'Lest there should happen to be any Sadducee in this congregation': Bishop Bull on the holy angels

In these days following Michaelmas, we continue to consider the first of Bishop Bull's sermons on the angels, entitled 'The Existence of Angels', on the text Hebrews 1.14. In this extract, Bull evokes the description gives of the Sadducees in the Acts of the Apostles, "For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit". There is also something of an echo of Christ's condemnation of the Sadducees in Matthew 22, "Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures". As Bull demonstrates, the existence and ministry of the angels is not dependent on the speculations and theories of the Schoolmen, but on the holy Scriptures, which establish what "is sufficient [cf. Article 6] for us to know and believe":

And so much of the real existence of angels, proved by the authority of the divinely-inspired writers, by the consent of heathen philosophers, and by very powerful reasons; which I thought fit to premise, lest there should happen to be any Sadducee in this congregation, lurking under the Christian. name and profession, (as it is certain too, too many such there are in the Christian world, and even in this our nation,) who might deride our intended discourse of angels, as spent upon a mere fiction, or creature of fancy, no where existing in the nature of things ...

Now what do other Scriptures teach us to understand by "all the host of heaven?" The whole host of heaven consists of two parts, "the visible," and " the intelligible host of heaven." The "visible host of heaven" are the "sun, moon," and "stars," those glorious lights of heaven which we behold with our eyes; for so they are called Deut. xvii.3, and in divers other places. The "intelligible host of heaven" are the "angels," who are therefore frequently denoted by that appellation in the Holy Scriptures. So 1 Kings xxii.19, "I saw the Lord sitting on His throne, and all the host of heaven standing by Him, on His right hand, and on His left." So Psalm ciii.20, 21, "Bless the Lord, ye His angels, that excel in strength, that do His commandments, hearkening unto the voice of His word. Bless the Lord, all His hosts, ye ministers of His that do His pleasure." So Luke ii. 13, " And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God," &c...

It is sufficient for us to know and believe, (and so much we must believe,) that the angels are creatures of God, made by the "Eternal Word, or Son of God," and receiving from Him a beginning of being, before which they were not. This doctrine is most evidently delivered in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament. In the 148th Psalm, after the Psalmist had invited all the things above, and among them the angels, to celebrate the divine praises, he presently adds concerning all of them alike, "Let them praise the Name of the Lord, for He commanded and they were created." But most full is the text out of the New Testament; "For by Him" (i.e. the Son of God) "were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers : all things were created by Him, and for Him: and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist." And concerning this, there hath been always a perfect agreement in the Churches of Christ.

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...

1928 practices and the 1979 book: unthinking conservatism or popular piety?

Those responsible for Earth & Altar - a new blog emanating from a group within TEC - are to be congratulated for an excellent contribution to wider Anglican discussion and debate. The commitment to "an expansively conceived credal orthodoxy as fully compatible with LGBTQ inclusion, gender equality, and racial justice" is an important part of a wider retrieval of creedal orthodoxy within what we might call the post-liberal generation. It is in this spirit that I want to respond to a recent post on the site by Andrew McGowan , Dean of the Berkeley Divinity School at Yale and Professor of Anglican Studies at Yale Divinity School. Against the background of another round of "ill-defined" liturgical revision in TEC, he understandably urges that a fuller reception of the 1979 BCP should occur before further reforms. In doing so, however, he takes aim at what he describes as "clinging to the ritual structures of 1928" while using the text of 1979. We ...

laudable Practice

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