'The common ground of St. Patrick's Gospel, St. Patrick's Creed, and St. Patrick's Church'

Ahead of the feast of Saint Patrick on Sunday, words from a series of 1852 sermons by Christopher Wordsworth (then Archdeacon of Westminster, later Bishop of Lincoln, firmly in the Old High tradition) on The Church of Ireland, Her History and Claims. Wordsworth rejoices in Saint Patrick as exemplifying that which the Old High tradition vigorously defended and affirmed: the apostolic faith of Scripture, the Christocentric catholic creeds, national episcopal churches, historic threefold order. In the classic Old High term used by Wordsworth at the conclusion of the sermon, this was the 'evangelical truth and apostolic order' of the Reformed Catholic episcopal churches of these Islands.

May Wordsworth's words, therefore, aid us in celebrating Saint Patrick in true Old High fashion, rejoicing in "the common ground of St. Patrick's Gospel, St. Patrick's Creed, and St. Patrick's Church".

His mission in Ireland seems to have begun about A.D. 440, and there he spent the remainder of his life, about 50 years. In that time he traversed the greater part of Ireland, preaching the Gospel, baptizing the natives, planting Churches, ordaining Bishops, Priests, and Deacons. "I owe," he says in his Confession, "a great debt of thanks to God, who granted me this grace, that by my means multitudes are born again in the Lord, and are afterwards admitted to the holy Eucharist, and that Clergy are ordained everywhere for those who embrace the faith" ...

What were the causes of his success? First and foremost must be placed his love for Christ. This feeling is beautifully expressed in St. Patrick's Irish Hymn, probably the oldest monument of the Irish language now in existence.

May Christ be with me, Christ before me,

Christ behind me, Christ within me,

Christ beneath me, Christ above me;

Christ at my right hand, Christ at my left hand ...

Next, his love for the Holy Scriptures. His two extant works abound with references to the Word of God, and they are animated throughout with its spirit. The Word of God was his Book of books; it was his rule of faith and life, it was his daily bread ...

Wisely he addressed himself first to the chieftains of the clans. He converted many of them to the faith, and baptized them and their sons and daughters. This was the seminary of the ancient Irish Church. From among the chieftains and their families he raised up a native Priesthood and a native Episcopate in Ireland. He planted a native Church with a native ministry.

He built houses of God, in which prayers and intercessions went up continually to heaven for those among whom he dwelt, who were won to Christ and the Gospel by holy offices of love, and the daily ministries of religion. Those daily ministries in the churches, schools, and colleges founded by him, prepared the inmates of those Christian households to become teachers of the truth.

Thus Ireland was supplied with priests and bishops from among her own people; and the results of this wise system were seen in the stream of Christian missions, the glory of Ireland, which flowed from her in the sixth and seventh centuries to evangelize Britain and other countries of Europe ...

And what was his Doctrine? Holy Scripture was his rule of faith. But he well knew that the true sense of Scripture is Scripture; and his converts were not to be left to gather that sense from the Bible without the help of the Church. He therefore sets down his profession of faith with his own hand. It bears a strong resemblance to the Nicene Creed ... We are satisfied with his creed. We hold every article of it ...

Let national antipathies be laid aside; let the names of sects and parties be forgotten; "let not Ephraim vex Judah, nor Judah vex Ephraim."

Let England and Ireland be true to themselves, to one another, and to God; let them be united on the common ground of St. Patrick's Gospel, St. Patrick's Creed, and St. Patrick's Church. Let them dwell together in unity, in the serene and peaceful atmosphere of Evangelical Truth, Apostolical order, and Catholic love!

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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