'A lively image of the great sacrifice of the Cross': a Francis Atterbury sermon for Good Friday 1718

In his Good Friday 1718 sermon, 'Of Glorying in the Cross of Christ', preached at St. James' Chapel, Francis Atterbury - then Bishop of Rochester - addressed the relationship of the Holy Communion to the Cross. The sermon is suggestive of the 18th century Church of England practice of administering the holy Sacrament on Good Friday.

Mindful that Atterbury was a representative of the High Church tradition, the (thoroughly Protestant) sacramental teaching he here sets forth was commonplace across the Church of England, a sign of the 'unity and accord' of 18th century Anglicanism. While it would come to be condemned by the Tractarians and their successors as an unacceptably 'low' eucharistic theology, Atterbury demonstrates how it could give rise to a warm and vibrant sacramental piety.

The sermon is an example of how the language of 'symbols' and 'remembrance' - the standard eucharistic discourse of 18th century Anglicanism - should not be dismissed. For at the Table is set before us "a lively image of the great sacrifice of the Cross", renewing us in love for and gratitude to the Crucified.

A Third instance and proof of our glorying as becomes us in the cross of Christ, is, if we frequently and worthily celebrate the memorial of his death, the blessed sacrament of his body and blood. "For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew forth the Lord's death, until he come" .... ye do significantly express it, ye do solemnly publish and declare it. Indeed both the sacraments, that of baptism, and this of the Lord's Supper, as they derive their efficacy from the cross of Christ, so do they carry in them some resemblance of his death: Baptism, of his death and resurrection jointly; the eucharist, of his death only; being instituted for this very end and purpose, to imprint on our minds, by symbols of bread broken, and wine poured out, a lively image of the great sacrifice of the cross, and to inspire us by that means, with such holy thoughts and affections, as a good Christian would have, if he were really an eye witness of the passion of Christ. Often therefore ought we to resort to this mysterious repast, even as often as we have occasion (and when have we not occasion?) to raise our gratitude, and improve our devotion, and inflame our love towards God, for the abundant mercies bestowed on us, in the sufferings and death of our Saviour. Nor can we abstain from this table of the Lord, without forgetting (indeed without so far renouncing) our relation to Christ crucified, and thereby declaring ourselves utterly unworthy of that holy name whereby we are called. "Verily, verily, except we eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, we have no life in us". Twas his dying charge to us, "Do this in remembrance of me". And surely, considering how much he has done and suffered for us, had he commanded us some hard thing, we should not have refused to comply with him: How much less should we refuse, when we are only commanded to remember him, by an action naturally pleasing and delightful to us? when he invites us only to eat and to drink at his own table?

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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