'Wonderful order': praying the Michaelmas collect with Bullinger

From Bullinger's Decades (and we might recall MacCulloch's statement that "The Ecclesiastical Polity was much more in the spirit of the Decades than has often been realized"), an extract on the ministry of the holy angels that could act as a commentary on the Prayer Book collect for Michaelmas and is a reminder of the rich angelic theology known to Reformed Catholicks:

But that the angels are most free and swift, and without impediment, burden, and let, the scripture in many places declareth ... These angels, that is to say, these heavenly ambassadors, being of their own nature most swift and speedy spirits, are now conversant in heaven, the power of God so willing and working: but so soon as it shall please the Lord of all, by and by they are present with men in earth, unto whom they are sent of God from heaven ... Angels therefore are swift and passing speedy, being kept down with no weight, neither hindered nor stayed from performing those things for which they are sent from heaven ...

But because of his special goodness he created them to the partaking of everlasting life and salvation, he useth their ministry to us-ward, as he also doth the service of other creatures, to whom they declare their faith and obedience to God-ward; and God exerciseth his unspeakable good-will both toward them, whom by grace he hath made partakers of everlasting joy, and also toward us, whom he hath vouchsafed to honour with the service of so excellent a company. For among other innumerable and the greatest benefits of God, whereat not without cause we are astonished, this is not to be accounted the least, that he hath given us angels to be our servants. Truly this is an exceeding great token of his fatherly care and regard to us-ward, first of all because he frameth himself so sweetly to our capacities and dispositions ...

And doubtless angels love men exceedingly; and that which they do, they do of their own accord, not of constraint or unwillingly. For they cannot but exceedingly love them whom they see to be so dear to their Creator, that for their sakes he spared not his only-begotten Son, but for them delivered him up into most bitter death: that I make no mention here of the most ready obedience which they perform to their God, who willeth and commandeth them to serve him and men.

... they take upon them the charge and defence of us, God so commanding: they are our keepers, ready at hand watching over us that no adversity happen unto us, and do guide our ways: for hitherto belong the testimonies of the Psalms, and very many examples of the scripture.

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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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