laudable Practice

On Friday 2nd February 1787, Dr. William White and Dr. Samuel Provoost, citizens of the United States and ministers of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, were introduced by the Archbishop of Canterbury, John Moore, to King George III. William White presented a "preconceived address" to the King: we were happy in the opportunity of thanking his majesty, for his license granted to his grace the archbishop, to convey the Episcopal succession to the Church in America. The King responded: His grace has given me such an account of the gentle men who have come over, that I am glad of the present op portunity of serving the interests of religion. It was a quite remarkable meeting, related in White's Memoirs of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (1820). White and Provoost had both been Patriots during the Revolutionary War. Now, by the provisions of an Act of Parliament, and welcomed by George III, they were, two days lat...

Whereas it has pleased Almighty God in his great goodness to put an end to the late bloody, extended, and expensive war in which we were engaged; we therefore, adoring the Divine goodness, and duly considering that the great and public blessings of peace do call for public and solemn acknowledgments, have thought fit, by the advice of our Privy Council, to issue this our Royal Proclamation, hereby appointing and commanding, that a general thanksgiving to Almighty God for these his mercies, be observed ... on Thursday the 29th of this instant July. This was the Royal Proclamation of King George III, issued on 2nd July 1784. Throughout the American War, days of prayer and fasting had been observed in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and the Kingdom of Ireland. The first fast day had been 13th December 1776. Joseph Butler - then Archdeacon of Surrey, to be appointed Bishop of Oxford in 1777 - preached before the House of Commons on that occasion. He emphasised that the rebellious...

With the approach of the Fourth of July and the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, Laudable Practice  this week will have a series of posts considering aspects of 18th century Anglicanism in the context of the American Revolution. We begin today with a figure at the centre of that Revolution, the Virginian gentleman George Washington.  Two rival portrayals of Washington are conventionally invoked. The first is that of Washington as the icon of the founding of Christian nation. To quote a Southern Baptist publication : America’s greatest hero and first President was no deist, but a devout, Bible-believing Christian. US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth echoed this in a recent statement invoking the iconography of Washington praying at Valley Forge: Amid all the bleak nights, the loss and despair, the lack of proper support, George Washington performed a profound act — he prayed. And on this day of Rededicate 250, let us follow George Washington's example. Let us...

On 28th June this year, as every year, the very fine St. Michael's Church, Charleston , South Carolina, observed ' Carolina Day ', recalling the Battle of Sullivan's Island - fought on the same date in 1776 - which marked the first victory for the forces of the Continental Congress.  The service was Morning Prayer from the BCP 1662, the liturgy which would have been in use in St. Michael's throughout the Revolutionary War - with, of course, the prayers for the monarch removed (as they would have been in this church in 1776, more of which below). The collect of Independence Day was used, giving thanks for the liberty secured by the Revolution: O Lord God Almighty, in whose Name the founders of this country won liberty for themselves and for us, and lit the torch of freedom for nations then unborn:  Grant, we beseech thee, that we and all the people of this land may have grace to maintain these liberties in righteousness and peace; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who ...

On 12th June 1775, the Second Continental Congress - weeks after Lexington and Concord, and only days before Bunker Hill - issued a proclamation calling for the inhabitants of the American colonies to observe 20th July as "a day of public humiliation, fasting, and prayer", seeking the "gracious interposition of Heaven" in order to aid "a speedy end ... to the civil discord between Great Britain and the American colonies, without farther effusion of blood". And so it was on 20th July that the members of the Continental Congress gathered in Christ Church, Philadelphia , to hear Jacob Duché - Rector of Christ Church - preach on a text from Psalm 80, "Turn thee again, thou God of hosts, look down from heaven: behold, and visit this vine". The sermon's title identified the vine: ' The American Vine '. As with the vine in the psalm, the American Vine was blessed with goodly roots and soil, allowing it to flourish: Our sober Ancestors broug...