Skip to main content

"There are very many cases of war concerning which God hath declared nothing": a wartime sermon from Jeremy Taylor

During Remembrancetide this year, laudable Practice will be sharing extracts from some wartime sermons from Anglicans across the centuries.  The purpose of this exercise is to indicate the nuances, reserve, and moderation in such preaching.  

Today, a Taylor sermon from his Golden Grove collection (printed in 1651).  Preached in the aftermath of Royalist defeat in the civil war - Taylor had been a chaplain to Royalist forces and was taken prisoner by Parliamentarian forces in 1645 - the sermon challenged pronouncements that the enemy was evil, that God's judgement upon the enemy was to be expected, and that God's purposes in time of war could be easily identified. This sermon was preached to the members of a household firmly committed to the defeated Royalist cause.

Whoever suffer in a cause of God from the hands of cruel and unreasonable men, let them not be too forward to prognosticate evil and death to their enemies; but let them solace themselves in the assurance of the divine justice by general consideration, and, in particular, pray for them that are our persecutors ... it is not always certain that God will be angry with every man by whose hand affliction comes upon us. And sometimes two armies have met, and fought, and the wisest man amongst them could not say that either of the princes had prevaricated either the laws of God or of nations; and yet, it may be, some superstitious, easy, and half-witted people of either side wonder that their enemies live so long. And there are very many cases of war concerning which God hath declared nothing: and although in such cases he that yields and quits his title rather than his charity and the care of so many lives, is the wisest and the best man; yet if neither of them will do so, let us not decree judgments from heaven in cases where we have no word from heaven, and thunder from our tribunals where no voice of God hath declared the sentence. But in such cases where there is an evident tyranny or injustice, let us do like the good Samaritan, who dressed the wounded man, but never pursued the thief; let us do charity to the afflicted, and bear the cross with nobleness, and 'look up to Jesus, who endured the cross, and despised the shame': but let us not take upon us the office of God, who will judge the nations righteously, and when He hath delivered up our bodies will rescue our souls from the hands of unrighteous judges.

From Taylor's sermon 'The Faith and Patience of the Saints', Part III, in The Whole Works of Jeremy Taylor, Volume IV. The picture is of the memorial at Marston Moor, commemorating the 1644 battle.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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 ...
25 comments
Read more

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...
19 comments
Read more

1928 practices and the 1979 book: unthinking conservatism or popular piety?

Those responsible for Earth & Altar - a new blog emanating from a group within TEC - are to be congratulated for an excellent contribution to wider Anglican discussion and debate. The commitment to "an expansively conceived credal orthodoxy as fully compatible with LGBTQ inclusion, gender equality, and racial justice" is an important part of a wider retrieval of creedal orthodoxy within what we might call the post-liberal generation. It is in this spirit that I want to respond to a recent post on the site by Andrew McGowan , Dean of the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale and Professor of Anglican Studies at Yale Divinity School.  Against the background of another round of "ill-defined" liturgical revision in TEC, he understandably urges that a fuller reception of the 1979 BCP should occur before further reforms. In doing so, however, he takes aim at what he describes as "clinging to the ritual structures of 1928" while using the text of 1979.  We ...
2 comments
Read more