laudable Practice

In Bethell's 1834 Charge to the clergy of the Diocese of Bangor we see what might be the most significant of the differences between the Old High Church tradition and the Tractarians.  In his 1834 Foreword to the Tracts for the Times, Newman portrayed an Anglicanism that had gone astray, "leaning on an arm of flesh instead of her own divinely-provided discipline", with abundant spiritual "deficiencies".  In Tract One , Newman similarly berated the Church of England for relying on "your birth, your education, your wealth, your connexion" rather than "the real ground on which our authority is built,— OUR APOSTOLICAL DESCENT".  This became not only the source of Tractarianism's contempt for 18th century Anglicanism, but also of the later Anglo-Catholic unease with what we might term 'ordinary' Anglicanism and the consequent perceived need to introduce liturgy, ceremony, and spiritual practices from the Roman tradition in order to r...

In Bethell's 1828 Charge to the Clergy of the Diocese of Gloucester, there is a strong Hookerian emphasis to its understanding of apostolic and episcopal order.  This is all the more noticeable as the Charge was given in the context of the repeal of the Test and Corporation Acts, amidst High Church fears of 'national apostasy'.  It is also illustrates the source of the pronounced differences between the High Church tradition and the Tractarians during the Jerusalem Bishopric controversy.  As Nockles notes: In traditional High Church ecclesiology, the abandonment of episcopal government by most of the foreign reformed churches in the sixteenth century was deemed highly regrettable, but unavoidable in the circumstances ... by formulating such an accommodation to their theory, High Churchmen were able to affirm their solidarity with the rest of the Reformation world. Thus, Nockles continues, "in the best traditions of Laudianism", the High Church tradition supporte...

In his 1825  Primary Charge  to the clergy of the Diocese of Gloucester, Christopher Bethell gave us a sense of the vision of the High Church tradition of which he was a stalwart.  In the extracts below we see how he defines this tradition as embodying an Anglicanism defined by the Reformed Catholicism of Articles and Prayer Book.  It is worth reflecting how the stormy partisanship of the Tractarians, and the reaction which they and their successors provoked, undermined the "moderation" (a term used by Bethell quite a few times in his Charge) of this vision.   The Articles, especially, were agreed upon, as their title declares, “for avoiding of diversities of opinion, and for establishing of consent touching true religion.” But their real meaning is not to be ascertained by studying them in connection with systems and opinions which had no influence on their construction, but with reference to the history of the times in which they were written, the contro...