'We may not, we must not pray unto them': Bishop Bull on departed saints

With All Saints' Day close, this final extract from Bishop Bull's (d.1710) first sermon on the angels, 'The Existence of Angels', on the text Hebrews 1.14, follows on from last week's extract exhorting against the invocation of angels. Bull points out that if "there is great danger in doing so, but no necessity at all of doing it", this all the more true of the invocation of saints, who do not minister to us "by thy appointment" as do the holy angels. Once again, we see a thoroughly and conventionally Reformed refutation of the practice:

And if we must not make any such religious addresses to the holy angels, then certainly not to the saints departed. For besides that there is no warrant either in Scripture or the practice of the primitive Church, for the invocation of saints, any more than of angels, as hath been already intimated; we may also, from what hath been said against the worship of angels, farther argue with advantage against the invocation of saints, thus: The saints departed are not yet equal to angels, nor shall be till the resurrection, and then they shall, as our Saviour teacheth us; if, therefore, we must not make any religious application by way of prayer to the angels, as excellent creatures as they are, then much less to the saints departed. Again, we are sure from Scripture, that the angels are ex officio, by their office, ordinarily to be present with, and to attend upon, the faithful here on earth, as shall be more fully shewn in the sequel of this subject; and yet if we regard either the Holy Scriptures, or the sense of the primitive Church, we may not, we must not pray unto them; what reason can there be then for the invocation of the saints deceased, of whom the Holy Scriptures give us not the least assurance, that they are ordinarily present with us, nay in divers places seem not obscurely to teach the directly contrary?

Comments

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

Search This Blog