"Secret, gentle, persuasive": on why it is good to be amongst the 'frozen chosen'

Richard Warner - in a sermon in the second volume of his Old Church of England Principles Opposed to "New Light" (published in 1818) - again capturing a distinctive aspect of the Anglican experience. The quietness, gentleness, and modesty of the characteristically Anglican spiritual life, alongside suspicion of and discomfort with Enthusiasm, rather than being evidence of spiritual coldness reveals how the Holy Spirit operates in the process of our conversion and sanctification over a lifetime:

Hence, then, my brethren, you perceive the wickedness or folly of those who now pretend to especial communications of the Holy Spirit; to extraordinary inspirations from heaven; to particular illuminations; to sudden and forcible conversions from heinous sin to certain salvation; and to personal experiences of the operation of the Holy Ghost upon their inner man. All such pretensions are false and wicked; the offspring either of an heated imagination, and a wild enthusiasm; or, what is much worse, of an hateful pride of spirit, and a wicked uncharitableness of temper.

... ordinary communications, my brethren, consist in the Spirit suggesting to the mind holy dispositions and good desires; in his enlightening and renewing the soul; in his sanctifying and purifying the heart; in his giving efficacy to the words of the Gospel; and in his assisting us in the paths of our duty, and strengthening us according to the circumstances of our need ...

Here [i.e. John 3:8] Jesus Christ likens the operation the Holy Spirit to a circumstance in the natural world; the course, and origin, and nature, of which, we cannot make out, though its effects are sufficiently plain to our senses. The wind, you know, is invisible; and no man can see its motion, even when it blows with the greatest fury; though that there is such a thing, no man will venture to deny. In the same way the Holy Spirit is continually acting upon the heart duly prepared for his influences, though, like the wind, we cannot tell "whence it cometh, nor whither it goeth". It is not a visible power, that acts evidently before our eyes; it is not a forcible influence, that seizes upon the mind, and suspends for a time all its faculties, as was the case with the prophets of old, and of those who had visions in ancient times; nor is it a conviction, like that of Peter and Paul, and the apostles, that the Holy Spirit is acting at any particular time, or on any particular occasion, on the soul. No, my brethren, his operation now is very different from all this. It is secret, gentle, and persuasive: he "draws us with the cords of love, and the bands of a man"; like the dew descending in the night, his influence steals into the soul unperceived, and is known to be an inhabitant there, only by the refreshment which it gives to the spirit, by the vigour which it affords to every holy resolution, and by the abundant fruits of godliness and virtue, which it enables that man to bring forth, who is blessed with the indwelling of the Holy Ghost.

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...

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