Posts

Thoughts of Tillotson at Morning Prayer on Summer Sundays

-
Image
Sitting on my desk, alongside a somewhat battered Church of Ireland BCP 1926, is a hard-backed copy of a 1973 Alcuin Club study, by Timothy J. Fawcett - The Liturgy of Comprehension 1689: An abortive attempt to revise The Book of Common Prayer . It is, I think, the only published study of the Liturgy of Comprehension, the attempted revision of the Prayer Book in the immediate aftermath of the Glorious Revolution, in an attempt to reconcile Dissenters to the Church of England. It sits on my desk for two reason. Firstly, because it influenced the Church of Ireland post-disestablishment revision of the Prayer Book. Secondly, because of my affection for John Tillotson, Archbishop of Canterbury 1693-97, a strong supporter of William and Mary, and a leading figure in the proposed revision of 1689. It is not that I welcome all the suggested revisions of 1689. Some, I think, would have been unwise and de-stabilising for the Church of England and 18th century Anglicanism. Some were unnecessary,...
Post a Comment
Read more

'God carried men up': Gloria in excelsis in the Prayer Book Holy Communion

-
Image
In addressing the place of the Gloria in excelsis in the Prayer Book Holy Communion, John Shepherd, in his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Book of Common Prayer, Volume II (1801), offers a confident understanding of this characteristic of the 1662 rite. This contrasts with with a  de rigueur  assumption for Anglican liturgical revision, that the 1662 post-communion place of the Gloria in excelsis must be inappropriate.  Shepherd, however, is typical of 17th and 18th century Church of England liturgists. Sparrow in his Rational , for example, invokes Chrysostom exposition of the singing of a hymn after the Lord's Institution of the Sacrament to show the meaning of the post-communion place of the Gloria in excelsis :  Hear this, as many as wait not again for the last prayer of the mysteries, for this is a symbol of that. He gave thanks before He gave it to His disciples, that we also may give thanks. He gave thanks, and sang an hymn after the giving, tha...
Post a Comment
Read more

'The safest and best method to secure devotion': Robert Nelson's 'Life of Dr. George Bull'

-
Image
As we resume our readings from Robert Nelson's The Life of Dr. George Bull (1713), we find Nelson describing family devotions in the Bull household. It provides a fascinating insight into a crucial aspect of Church of England piety throughout the 'long 18th century': household prayers were a feature not only of clerical households but also expected in many lay households.  Nelson begins by noting that extemporary prayer was not a feature of the Bull household's family devotions. This introduces us to a characteristic of domestic piety in Church of England families throughout this period, contrasting with, for example, both Puritan and Methodist household piety. The absence of extemporary prayer was, Nelson explained, a question of what we best in shaping devotion: Upon these Occasions Mr. Bull did not give himself the Liberty of using Prayers of his own Composing, though he was very well qualified for what is called extempore Prayer, if he would have ventured upon suc...
Post a Comment
Read more

Godly and quietly governed: in praise of the tradition of Protestant patriotism

-
Image
It was odd that the Presiding Bishop of TEC chose the Fourth of July this year - the 249th anniversary of the United States declaring its independence - to denounce and renounce "the Protestant tradition of patriotism ... as a tool of dominion". One might wonder why "the Protestant tradition of patriotism" is the particular target of the Presiding Bishop: Catholic and Orthodox patriotisms, after all, cannot be seriously claimed to have avoided the failures known to the Protestant tradition. As for the Presiding Bishop suggesting that TEC in 2025 equates to the Confessing Church in Nazi Germany, this is nothing more than the progressive version of  Eric Metaxas'  partisan manipulation of Bonhoeffer - equally unserious, no less delusional. Leaving aside the fact that this clumsy stance only succeeds in handing over to others the formative and influential "tradition of Protestant patriotism", it is also reveals a deep dislike of the heritage of the Prote...
Post a Comment
Read more

Omitting readings from the Apocrypha: a low church, Latitudinarian rupture with 1662?

-
Image
In revising the Table of Lessons, we have judged it convenient to follow generally the new Table which the Church of England has lately adopted, with these principal exceptions, that whereas in that Table some Lessons are still taken out of the Books called Apocryphal, we have so arranged ours as that all the Lessons shall be taken out of the Canonical Scriptures ... So declared the Preface to the Church of Ireland's 1878 Prayer Book revision. For Anglo-Catholic and, indeed, High Church critics, it was a significant rupture with 1662, placing the 1878 revision in succession to the dastardly Latitudinarian influences of the 1689 Liturgy of Comprehension and PECUSA's 1789 revision. Both of these, of course, had omitted readings from the Apocrypha. The Church of Ireland, then, had followed in such lamentable low church paths. This account, however, entirely fails to recognise a much more complex, diverse, and interesting approach to the public reading of the Apocrypha found in ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Remembering the American War: providence, prayer, and national memory

-
Image
On 28th June this year, as every year, the very fine St. Michael's Church, Charleston , South Carolina, observed ' Carolina Day ', recalling the Battle of Sullivan's Island - fought on the same date in 1776 - which marked the first victory for the forces of the Continental Congress.  The service was Morning Prayer from the BCP 1662, the liturgy which would have been in use in St. Michael's throughout the Revolutionary War - with, of course, the prayers for the monarch removed (as they would have been in this church in 1776, more of which below). The collect of Independence Day was used, giving thanks for the liberty secured by the Revolution: O Lord God Almighty, in whose Name the founders of this country won liberty for themselves and for us, and lit the torch of freedom for nations then unborn:  Grant, we beseech thee, that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain these liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Prayer Book, hope, and quiet revival

-
Image
The recent announcement of three new ecclesiastical patrons for the Prayer Book Society was a moment of quiet joy and hope amidst, let's be honest, the decidedly grim landscape of North Atlantic Anglicanism. That the three bishops represent various streams of Anglican thought and spirituality is itself a sign of how - amidst much division - the Book of Common Prayer can provide nourishing common ground for different varieties of Anglicans. This, of course, has been part of the historical vocation of the BCP, a shared, common order of prayer, sacrament, and blessing for differing, indeed, even rival, theological tendencies - Laudian and Reformed Conformist, Calvinist and Arminian, Latitudinarian Whig and High Church Tory, John Keble and J.C. Ryle. In addition to this aspect of the announcement, however, the various insights offered by the three bishops on the continued significance and place of the Prayer Book is particularly refreshing and encouraging. Bishop Jane Steen of Lynn po...
Post a Comment
Read more