laudable Practice

The Church of Scotland knows as little of Protestantism undefined as the Church of England and Ireland do. The words of Burke , from 1792, came to mind when reading a Church Times  story on how the Church of Scotland is intent on further abandoning its rich heritage and its vocation as a national Church. Judging by the  Church Times , the Kirk's 'Theological Forum and the Faith Action Programme Leadership Team' (with that hideous title you immediately know just how bad its report will be) has explicitly stated its intense dislike for the Church of Scotland: The Church has a self-image and identity which is based upon its history as a national church with a parish system of a minister and a building within each geographical area, secured by its former role as a key part/member/constituent in national and political life ... That self-image and identity served the Church well for four centuries from the Scottish Reformation of 1560 onwards but is now hampering the change neede...

If any good Christian visited with long sickness, and known to the pastor, by reason of his present infirmity, unable to resort to the church for receiving of the holy communion, or being sick, shall declare to the Pastor upon his conscience, that he thinks his sickness to be deadly, and shall earnestly desire to receive the same in his house, the minister shall not deny to him so great a comfort ... The Articles of Perth rightly frame the administration of Communion to the sick in terms of "comfort". For the critics of the Articles, however, the practice of 'clinical Communions' could not be countenanced. In his 1621 account of the 1618 General Assembly of the Church of Scotland held at Perth , David Lindsay, Bishop of Brechin (1619-34 and Bishop of Edinburgh 1634-38), provided a robust response to the rejection of this wise pastoral practice.  Linsday quotes an opponent claiming that administration of the Holy Communion to the sick encouraged trust not in God but t...

The two books that have most shaped my views of the Church of England during 'the long 18th century' have been Nockles' The Oxford Movement in Context: Anglican High Churchmanship 1760-1857 (1994) and Gibson's The Church of England 1688-1832: Unity and Accord (2001).  Both works point to the experience of 18th century Anglicanism differing significantly from the partisanship that came to define Anglicanism after 1833. As Nockles stated, "a much greater degree of consensus pertained prior to 1833 than afterwards". Gibson ended his book by quoting from a 1698 sermon exemplifying the "power and importance to Anglicans" of the call "to live peaceably with all men" and a 1747 episcopal visitation charge demonstrating how clergy were "more cohesive and united".  The August 1826 primary visitation charge of Bishop Thomas Burgess to the clergy of the Diocese of Salisbury could have been used by Nockles to preface his study and by Gibso...

In addition to Nelson's 1713 Life of Dr. George Bull offering us an important understanding of one of the significant - and too-often overlooked - divines of the Church of England in the 'long' 18th century', it also sets before us vignettes which capture characteristics of Anglican life in that era. Today's extract draws us to consider one of these characteristics: how sons of clergy often took holy orders. Nelson's addresses this in the context of Bull becoming Bishop of St Davids at a late stage in life. Part of the reason he assented to this, Nelson states, is that was agreed that that his son - also George - would succeed him as Archdeacon of Llandaff in the diocese. An elderly father, on assuming episcopal office, desired his accomplished clergyman son to be at his side: and that was, the Assistance he expected from his eldest Son, Mr. George Bull, a Clergyman, in the very Flower of his Age, being then about five and thirty. He was a Person truly sober an...

Percy Dearmer is not, we can confidently say, a likely source of encouragement for New Georgians. One can easily imagine how good Parson Woodforde would have been surprised and confused by the content of The Parson's Handbook . In the 12th edition of that work, however, Dearmer himself engages in a significant defence of Georgian Anglicanism. He presents it as "the popular traditional religion", opposed by 19th century "sham Gothic ... mistaken antiquarianism ... and clericalism". This in itself will appeal to those of us who are New Georgians, echoing our views of the Victorian campaign to dismantle Georgian Anglicanism.  What is particularly striking about Dearmer's account is how it captures the strengths and attractions of Georgian Anglicanism. He begins with the interior of Georgian parish churches, referring to "their beauty and their home-like charm". Such interiors, he states, make "one feel at once at home and happy". These are ...

On the Sunday after Ascension Day, many Anglicans will (in one form or another) pray Cranmer's beautiful petition: We beseech thee, leave us not comfortless; but send to us thine Holy Ghost to comfort us, and exalt us unto the same place whither our Saviour Christ is gone before ... In his Sermon VI (from a collection of sermons published in 1675 but preached during the 1640s and 50s), Henry Hammond set forth how the promise of the Comforter was "the main business" of our Lord's Ascension: The third, and in sum, the powerfullest Argument to prove God's willingness that we should live, is, that he hath bestowed his spirit upon us; that as soon as he called up the Son, he sent the Comforter. This may seem to be the main business that Christ ascended to Heaven a­bout; so that a Man would guess from the xvi Chapter of St. John and Vers. 7. that if it had not been for that, Christ had tarried amongst us till this time; but that it was more expedient to send the Spirit...