"Interwoven with the very Frame and Texture of the Christian Religion": Waterland on the practical significance of the doctrine of the Trinity

A second extract from Waterland's The Importance of the Doctrine of the Trinity Asserted (1734), in which he refutes anti-Trinitarian claims that the doctrine of the Trinity has no practical significance in Christian life. Waterland emphasises how the Trinity shapes Christian worship, is "interwoven" with the whole narrative of redemption, and is inherent to - using a Pauline phrase - the "obedience of faith" (Romans 1:5 and 16:26). Here is the practical significance of the doctrine of the Trinity: to be Christian is necessarily to be Trinitarian.

And therefore, if Worship be a practical Matter, this Doctrine also is practical, and not a Point of mere Speculation. That Worship is a practical thing, I suppose, no Man of Sense will dispute; or if any one does, it must be a Dispute only about Words, and not affecting the main thing: Wherefore, it must be altogether wrong to imagine, that the Doctrine of the Trinity is purely notional, or has no Connexion with Practice. If the Doctrine be true, it is Sacrilege, and great Impiety in every Christian to refuse to worship Father, Son or Holy Ghost ...

While we consider the Doctrine of the Trinity, as interwoven with the very Frame and Texture of the Christian Religion, it appears to me natural to conceive; that the whole Scheme and Oeconomy of Man's Redemption was laid with a principal View to it, in order to bring Mankind gradually into an Acquaintance with the three divine Persons, one God blessed for ever. I would speak with all due Modesty, Caution and Reverence, as becomes us always in what concerns the unsearchable Counsels of Heaven: But I say, there appears to me none so natural, or so probable an Account of the divine Dispensations, from first to last, as what I have just mention'd ; namely, that such a Redemption was provided, such an Expiation for Sins required, such a Method of Sanctification appointed, and then revealed, that so Men might know that there are three divine Persons, might be apprized how infinitely the World is obligated to them, and might accordingly be both instructed and incited to love, honour and adore them here, because that must be a considerable part of their Employment and Happiness hereafter.

I urge not this as an Argument of the Truth of the Doctrine, but as a consideration of great Weight, suppoſing the Doctrine true, for the recommending it to our Affections, and for the raising our Ideas of it. The divine Dispenſations appear both rational and amiable, conſidered in this Light: And if it be not too bold to offer any rationale of them I would humbly preſume to say, that there is none so satisfactory, as what I have now mentioned ...

Let the Matter of the Belief be otherwise ever so speculative, (tho’ it is not the Case here ) yet to believe Scripture Verities, prime Verities especially, is under Precept, is expreſs Duty; and all Duty is practical in a large sense, as it is paying Obedience to God's Command. St. Paul therefore, more than once, speaks of the Obedience of Faith, and with great Propriety, since Believing is obeying the Will of God, and is entitled to a Reward. It is true, Faith and Obedience (taking Obedience in a more restrained Sense) are often contradiſtinguish’d: But, interpreting Obedience in its fullest and most comprehensive Meaning; Faith is properly a Species of it, another kind of Obedience.

... it has been shown, that the Doctrine of the Trinity is of prime Consideration for directing and determining our Worship, and that it influences Chriſtian Practice many ways, as forming proper Dispositions, as raising and strengthening the Gospel Motives, and as enforcing the Doctrines of Satisfaction made by Christ, and of Illumination and Sanctification by the Holy Spirit; on all which Accounts it appears to be strictly practical, and highly important: And it has been further intimated, that all Duty is practical, and that Faith is Duty; and therefore this Faith, as well as any other, and because of its important Nature, more than many other. I conclude therefore from the Premises laid down in this Chapter, that the Doctrine of the Trinity is practical enough to be a Fundamental Article of Christianity.

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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