laudable Practice

In the fourth of his 1807 Bampton Lectures, On the Nature and Guilt of Schism , Le Mesurier considers those early Christian heresies which promoted an excessive asceticism, contrasting this with the Commandments "enjoin[ing] nothing but what is practicable by all".  This reflected a consistent Old High understanding of a moral vision and ethical teaching which was grounded in ordinary duties, responsibilities, and obligations, lived out by spouses, neighbours, friends, and citizens, rather than in sectarian withdrawal.  Le Mesurier also repeated the wise Old High concern at the the destructive pastoral consequences of excessive asceticism. Inevitably this damages the living out of the Christian moral vision in ordinary life, obscuring (at best) the call to walk in the way of the Commandments. In other words, it is precisely the conventional, boring, unglamorous nature of the Old High moral vision, deeply sceptical of heroic, 'Weird' acts of asceticism, which ensures a...

In his discussion of the Psalter in  A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church of England (1796), John Shepherd identifies five characteristics  of what he terms "the present simple order" of the use of the Psalter in Georgian Church of England. Firstly, the use of the 30 day Psalter ensured a manageable number of psalms were appointed for Morning and Evening Prayer, while also following the ancient Christian practice of regularly praying the Psalter: In this regulation the church of England displays her usual piety and judgment. With us the Psalms are recited much oftener than any other part of Scripture, and thus far our established practice corresponds with the usage of the ancient church. At the same time, that all the Psalms may be read in course, and that our Morning and Evening Prayer may not tire or disgust by its prolixity, we assign, for this purpose, the term of thirty days. Secondly, the psalms at Morning and Evening Pra...

Last week the news headlines here in the UK were profoundly grim. A child serial killer was found guilty and sentenced to whole-life imprisonment. The appalling suffering of the families whose little children had been cruelly murdered was reported in terms which left most of us deeply moved. The sense of incomprehension in the face of evil could also be detected in the reporting. Many of us will, quite naturally, have found praying for such dark, tragic circumstances very difficult. I certainly found it futile to rely on my own resources, my own thoughts, my own words. What was I to pray for? What could be said?  On Sunday, Wednesday, and Friday, however, the Litany was said. And it was in the Litany, once again , that I found the words that gave meaning and shape to my attempts to pray for a dark, tragic situation. From all evil and mischief ... from the craft and assaults of the devil; from thy wrath, and from everlasting damnation, Good Lord, deliver us. Evil. Devil. Wrath. Dam...

I A. B do declare that it is not lawfull upon any pretence whatsoever to take Armes against the King and that I do abhorr that traiterous Position of taking Armes by His Authority against His Person or against those that are commissionated by him ... And I do declare that I do hold there lies no Obligacion upon me or on any other person from the Oath comonly called the Solemne League and Covenant to endeavour any change or alteration of Government either in Church or State And that the same was in it selfe an unlawfull Oath and imposed upon the Subjects of this Realme against the knowne Lawes and Liberties of this Kingdome. The requirement of the 1662 Act of Uniformity that clergy openly rejected the Solemn League and Covenant as "an unlawfull Oath", contrary to the "Lawes and Liberties" of the realm, was - despite now being usually overlooked by many Anglican commentators - a crucial provision of the Act. The Solemn League and Covenant had its roots in the 1638 N...

And be it further enacted by the Authority aforesaid that no person shall be or be received as a Lecturer or permitted suffered or allowed to preach as a Lecturer or to preach or read any Sermon or Lecture in any Church ... within this Realme ... unlesse he be first approved and thereunto licensed by the Archbishopp of the Province or Bishopp of the Diocesse ... and shall in presence of the same ... read the nine and thirty Articles of Religion mentioned in the Statute of the Thirteenth yeare of the late Queene Elizabeth with declaration of his unfeigned assent to the same. When compared to the criticism of its other provisions, the restoration of the Articles of Religion by the 1662 Act of Uniformity is often overlooked. This is a significant mistake, both in terms of understanding how 1662 responded to "the late unhappy confusions" and how it established foundations for the unity and accord of the Church of England during the 'long 18th century'. Alongside the Act o...

Provided alwaies and be it enacted that from and after the Feast of St. Bartholomew which shall be in the yeare of our Lord One thousand six hundred sixty and two no person who now is Incumbent and in possession of any Parsonage Vicarage or Benefice and who is not already in Holy Orders by Episcopall Ordination or shall not before the said Feast day of St. Bartholomew be ordained Preist or Deacon according to the forme of Episcopall Ordination shall have hold or enjoye the said Parsonage Vicaradge Benefice with Cure or other Ecclesiasticall Promotion within this Kingdome ... but shall be utterly disabled and (ipso facto) deprived of the same. The requirement of the 1662 Act of Uniformity that those holding office in the Church of England, but who had not been ordained by a bishop, must receive episcopal orders, was one of the Act's most controversial provisions. Non-conformist critics declared that it enshrined a un-reformed view of episcopacy, alien to the post-Reformation Church...

That every Parson Vicar or other Minister whatsoever who now hath and enjoyeth any Ecclesiasticall Benefice or Promotion within this Realme of England or places aforesaid shall in the Church Chappell or place of Publique Worshipp belonging to his said Benefice or Promotion upon some Lords day before the Feast of Saint Bartholomew which shall be in the yeare of our Lord God One thousand six hundred sixty and two openly publiquely and solemnely read the Morneing and Evening Prayer appointed to be read by and according to the said Booke of Comon Prayer att the times thereby appointed and after such reading thereof shall openly and publiquely before the Congregation there assembled declare his unfeigned assent & consent to the use of all things in the said Booke ... In this week in which the feast of St. Bartholomew is celebrated, laudable Practice will consider the Act of Uniformity 1662 , its provisions coming into force on 24th August of that year. Each year the anniversary is ofte...

Today begins a series of extracts from an 1814 collection of sermons by Christopher Wordsworth (senior, d.1846). In 1814, Wordsworth was Dean of Bocking; he would be Master of Trinity, Cambridge from 1820-41. He was associated with the Hackney Phalanx and was a chaplain to Archbishop of Canterbury Charles Manners-Sutton. Indeed, this volume was warmly dedicated to the Archbishop's son (to whom he had been tutor), then Judge Advocate General in the administration of Lord Liverpool.  As a recent excellent study of Liverpool has demonstrated, he was guided by and supportive of the Hackney Phalanx in his ecclesiastical policies. It was on the Archbishop's recommendation that Liverpool appointed Wordsworth Master of Trinity. In other words, we can regard this collection of sermons as expressive of the teaching and piety of the Hackney Phalanx. In this extract, Wordsworth offers a critique of populist evangelicalism and revivalism, reflecting characteristic Old High concerns: some,...

In the third of his 1807 Bampton Lectures, On the Nature and Guilt of Schism , Le Mesurier again points to what Kenneth Kirk would later describe as a characteristically Anglican commitment to "combining the principle of authority with that of freedom". Here Le Mesurier contrasts the traditionally generous provisions for lay communion in the Church England with the radically different appeals for a comprehension which would remove "the foundations of our faith": Now, if it were only meant by this that no over nice or captious inquiry, nay, that no inquiry at all should be made into the faith of those who come to attend at our established places of worship; if it be only claimed that all who are desirous so to do, should be allowed to join in prayer, and be admitted to the benefit of the sacraments as they are administered among us, this is, in fact, the practice of our church, whose terms of what is called lay communion are as easy and open to all descriptions of ...

To mark this Charles Inglis Day (and mindful that Canadian Anglican friends commemorate Inglis on 12th August), words from his Charge delivered to the clergy of the Diocese of Nova Scotia, at his primary visitation in 1788: With respect to those who are not of our communion, a candid, brotherly and respectful behaviour should be observed towards them, as indeed it should to all mankind. We may be firmly attached to our principles, without illiberality, or a spirit of malevolence to others; and if it be possible, as much as lieth in us, we should live peaceably with all men. It is truly painful and mortifying to see a furious Bigot, pretending a zeal for the Gospel; yet wholly destitute of that temper required by the Gospel, and ignorant of the two first and principal lessons taught by it, Humility and Benevolence. Perhaps he tramples on every dictate of truth and moral rectitude, as well as of charity, that he may serve the contracted system which he has adopted. Such men - and alas! ...

From Taylor's 1661 visitation sermon, ' The Minister's Duty in Life and Doctrine ', the second part addressing doctrine. On this day, let the reader understand.  It is the rule of S. Paul, 'let him that prophesies do it according to the proportion of faith;' that is, let him teach nothing but what is revealed, or agreeable to the auтómora , the prime credibilities of Christianity; that is, by the plain words of scripture let him expound the less plain, and the superstructure by the measures of the foundation, and doctrines be answerable to faith, and speculations relating to practice, and nothing taught as simply necessary to be believed, but what is evidently and plainly set down in the holy scriptures; for he that calls a proposition necessary which the apostles did not declare to be so, or which they did not teach to all Christians learned and unlearned, he is gone beyond his proportions. For everything is to be kept in that order where God hath placed it: t...

Resuming extracts from John Shepherd's A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church of England (1796), we come to the Venite. Shepherd here offers a very good case for the Venite being the unchanging opening canticle at Morning Prayer, in contrast to most contemporary Anglican versions of the daily office. Proposed alternatives lack that which Shepherd identifies in the Venite, "a very proper introduction to the succeeding parts of the service, which consist of praise, prayer, and hearing of God's holy word". In this psalm, we are first called upon to praise God, from the consideration of his infinite power, which extends to all places, and has dominion over all creatures. We are then required to pray to him, with the most humble adoration, as being our Saviour and Protector, and exercising the same care over his people, as the shepherd exercises over his flock. We are lastly exhorted to hear his holy word, and not to harden ou...