"All the benefits which flow from that wondrous union": Bishop Bagot's 1842 Visitation Charge and Eucharistic piety

Continuing the new series of weekly posts on visitation charges of Old High bishops in the immediate aftermath of the Tract XC controversy, we again turn to the 1842 Visitation Charge of Richard Bagot, Bishop of Oxford. Here Bagot offers an example of the warm sacramental piety of the Old High tradition, grounded in the Articles of Religion and Catechism. A warm, sacramental piety, therefore, did not require a reliance on the doctrines and practices of other communions. Also significant, of course, is the fact that this summary of sacramental teaching was quite unremarkable and uncontroversial in terms in the pre-1833 Anglican eucharistic consensus.

Remind them of the awful warning of our Lord himself, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you". And join to that warning, as He in mercy joined, his wondrous promise, "Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day". Tell them, that whether there be, or be not, other ways of receiving that precious food "the living bread which came down from Heaven", "the Bread of Life" this blessed Sacrament is the way, the only way, specified by our Lord himself. Tell them, whatever be the clamour with which such teaching is assailed, whatever be the names 'Papists', or whatever else by which you may be called tell them the truth, as declared by Christ, and preached by St. Paul, and as you have yourselves solemnly engaged to preach: tell them, without "reserve", that "the bread and wine which the Lord hath commanded to be received" is the outward sign of "the body and blood of Christ, which" (we know not how, for God hath not seen fit to show us how) "are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper". That "the bread, there broken, is the communion to us of the body; the cup of blessing, which is there blessed, is the communion of the blood, of Christ": that "we thereby are made one with Christ, and Christ with us," and so are blessed with all the benefits which flow from that wondrous union. Make them know, experimentally [i.e. experientially] know, that such is the heavenly blessing of that Sacrament; as our Article teacheth, it is "a Sacrament of our Redemption by Christ s death", to all who receive it in penitence, in faith, in thankfulness, in charity.

Comments

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 ...

laudable Practice

Search This Blog