The Burkean wisdom of the Preface to the 1878 Irish Prayer Book

The very finest words in the Church of Ireland's modest Prayer Book revision of 1878 are to be found in the closing paragraph of the Preface:

And now, if some shall complain that these changes are not enough, and that we should have taken this opportunity of making this Book as perfect in all respects as they think it might be made, or if others shall say that these changes have been unnecessary or excessive, and that what was already excellent has been impaired by doing that which, in their opinion, might well have been left undone, let them, on the one side and the other, consider that men's judgements of perfection are very various, and that what is imperfect, with peace, is often better than what is otherwise more excellent, without it.

I first encountered these words as a precocious teenager, sitting in the parish church before Sunday Morning Prayer, and browsing through the Prayer Book, bought as a Confirmation present and carried with me each Sunday, as was then normal with most attending divine service. Over the years, I have continually returned to these words, regarding them as an excellent expression of an important aspect of the Church of Ireland ethos, resonating far outside the pew in the parish church. I recall reading them during the debates surrounding the 1998 Belfast Agreement and again amidst the consequences of the 2016 Brexit Referendum. More than once they have come to mind during Anglicanism's tortured debates over human sexuality. These words have also acted as a call to penitence in my own life, when confronted with my pride and arrogance.

As a slight digression, by the way, this might suggest something of what has been lost by not having the Prayer Book as a personal possession, now replaced with pew copies or - more usually - service sheets. Not having our own Prayer Book to peruse and mull over, whether in the parish church before the service, or throughout the week, means that the opportunity to encounter less well known parts of the BCP are lost. If this makes it sound like I am engaging in mid-life nostalgia, perhaps I can somewhat redeem myself by noting that all is not entirely lost. It is good that BCP 2004 - sitting in the pews in most parish churches - includes the 1878 and other Prefaces, ensuring that they remain a living part of the Prayer Book tradition in the Church of Ireland.

To return to the closing paragraph of the 1878 Preface, however, there is very much a Burkean quality to these words, prizing prudence and moderation over purity and ideological triumph. We might suggest that these words were, perhaps, directly influenced by Burke. In a 1772 speech to the Westminster House of Commons, on an ecclesiastical matter, Burke stated:

The spirit of religious controversy has slackened by the nature of things: by act you may revive it. I will not enter into the question, how much truth is preferable to peace. Perhaps truth may be far better. But as we have scarcely ever the same certainty in the one that we have in the other, I would, unless the truth were evident indeed, hold fast to peace, which has in her company charity, the highest of the virtues.

The similarities with the words of the closing paragraph of the 1878 Preface are striking and may suggest that the author of the Preface - in the older tradition of scholarly Church of Ireland clergy, and with a certain native pride in Burke - drew directly from this speech. Even if this was not the case, the similarities confirm the deeply Burkean character of these words, a wisdom that speaks to our own troubled, divisive times in churches and polities, drawing us to order our lives, acts, and words towards the One who is "the author of peace and lover of concord".