Serious Christianity and Remembering Trafalgar
Across the Kingdom, in the dark and cold of that early December day, those attending divine service would have heard Trafalgar remembered in a context defined by the weight, seriousness, and ultimate significance of Christianity: it was the 'Form of Prayer and Thanksgiving to Almighty God' which gave moral and spiritual meaning to the victory and the ongoing time of war. This is what is meant by 'serious Christianity' - a meaningful, deep, confident proclamation of public Christianity amidst tremendous military victory, great losses, and the continued threats posed by a hostile regime.
This is seen in the collect appointed for the day. It was no light, airy affair, merely affirming the victory. Instead, it recalled those observing the day of thanksgiving to acknowledge the God "who in the midst of judgment hast remembered mercy":
O Lord God Almighty, who in the midst of judgment hast remembered mercy, make us, we beseech Thee, duly sensible of Thy unspeakable benefits. Let not Thy gracious goodness towards us, in the signal Victory which thou hast given us over the common Enemy, be frustrated by a presumptuous confidence in our own might, and by a forgetfulness of Thee ...
The collect was a call to recognise the "gracious goodness" which bestowed victory at Trafalgar, as also indicated in one of the appointed psalms, Psalm 124:
If the Lord himself had not been on our side, now may Israel say : if the Lord himself had not been on our side, when men rose up against us;
They had swallowed us up quick : when they were so wrathfully displeased at us.
A "forgetfulness of thee" after Trafalgar would be to squander divine blessing, to fail to heed the spiritual meaning of the victory, and thus to render the victory but transitory. Without
The collect continued by again referring to the bitterness of the times, a time of total war, a time of "awful judgments":
so that, in the midst of those awful judgments which are gone forth into the world, we may in our generation contribute to the maintenance of Thy authority, and to the support of true religion, by a devout acknowledgment of Thy supreme Power, by a stedfast belief in the doctrines of Thy beloved Son, and by a sincere endeavour to walk blameless in the way of Thy Commandments.
Such was to be the response to the blessing of this victory. The "awful judgments" would continue - indeed, they would continue for another decade of costly struggle. Such serious times called for serious Christianity: "true religion ... Thy supreme Power ... the doctrines of Thy beloved Son ... Thy Commandments". This description contrasts with both frothy Enthusiasm and the banalities of fashionable Unitarianism, neither of which could address such serious times. It was a time for serious, confident, robust orthodox Faith, deeply rooted in national life.
Following the Litany, a prayer was to be said which gathered up the Litany's petitions for the good ordering of the Realm:
O Almighty God, Maker of the Universe, and sovereign disposer of the of Men, at whose command Nations and Empires rise and fall, flourish and decay; We thine unworthy servants most humbly implore Thy gracious aid and protection. We flee unto Thee for succour, in this time of Peril and Necessity, when, in defence of our Liberty, our Laws, and our Religion, we are exposed to the dangers and calamities of War, and are threatened with Invasion by an inveterate Enemy. Vouchsafe, we beseech Thee, Thine Especial Protection to our most gracious Sovereign. Direct his Counsels, prosper all his measures for the Welfare of this Kingdom, and the preservation of our Church, and of our civil Constitution.
To pray for the "defence of our Liberty, our Laws, and our Religion" in "this time of Peril and Necessity" was good and just. It was a recognition that these defined a well-ordered Realm, that they were threatened by the Napoleonic regime's radically different conception of order, and that they had to be defended against the aggression of "an inveterate Enemy". The concluding petition in the above extract, for "the Welfare of this Kingdom, and the preservation of our Church, and of our civil Constitution", indicates how "our Liberty, our Laws, and our Religion" were embodied in a particular national and constitutional order. To offer prayer for the maintenance of such particular national and constitutional order was a recognition that these were good gifts of God for the due ordering of common life. To have these good gifts violently torn down and rent asunder by a foe, and to have an alien order imposed by enemy arms, would profoundly disorder common life, exposing it to injustices and civil strife, in place of the apostolic vision of "a quiet and peaceable life".
Morning Prayer on 5th December 1805 was to conclude with a prayer following the General Thanksgiving:
Almighty God, and most merciful Father, we Thy humble servants acknowledge with thankful hearts Thy great goodness in the late glorious success which Thou hast vouchsafed unto the Fleet of our Sovereign over the combined armaments of France and Spain. While we bear in our remembrance the skill and intrepidity of those who fight our battles, we confess that they are but instruments in Thy hands, and that Thou dost direct them according to the unsearchable Purposes of Thy will. The wisdom and the strength of man are Thine: the winds and the waves are obedient to Thy voice ...
Thanksgiving is offered unto Almighty God, sovereign over navies and waves. How could such thanksgiving not be given for Trafalgar, at a time of national peril, in the year of Napoleon's victories at Ulm and Austerlitz? To fail to do so would be to fail to recognise "Thy great goodness" in perilous times, that in such perilous times the providence of Almighty God granted a "signal" victory, bringing hope of deliverance.
This prayer of thanksgiving continued with a petition:
Prosper, we beseech Thee, the earnest endeavours of our Sovereign for the good of this Nation, for the common Welfare of Europe, and for the preservation of our holy Faith.
It was another reminder that amidst the great power politics, the economic concerns of the war, and the harsh realities of military and naval strategy, Napoleonic imperialism sought to smash the established churches which gave public meaning to the sense of a Christian Europe. It is not without some significance that it is reported that only 2 - a mere 2 - of the 12,000 soldiers of the Grande Armée who perished in Moscow were afforded a Christian burial. Chaplains were not to be found in Napoleon's armies. Despite the Concordat of 1801, the Revolution's culture war against Christian Europe was exported by Napoleonic conquests.
Here we might invoke Hooker. While the spiritual reality of the Church as "the mysticall body of Christ" is invisible, the Church is also "a visible societie and bodie politique" (LEP III.11.14): a legal, social, and cultural presence of the visible Church flows from this. Establishment was, in 18th and 19th century Europe, the conventional means of giving expression to such cultural presence. Overthrowing establishment (through violence) was, particularly under the Revolutionary and Napoleonic regimes, the means of removing, or at least undermining, that cultural presence. Well, then, might Church of England congregations on 5th December 1805 prayed "for the preservation of our holy Faith" in the face of Napoleonic imperialism.
On that December day, with news of Napoleon's victories at Ulm and Austerlitz having followed Nelson's triumph at Trafalgar, those who gathered in the pews of the parishes of the United Church of England and Ireland might have reflected on the parallels between the European situation and the cold, dark of Winter. What was to succour, guide, sustain, and strengthen during such times? It was the serious Christianity found in the prayers appointed for the day.
These issues endure. Today we face the challenge of aggressive regimes that exploit nationalist rhetoric, force and intimidation to extend their power. There are new Napoleons in the system ...
In such a time, the churches, not least Anglican churches, have much to learn from the serious Christianity evident in the 'Form of Prayer and Thanksgiving to Almighty God' used on 5th December 1805. For we too live in a time of threats and uncertainties, when there is a pressing need for a meaningful, deep, confident proclamation of public Christianity.
(The painting is 'The Battle of Trafalgar, 21 October 1805' by J.M.W. Turner.)
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