"To honour God in his Saints": Hallowtide approaches

As Hallowtide draws near, words on the solemnity from Robert Nelson's A Companion to the Feasts and Fasts of the Church of England (1703), a reminder of the rich piety that could surround the Communion of Saints and All Saints' Day in 18th century Anglicanism. Nelson's work reached its 36th edition by 1827, an indication of the popularity of the work throughout the long 18th century.

Q. What seems to be the Design of the Church in instituting this Festival?

A. To honour God in his Saints. It being through the Assistance of his Grace that they were made conformable to his Will in this Life, and through the Bounty of the same gracious Lord, that his free Gifts are crowned with Happiness in the other ...

Q. What Communion have the Saints here below with the Saints above?

A. Those upon Earth are called Fellow Citizens with the Saints, and of the Household of God, of the same Family with those in Heaven. We bless God for them, rejoice at their Bliss, give Thanks for their Labours of Love, and pray that with them we may be Partakers of the Heavenly Kingdom. They pray for us, for our Consummation and Bliss, rejoice at our Conversion ...

Most gracious God, the Author of Sanctity, and Lover of Unity, whose Wisdom hath established an Admirable Communion between the Members of the same mystical Body, whereof thy Son Jesus Christ is the Head; I bless and praise thy Holy Name for all thy Servants departed this Life in thy Faith and Fear ... I rejoice in the Glory and Happiness they are now advanced to, the Greatness of which the Heart of Man cannot conceive. Beseeching thee to give me Grace so to follow their good Examples, in the wise bestowing of my Time here below, that I may follow them in their happy Passage out of this World, and with them be made Partaker of thy Heavenly Kingdom.

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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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