'A precursory judgement and punishment': the Aberdeen Doctors, the death of Bishop Forbes, and troubled times

In this series reflecting on the Aberdeen Doctors - the group of eirenic thinkers in the Church of Scotland centred around Patrick Forbes, Bishop of Aberdeen 1618-35 - we have considered the sermon given at Forbes' funeral by one of their number, Robert Baron. Today we turn to a further sermon marking the funeral of Forbes, given by another of the Aberdeen Doctors, Alexander Scrogie, minister in the Cathedral Church in the city.

Scrogie opened his sermon with a prophetic declaration, that Forbes' death had fatally weakened the Church and State of Scotland:

This is a praecursorie judgement and punishment. So God maketh a way for his judgementes to come vpon a Church, or kingdome, when insensiblie and graduallie hee eateth out the heart and strength of a State; and so, by degrees, weakeneth, and praepareth it for a fatall blow; that so, without resistance, hee may ruine it; as pyking out, and taking away, nowe a prudent and experienced Counsellour, and then another out of the way: and those that pray for the welfare of the Nation, and wrastle mightilie with God, for the peace of it: the Charets, and Horse-men of the land; the staffe, and the stay, and pillars of the house: and so, (by degrees departing himselfe) a new judgement in his anger entereth in rowme thereof.

Mindful of what would occur in the Kingdom and Church of Scotland over the subsequent few years - the imposition of the 1637 Prayer Book, the populist riots against the Prayer Book, the signing of the rebellious National Covenant in 1638 (bravely rejected by the Aberdeen Doctors), the General Assembly then abolishing the episcopal office, excommunicating the Scottish bishops, rejecting the 1618 Articles of Perth, and asserting the Assembly's right to convene without the Crown's consent - Scrogie was indeed prophetic. The absence of Forbes' prudence, caution, and eirenicism severely weakened the alternative to both the ineptitude of King Charles I and the extremism of the Covenanters. The result was the First Bishops' War erupting in 1639, with the carefully constructed moderation of the Jacobean Church of Scotland - an episcopally-ordered Reformed national church under the Crown, sharing some of the ceremonies and order of the English and Irish national churches, while yet retaining its own distinctive patterns - swept aside by the ideological certainties of both the Covenanters and the advocates of the Personal Rule.

Scrogie discerned how the death of Forbes removed from the Church and Kingdom of Scotland a prudent counsellor, with "the good and old way" - the settled order of the Jacobean Church of Scotland - now threatened by competing forces:

Then Trueth and Holinesse commonlie depart, and Ministers begin to bee corrupt: the Prophet is a foole, and the spirituall man is mad: the power and puritie of the trueth, and the good and olde way departeth: and so idolatrie groweth, and Sects encrease, and a perilous desolation, and change of all things, enseweth. What mischiefe followed the death of Samuel, David, Salomon, and Iosias? The Gothes, after the death of Ambrose, made in that same place irruption, and setled the seat of their kingdome. When Augustine ended his dayes in defence of the grace of GOD, the Vandales crueltie and errours succeeded. And after the death of blessed Martin Luther, the bloodie Spaniards invaded Germanie, and tooke Wittenberg.

'Change of all things ensueth'. It was a Hookerian warning that a decent order was under threat. Indeed, we might detect in Scrogie an echo of Hooker's famous words:

that posteritie may know we have not loosely through silence permitted things to passe away as in a dreame ... (LEP Preface I.1).

Scrogie then adds foreboding words:

And shall wee not wit, when GOD departeth, but bee as Sampson?

A footnote references Judges 16.20:

And she said, The Philistines be upon thee, Samson. And he awoke out of his sleep, and said, I will go out as at other times before, and shake myself. And he wist not that the LORD was departed from him.

Philistines were indeed gathering around the Jacobean Church of Scotland, its goodly and wise order exemplified by Forbes and the Aberdeen Doctors. The death of Forbes, as Scrogie declared, removed from Church and Kingdom the chief representative of prudence and peaceableness against the Philistines, Covenanters and Carolines alike.

(The picture is a 17th century depiction of Aberdeen, Forbes' episcopal see and home of the two universities, Marischal College and King's College, in which the Aberdeen Doctors taught.)

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...

The Prayer Book's theology of eucharistic consecration: Why individual cups should be rejected

The common cup may now be shared. So says the Church of England's most recent Covid-19 guidance , issued on 25th January, repeating the guidance given in December. It is, therefore, a rather odd time to renew the campaign to allow the administration of the Eucharist by means of individual cups : after all, the Covid-19 restrictions are being eased across society, the bishops have judged it appropriate to restore the Chalice to the faithful, and there is now no pressing need to consider alternatives. Unless, of course, this campaign has never really been about public health concerns but, rather, about altering Anglican eucharistic practice and theology . The Book of Common Prayer 1662 makes clear, explicit provision for what is to happen with "consecrated Elements" remaining after the faithful receive the Sacrament: When all have communicated, the Minister shall return to the Lord's Table, and reverently place upon it what remaineth of the consecrated Elements, coveri...

laudable Practice

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