A St Andrew's Day call: A High Church appreciation of Scottish Episcopalianism
Apostolic order
Maintaining the episcopal succession in Scotland, Scottish Episcopalianism bore witness to this mark of catholicity and apostolicity being a fundamental commitment of Anglicanism: "to the intent that these Orders may be continued, and reverently used and esteemed". In his A Guide to the Church (1804), Charles Daubeny (Archdeacon of Salisbury, 1804-27) pointed to the Scottish Episcopalians as one of the national expressions of the Church Catholic, marked by "bishops coming in succession from the time of the Apostles to the present day":
Every Christian society, possessing the characteristic marks of the church of Christ, I consider to be a separate branch of the catholic or universal visible church upon earth. The church of England, the church of Ireland, and the episcopal church of Scotland and America, possess those marks. In the same light the churches of Denmark, Sweden, and Rome are to be considered; not to mention the great remains of the once-famous Greek church, now to be found in the empire of Russia, and in the East.
All these churches constitute so many separate branches of the same catholic church of Christ.
There is a deeply Laudian quality to Daubeny's words (and we might note they pre-date Tract No.1 by nearly three decades), placing Scottish Episcopalianism in the context of the apostolical churches of these Islands, alongside - in a reflection of the Laudian ambition of a 'Union of Churches of the Northern Kingdoms' - the Churches of the Lutheran kingdoms, a Gallican-like reference to the Roman Church, and the Orthodox Churches of the East. Scottish Episcopalianism takes its place as a branch of this Catholic tree.
The historic witness of Scottish Episcopalianism, in other words, calls us to focus on, give thanks for, and maintain the catholic nature of Anglicanism embodied in episcopacy and the three-fold order.
The character of primitive orthodoxy
The biography of George Horne (Dean of Canterbury 1781-90, Bishop of Norwich 1790-92) refers to his support for parliamentary measures to remove the penal laws against Scottish Episcopalians. The author of the biography was Horne's chaplain, adding significance to the commentary. The biography recalls Horne's praise for the character of Scottish Episcopalianism:
From the present circumstances of its primitive orthodoxy, piety, poverty, and depressed state, he had such an opinion of this church, as to think, that, if the great apostle of the Gentiles were upon earth, and it were put to his choice with what denomination of Christians he would communicate, the preference would probably be given to the episcopalians of Scotland, as most like to the people he had been used to.
That "primitive orthodoxy", maintained amidst exclusion from the cultural mainstream, may have significance for contemporary Anglicanism in sustaining its apostolic witness and order in a context of growing cultural and societal irrelevance across North Atlantic societies. Appropriately for the beginning of Advent, the historic witness of Scottish Episcopalianism encourages us to wait faithfully during cold times.
'To bless and sanctify, with thy word and holy Spirit'
The praise of Samuel Horsley (Bishop of St David's, Rochester, and then St Asaph, 1788-1806) for the Scotch Communion Office is a reminder of how this liturgical tradition - while sharing the same doctrinal tradition as the Church of England - embodied a deeply patristic Eucharistic practice that won High Church admiration:
With respect to the two Offices for England and Scotland, I have no scruple in declaring to you ... that I think the Scotch Office more conformable to the primitive models, and in my private judgment more edifying than that which we now use; insomuch that were I at liberty to follow my own private judgment I would myself use the Scotch Office in preference. The alterations which were made in the Communion Service at it stood in the First Book of Edward VI to humour the Calvinists, were, in my opinion, much for the worse; nevertheless I think our present Office is very good, our form of consecration of the elements is sufficient; I mean that the elements are consecrated by it, and made the body and blood of Christ in the sense in which our Lord himself said the bread and wine were his Body and Blood.
This provides a pattern both for our reading of 1662 ("the elements are consecrated by it, and made the body and blood of Christ", thus sharing the same Eucharistic doctrine as the Scotch Office) and of the extensive Anglican retrieval of Eucharistic Prayers after the form of 1549 and 1637. Maintaining the 1549-1637 tradition, Scottish Episcopalianism has enabled this tradition to enrich Anglican eucharistic liturgy after the example of what Horsley called "the primitive models".
Conclusion
The act of giving thanks, with the High Church tradition, for Scottish Episcopalianism on St Andrew's Day, recalls Anglicanism to rediscover its catholicity in episcopal order, "primitive orthodoxy", and Eucharistic liturgy rooted in patristic practice. As such, it stands as an alternative to the Columba Declaration's 'turn' to Church of Scotland, recognising instead that the catholic life, witness, and order of Anglicanism is found in and enriched by Scottish Episcopalianism.
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