'What need he to have sent his Vicar, his Holy Spirit?': Jeremy Taylor, the Ascension, and the Comforter

Mindful of the Gospel appointed in 1662 for the Sunday after Ascension Day - "When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth" - another extract from Taylor's The real presence and spiritual of Christ in the blessed sacrament proved against the doctrine of transubstantiation (1653), in which a bodily presence of Christ in the holy Sacrament is held to be incompatible with the dominical promise of the presence of the Comforter:

If he be here in person, what need he to have sent his Vicar, his holy Spirit in substitution? Especially since by this doctrine he is more now with his Church then he was in the days of his conversation in Palestine; for then he was but in one assembly at once; now he is in thousands every day. If it be said, because although he be here yet we see him not. This is not sufficient, for what matter is it whether we see him or no, if we know him to be here, if we feel him, if we eat him, if we worship him in presence natural and proper? There wants nothing but some accidents of colour and shape.

A friend in the dark, behind a curtain, or to a blind man, is as certainly present as if he were in the light in open conversation, or beheld with the eyes. And then also the office of the holy Spirit would only be to supply the sight of his person, which might possibly be true if he had no greater offices, and we no greater needs, and if he himself also were visible and glorious to our eyes; for if the effect of his substitution is spiritual, secret, and invisible, our eyes are still without comfort; and if the Spirit's secret effect does supply it and makes it not necessary that we should see him, then so does our faith doe the same thing; for if we believe him there, the want of bodily sight is supplied by the eye of faith, and the Spirit is pretended to doe no more in this particular, and then his presence also will be less necessary, because supplied by our own act.

Add to this; that if after Christ's ascension into heaven, he still would have been upon earth, in the Eucharist, and received properly into our mouths, and in all that manner which these men dream; how ready it had been and easy to have comforted them who were troubled for want of his bodily presence; by telling them 'Although I go to heaven yet fear not to be deprived of the presence of my body, for you shall have it more then before, and much better; for I will be with you, and in you; I was with you in a state of humility and mortality, now I will be with you with a daily and mighty miracle; I before gave you promises of grace and glory, but now I will become to your bodies a seed of immortality. And though you will not see me, but under a veil, yet it is certain, I will be there, in your churches, in your pyx, in your mouths, in your stomachs, and you shall believe and worship.'

Had not this been a certain, clear, and proportionable comfort to their complaint, and present necessity, if any such thing were intended? It had been so certain, so clear, so proportionable, that it is more then probable, that if it had been true, it had not been omitted.

But that such sacred things as these may not be exposed to contempt, by such weak propositions and their trifling consequents, the case is plain, that Christ being to depart hence sent his holy Spirit in substitution to supply to his church the office of a Teacher, which he on earth in person was to his disciples; when he went from hence, he was to come no more in person, and therefore he sent his substitute; and therefore to pretend him to be here in person though under a disguise which we see through with the eye of Faith, and converse with him by presential adoration of his humanity, is in effect to undervalue the real purposes and sense of all the sayings of Christ concerning his departure hence, and the deputation of the holy Spirit.

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...

Pride, progressive sectarianism, and TEC on Facebook

Let me begin this post with an assumption that will be rejected by some readers of laudable Practice , but affirmed by other readers. Observing Pride is an understandable aspect of the public ministry of TEC. On previous occasions , I have rather robustly called for TEC to be much more aware and respectful of the social conservatism of the Red states and regions in which it ministers. A failure to do so risks TEC declining yet further into the irrelevance of progressive sectarianism. At the same time, TEC also obviously ministers in deep Blue states and metropolitan areas - and is the only Mainline Protestant tradition in which a majority of its members vote Democrat .* With Pride now an established civic commemoration, particularly in such contexts, there is a case for TEC affirming those aspects of Pride - the dignity of gay men and lesbian women, their contribution to civic life, and their place in the church's life - which cohere with a Christian moral vision. (I will n...

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