"You shall see the comparison between the Paschal Lamb and our sacrament": the value of a 'hotter' Reformation account of the Supper

The 1662 proper preface for the Easter Day and its octave proclaims of Christ that "he is the very Paschal Lamb, which was offered for us". During Easter Week I came across Thomas Lancaster's The Right and True Understanding of the Supper of the Lord (1550), a thoroughly Reformed expression of sacramental theology. Lancaster - certainly one of the 'hotter' sort of Protestants - was consecrated Bishop of Kildare in the Church of Ireland in 1550, later becoming Archbishop of Armagh under Elizabeth. Lancaster, anything but a Hooker-like advocate of the Elizabethan Settlement, is not exactly normal reading material for laudable Practice.

What struck me while reading this work, however, was the passage below and its comparison of the Sacrament of the Supper with the Passover lamb. It communicates something of the Reformation recovery of the significance of eating and drinking - rather than watching - the Sacrament, the power of the "Take and eat this, Drink this" of the 1559/1662 words of administration. It points to the continuity between Israel and the Church, a theme central to patristic readings of Scripture. And in drawing the comparison with the eating of the Passover lamb as the vivid memorial of the deliverance from Egypt, it gives a similarly vivid quality to the statement that "the Sacrament is called the body of the Lord".

In other words, it might urge us not to dismiss such 'hotter' Reformation accounts of the Sacrament, recognising in them worthy aspects of the sacramental teaching and piety of the reformed ecclesia Anglicana:

Seeing now that the Easter lamb hath the name of the thing that the Israelites remembered by it, and whereby they might everlastingly keep in remembrance the benefits of God therefore it is convenient that Christ called the bread his body and the wine his blood, because that we should remember thereby his death and passion, yea the only sacrifice of his body which he hath suffered to be broken, and his blood to be shed for us, not that the material body of Christ is in the bread nor his blood in the wine ... you shall see the comparison between the Paschal Lamb and our sacrament.

The Paschal Lamb was instituted and eaten the night before the children of Israel were delivered from Egypt. Likewise was the sacrament instituted and eaten the night before we were delivered from our sins. The Paschal Lamb was a very lamb in deed, and so the sacrament is very bread in deed.

The Paschal Lamb was called the passing by of the Lord, which destroyed the power of Pharaoh, and delivered them. The Sacrament is called the body of the Lord which destroyed the power of the devil & delivered us. The children of Israel were but once delivered from Egypt notwithstanding they did eat every year the Lamb to keep the deed in perpetual remembrance, even so Christ bought & redeemed us but once for all, although the sacrament thereof be daily broke among us to keep the benefit in continual memory.

As many as did eat the Paschal Lamb in faith & believed God's word as touching their deliverance from Egypt were as sure through faith as they were sure of the lamb by eating it. So as many as do eat this sacrament in faith & believe God's word as touching their deliverance from sin are as sure of their deliverance through faith as they are sure of the bread by eating it.

Now see you what the Paschal Lamb was to the Israelites, & what the sacrament is unto us.

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...

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 ...

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