"The whole gospel, with all its mysteries": High and Dry preaching

From Horsley's 1800 Charge to the clergy of the diocese of Rochester, a reminder that 'High and Dry' preaching was to be robustly Christocentric and doctrinal:

But if, instead of thus preaching Christ, you are content to preach only Socrates or Seneca, — if, instead of the everlasting gospel of the living God, you preach some extract only of your own, accommodated, by a bold retrenchment of mysteries, to the blindness and the pride of human reason, - depend upon it, animated enthusiasm will be an overmatch for dry frigid ethics; superstition will be an overmatch for all such mutilated gospels; and crafty Atheism, taking advantage of the extravagance of the first, the insipidity of the second, the enormities of the third, and of the rash oncessions of half-believers, will make an easy conquest of them all. In delivering the great mysterious truths of the gospel, and I repeat it, the whole gospel, with all its mysteries, must be preached in all congregations - I would advise you to use in general not an argumentative but a plain didactic style : “Teach with authority, not as the Scribes :" Upon the momentous doctrines of man's corruption - of Christ's atonement- the gratuitous acceptance of man’s imperfect works in regard to Christ's merits - of the justification of man - of good works, always adhering strictly, as I have before said, to the Scriptures, the Thirtynine Articles, and the Homilies.

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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...

laudable Practice

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