"The spirit of prayer is implied in those ordinances": Jelf's Bampton lectures and liturgical prayer

In the fourth of his 1844 Bampton Lectures, An inquiry into the means of grace, their mutual connection, and combined use, with especial reference to the Church of England, Jelf - one of those whom Nockles lists as the 'Zs', the post-1833 continuation of the Old High tradition - provides an excellent account of why liturgical prayer accompanies the administration of the Sacraments and the reading of the Scriptures:

the truth is, that the spirit of prayer is implied in those ordinances, if it is not an inseparable part of their essence. The faithful and intelligent use of any of the means of grace, presupposes a desire to obtain the Holy Spirit. An infant is brought to the holy font, or at least it is received and baptized by the Church, because a desire is entertained that it may thereby be made regenerate. He who reads the Scriptures in faith, reads because he is seeking for edification in the mind of the Spirit. He who draws near with faith to the holy table, receives God's creatures of bread and wine sanctified by consecration, because he hungers and thirsts after the Body and Blood of Christ conveyed under the symbols. In all these cases, the real spring of action is, or ought to be, the desire of attaining grace. Now prayer, in its essence, is a vent for the wish of the heart. The deliberate wish before God, suitably, however silently expressed, is prayer in His sight, who seeth in secret. It is no paradox, therefore, to say that the faithful observance of grace-giving ordinances is in itself a prayer, a prayer embodied in action; and God will assuredly give the Holy Spirit to "them that ask Him" in this way, no less than to those who prefer the request of their lips. Hence it is, that the use of prayer, as an adjunct to those offices, is dictated by nature as well as appointed by the Church.

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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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