"The cold and hardness of a deep winter season": traditional piety, Prayer Book, and the Epiphany

It is perhaps an indication of how the description of the journey of the Magi by Lancelot Andrewes in his 1622 Christmas sermon captured imaginations long before T.S. Eliot's poem, that Caroline theologian Mark Frank in an Epiphany sermon (either from the early 1640s or after the Restoration) appears to echo the account given by Andrewes.

What is more, it is also suggestive of how the traditional piety surrounding the Epiphany - similarly evident in a Christmas sermon by Donne, "a supernatural and extraordinary star, which appeared to the wise men of the East, this day, and brought them to Christ, at Bethlehem, upon Twelfth Day. That day, Twelfth Day, the church now calls the Epiphany" - was sustained by the Prayer Book's provision for the feast.

Many a weary step had they trod, many a fruitless question had they asked, many an unprofitable search had they made to find him; and, behold, yet they will not give over. Twelve days it had cost them to come to Jerusalem, through the Arabian deserts, over the Arabian mountains, both Arabia Deserta and Petrea: the difficulty of the way, through sands and rocks - the danger of the assages, being infamous for robbers - the cold and hardness of a deep winter season - the hazard and inconvenience of so long, so hard, so unseasonable, so dangerous, and I may say so uncertain a could not whit deter them from their purpose: to Jerusalem they will, through all these difficulties ...

How would a winter journey scare us from our faith! A cold or rainy morning will do it; a little snow, or wind, or rain, or cold, wild easily keep us from coming to the house where Jesus is, from coming out to worship him. How would so long a voyage make us faint to hear of it! how would the least danger turn us back from the house of God! Alas! should it have been our cases, which was theirs here - we could not presently have found Him at Jerusalem, the royal city, or had we lost the star that led us - how had we sat down in sorrow, or returned in despair! We would have thus reasoned with ourselves: - Alas! we are come hither and have lost our labour: certainly, had this king been born, it would have been in the royal city, or there certainly the news had been.

(The painting is Stefano di Giovanni, 'The Journey of the Magi', c.1433-35.)

Comments

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...

Pride, progressive sectarianism, and TEC on Facebook

Let me begin this post with an assumption that will be rejected by some readers of laudable Practice , but affirmed by other readers. Observing Pride is an understandable aspect of the public ministry of TEC. On previous occasions , I have rather robustly called for TEC to be much more aware and respectful of the social conservatism of the Red states and regions in which it ministers. A failure to do so risks TEC declining yet further into the irrelevance of progressive sectarianism. At the same time, TEC also obviously ministers in deep Blue states and metropolitan areas - and is the only Mainline Protestant tradition in which a majority of its members vote Democrat .* With Pride now an established civic commemoration, particularly in such contexts, there is a case for TEC affirming those aspects of Pride - the dignity of gay men and lesbian women, their contribution to civic life, and their place in the church's life - which cohere with a Christian moral vision. (I will n...

laudable Practice

Search This Blog