s, controversies which had become war in Scotland in 1637 and then in England in 1642, Jeremy Taylor wrote his Laudian defence of episcopal order, The Sacred Order and Offices of Episcopacy Asserted and Maintained . He proposed in this work that the non-episcopal Reformed churches could have had episcopally-ordered clergy: Those good people might have had order from the bishops of England or the Lutheran churches, if at least they thought our churches catholic and Christian. Leaving aside the reality that, for example, French Protestants would have been placed in an invidious political position if they had done as Taylor proposed, it is the reference to "the Lutheran churches" which is significant. To begin with, a large portion of the Lutheran churches - those in the German lands - were governed by a system of superintendency. It is almost inconceivable that Taylor was not aware of th...

laudable Practice

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