'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!