The Litany, Covid-19, and the commonweal

... we have seen the sad effects, and therefore we pray against the causes.

The words (quoted in Mant's Notes) are those of Dean Comber on the petition in the Litany beseeching deliverance "From all sedition, privy conspiracy, and rebellion".  Comber notes that "rebellion" was added to this petition in 1662:

and good reason was there so to do, since that rebellion and schism did murder one of our best kings, and thousands of his loyal subjects, and also pull the Church to pieces.

The earlier petition "From all sedition and privy conspiracy" was, of course, similarly rooted in Edwardian and Elizabethan anxieties and fears for the commonwealth.  It is the fragility of our shared life in the commonwealth - its peace, well-being, and good order - which this petition in the Litany recognises.  This peace, well-being, and good order is dependent on government.  As Jeremy Taylor put it - also, of course, writing against the background of "the late unhappy confusions" - "by unity and government we come to peace", while in its absence "we return to that state of evil from whence we were brought by government".

From all sedition, privy conspiracy, and rebellion ... Good Lord, deliver us.

This petition may have seemed hopelessly antiquated during the halcyon days of the late 20th century, amidst the promise of universal peace and prosperity.  And so in the versions of the Litany in the CofE's Common Worship and the CofI's BCP 2004 there is no such petition.  The security, peace and good order of the commonwealth is merely assumed - if, indeed, it is even considered.  A near honourable exception is the Great Litany in TEC's BCP 1979, which has a petition for deliverance "From all oppression, conspiracy, and rebellion". Even here, however, one can detect an unease and embarrassment which has led to "sedition" being replaced by "oppression".

This comes to mind as the government of the United Kingdom acts in ways unparalleled in peacetime: curbing freedom of assembly, directing us to stay in our homes, ordering the temporary closure of businesses, restricting movement.  Such actions are necessary to protect the good order, peace, and well-being of the commonwealth.  Yesterday the UK daily toll from Covid-19 rose by more than 100 for the first time.  The capacity of the NHS is widely expected to be breached in some parts of the country in coming weeks.  In Northern Ireland, a military base is being converted into a large-scale mortuary.

From all sedition, privy conspiracy, and rebellion ... Good Lord, deliver us.

We are experiencing the fragility of our shared life in the commonwealth.  This shared life needs the protection of government if it is not to descend into frightening confusion and disorder.  To disregard the directions of government at this time is to rupture the fabric of peace and well-being.  Little rebellions, invoking individualistic notions of personal liberty, attack the peace and good order of the commonwealth, and (in a very real manner) threaten the life of our neighbour.  The "privy conspiracy" shared on social media, denying the dangers of Covid-19 or encouraging a disregarding of the government's directions, similarly threatens the fabric of our shared life, secured in the commonwealth.

From all sedition, privy conspiracy, and rebellion ... Good Lord, deliver us.

Written in an age deeply aware of the cost of rebellion and the rejection of allegiance, this petition in the Litany has a greater relevance to us now than versions of the Litany which blithely assume peace, prosperity, and stability.  We are now experiencing our dependence on government for the protection of the good order, well-being, and peace of the Realm.  To pray for deliverance from "all sedition, privy conspiracy, and rebellion" is to pray for the protection of this shared life, for acceptance of and compliance with government's directions, for the failure of those who - in this time of crisis and threat - would seek to encourage widespread disobedience and rejection of the measures necessary for our peace and well-being.

The petition, of course, depends upon and gives expression to a political theology incompatible with the individualist assumptions of a liberal order incapable of offering an account of allegiance or the common good.  These assumptions are evident in those contemporary liturgies which dismiss the need for pray for deliverance from "sedition, privy conspiracy, and rebellion", for such language assumes the good and the necessity of shared allegiance.  We are, however, living in days when the need for such shared allegiance, and the manner in which the common good is bound up with it, are evident.  In the face of the threat posed by Covid-19, we need to rediscover both this petition in the Litany and the political theology which underpins it.  In the words of the Prayer Book Catechism:

My duty towards my Neighbour is to love him as myself, and to do to all men as I would they should do unto me ... To honour and obey the Queen, and all that are put in authority under her.

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As a footnote, it is worth considering that the Litany in PECUSA's BCP 1789 retained this petition despite, we might imagine, some unease against the background of the Revolutionary War.  Its retention, however, emphasises the need of shared allegiance in a polity in order to protect and secure the commonweal.  Likewise, the Catechism stated:

My duty towards my Neighbour, is to love him as myself, and to do to all men, as I would they should do unto me ... To honour and obey the civil authority.