Skip to main content

An early example of High Church-Tractarian Eucharistic controversy

From High Church theologian Godfrey Faussett's 1838 sermon critiquing the Tractarians - 'The Revival of Popery', delivered from the same pulpit from which Keble preached the 1833 Assize sermon and Newman preached his plain and parochial sermons - an early indication of growing differences over Eucharistic doctrine between the High Church tradition and the Movement, mindful that Pusey's famous 1843 sermon is normally regarded as signalling the break with Old High Church Eucharistic doctrine:

The distinction required clearly lies between the body and blood of Christ being spiritually included in the elements, and spiritually received by the faithful; or, as Bishop Taylor explains it, "We by the real spiritual presence of Christ do understand Christ to be present, as the Spirit of God is present in the hearts of the faithful, by blessing and grace". 

The naked and unqualified and therefore ambiguous expression real presence, now so systematically and studiously adopted by some persons, is highly objectionable and dangerous: and there is but too much reason to apprehend that some of those who employ it are far even from intending the supposed qualification. 

Significantly, Faussett in the note to this section of the sermon quotes from Waterland agreeing with Hooker's dictum on "the worthy Receiver of the  Sacrament" and goes on to rightly predict a consequence of Tractarian Eucharistic teaching:

We need not therefore be surprised to find that those who hold the doctrine of the real presence, without regard to this essential distinction, become dissatisfied with the service of our Church.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

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...