laudable Practice

The recent election of a new Bishop of Rome made me think about the generous, ecumenical nature of the petitions for the universal Church in the Book of Common Prayer 1662 and its variants. Above all, we must consider the Prayer for the Church Militant in the Holy Communion : ... beseeching thee to inspire continually the universal Church with the spirit of truth, unity, and concord: And grant, that all they that do confess thy holy Name may agree in the truth of thy holy Word, and live in unity, and godly love. We explicitly pray for "the universal Church": not our own communion, not only those in communion with our bishops, not only those who agree with us in the matters of the Reformation debates. We pray for " all they that do confess thy holy Name", all who have been baptised in the name of the Holy Trinity and confess the catholic Creeds.  This, of course, includes our Roman Catholic brothers and sisters and those churches in communion with the See of Rome.  ...

Words from Jeremy Taylor - in Holy Dying - for this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity: Let the sick man mingle the recital of his creed [i.e. the Apostles' Creed] together with his devotions, and in that let him account his faith; not in curiosity and factions, in the confessions of parties and interests: for some over-forward zeals are so earnest to profess their little and uncertain articles, and glory so to die in a particular and divided communion, that in the profession of their faith they lose or discompose their charity. Let it be enough that we secure our interest of heaven, though we do not go about to appropriate the mansions to our sect; for every good man hopes to be saved, as he is a Christian, and not as he is a Lutheran, or of another division. However, those articles upon which he can build the exercise of any virtue in his sickness, or upon the stock of which he can improve his present condition, are such as consist in the greatness and goodness, the veracity and...

From the Preface to Taylor's The Psalter of David (1647), a statement of gracious and generous orthodoxy, in a time of bitter and violent confessional divisions in these Islands and in Europe: For in that which is most concerning, and is the best preserver of charity, I mean practical devotion and active piety, the differences of Christendom are not so great and many, to make an eternal dis-union and fracture; and if we instance in Prayer, there is none at all abroad (some indeed we have commenc'd at home, but) in the great divisions of Christendom, none at all but concerning the object of our prayers and adorations. For the Socinian shuts the Holy Ghost from his Litanies, and places the Son of God in a lower form of address. But concerning him I must say, as S. Paul said of the unbelievers, What have I to do with them that are without? For this very thing that they disbelieve the article of the holy Trinity, they make themselves uncapable of the communion of other Christian ...

Petertide means photos of ordinations on Anglican X/Twitter. Previous Petertides usually resulted in me sighing in grumpy middle-aged male fashion, as Church of England dioceses published photographs of newly-ordained deacons and priests leaping. I was therefore grateful this year to see a quite lovely photograph of a newly-ordained priest of the Church in Wales, with - I am guessing - her mother and her training incumbent, with a brief message referring to "today's indescribable joy". And then the vile, obnoxious comments started on X, mostly from self-proclaimed 'trad Catholics' from the United States. You can guess the type: the sort who have Integralist fantasies about executing gay people, forcibly baptising Jewish children, and setting up a Francoist dictatorship in the United States. Quite why they have any interest in an Anglican ordination across the Atlantic has yet to be meaningfully explained. Then again, however, perhaps fetid Integralist fantasies ar...

Having recently discovered the story of the German Church in Halifax , Nova Scotia, an exploration of its early years provides a fascinating insight into how non-episcopal Continental Protestant churches were regarded by 18th century Anglicanism. (The title 'Little Dutch Church' is a misnomer for Deutsch.) Established in 1756 as a "common meeting house of the German Lutheran congregation", it was the place of worship for the 'Foreign Protestants' - mostly Lutherans from the Palatines - who had settled in Halifax. For the first few decades of the church, clergy from the "English Church of St. Paul" in Halifax provided sacramental ministrations, with Lutheran laity leading prayers and reading sermons. In the words of a history of the congregation : Ordinarily, the German schoolmaster read prayers twice on Sundays as well as a sermon on each occasion. Another description, in good Lutheran fashion, also notes the singing of hymns. The contemporary accoun...

The opening words of Taylor's  The Real Presence and Spiritual of Christ in the Blessed Sacrament  (1654) provide an important introduction to his eucharistic theology: The tree of knowledge became the tree of death to us; and the tree of life is now become an apple of contention. The holy symbols of the eucharist were intended to be a contesseration [i.e. the forging of a union], and a union of Christian societies to God, and with one another; and the evil taking it, disunites us from God; and the evil understanding it, divides us from each other ... And yet if men would but do reason, there were in all religion no article, which might more easily excuse us from meddling with questions about it, than this of the holy sacrament ... we may in this mystery to them that curiously ask, what, or how it is? ' Mysterium est ;' 'It is a sacrament, and a mystery;' by sensible instruments it consigns spiritual graces; by the creatures it brings us to God; by the body it minis...

In last week's post in the Contours of Conformity 1662-1832 series, we saw Edward Welchman, a representative of the Reformed tradition in the early Georgian Church of England, state that a robust commitment to episcopacy did not require the non-episcopal continental Reformed Churches to be 'unchurched'. This, as pointed out last week when discussing Welchman, was also the Laudian position. And, as previously indicated on laudable Practice , it was one of the contours of Conformity during the 'long 18th century', with the Church of England both exercising a care for the 'Reformed Churches abroad' and, in the North American colonies , co-operating with them. In demonstrating this care for the 'Reformed Churches abroad', I pointed to the official prayers issued in 1694 and 1759 for "the Reformed Churches", "especially for the Reformed Churches". These two examples, however, are merely a part of a consistent practice - over decades ...

Today we resume extracts from John Shepherd's A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church of England (1796). At the outset of his discussion of the Venite, Shepherd describes it as "originally composed for the public service". A short footnote addressing this point is worth considering: Grotius thinks it was composed for the Feast of Tabernacles, and Calvin for the Sabbath Day.  A short footnote, yes, but one that captures a significant aspect of how much Anglican opinion regarded the Book of Common Prayer during the 'long 18th century'. Shepherd is very content to describe Luther and Calvin as "two of the most illustrious instruments of the Reformation". As seen previously, he invoked Calvin to explain the purpose of the Absolution at Morning and Evening Prayer. He was, however, hostile to those readings of the Prayer Book which were "too favourable to Calvinistic opinions".  Which brings us to the re...

From Taylor's  Ductor dubitantium , a rather glorious Hookerian account of legitimate variety in sacramental practice, rejecting attempts to impose a uniformity on all the churches as a fettering of Christian liberty, exercised by "every particular or national Church" (cf. Article XXXIV). Note, in particular, Taylor's recognition that the Words of Institution are not necessarily required to consecrate the Eucharist, bringing to mind the Anaphora of Addai and Mari and also Reformed and Moravian practice. With Hooker, he reminds us that all Apostolic injunctions are not necessarily binding upon the Churches, "for Christ onely is our law-giver". The extract also exemplifies how Episcopalian thought interpreted Christian liberty in terms of the liberties of national Churches, rather than as a proto-individualism. Above all, here is a joyous irenicism in which the historic variety and diversity of Christian practices concerning the Sacraments is justified and aff...

The first Charles promoted the Laudian vision.  The second Charles restored a Laudian vision.  And the third Charles? The Coronation liturgy of the third Charles is demonstrating the continued resonance of a Laudian vision. Let us reflect on five ways in which the Coronation liturgy is deeply Laudian. Firstly, the Eucharistic rite in the Coronation liturgy is fundamentally rooted in the Prayer Book tradition.  Yes, it is not 1662 - but is much closer to 1662 than the Eucharistic rite in the vast majority of Church of England parishes. The words of 1662 will be heard in the preface, Sanctus, Prayer of Consecration, Prayer of Oblation, the words of administration, and in the post-communion prayer. Mindful of current liturgical practice in the Church of England, this is an outcome worthy of recognition and support. It reflects the King's well-known commitment to the Book of Common Prayer. As Prince of Wales, he was patron of the Prayer Book Society.  He presented prize...

A Prayer for all the Reformed Churches. O God, the Father of Mercies, who, of thy great Goodness, hast admitted us into thy Holy Church, the mystical Body of Christ, we, as living Members thereof, mourning with them that mourn, and rejoicing with them that rejoice, do now present our Supplications and Prayers at the Throne of Grace, more especially in Behalf of all our Reformed Brethren; beseeching thee to make them perfect, Establish, strengthen them; that they may stand fast in the Liberty wherewith Christ hath made them free, and adorn the Doctrine of God our Saviour in all Things; to preserve the Tranquility of those who at present enjoy it, and to look down with an Eye of Pity upon those, who are in Distress or Persecution on Account of thy most Holy Religion. Suffer not unreasonable and wicked Men still to triumph over thy Heritage. Plead thy Cause with them that blaspheme thy Truth, and persecute thy People. Enlighten those who are in Darkness and Error, and give them Repentance...

... beseeching thee to inspire continually the universal Church with the spirit of truth, unity, and concord: And grant, that all they that do confess thy holy Name may agree in the truth of thy holy Word, and live in unity, and godly love. Having prayed this petition from the Prayer for the Church Militant with Jewel and Hooker , we turn now to Cosin and Taylor. In his account of the differences between the Church of England and Tridentine teaching, Cosin summarised the Tridentine claim for tradition he was critiquing: That all the ecclesiastical observations and constitutions of the same Church ... are to be approved held and believed as needful to salvation and that whoever approves them not is out of the Catholic Church and must be damned. He contrasted this with the Church of England's confession of sola scriptura , or in the words of the Prayer for the Church Militant, "the truth of thy holy Word": All the two and twenty canonical books of the Old Testament and the...

... beseeching thee to inspire continually the universal Church with the spirit of truth, unity, and concord: And grant, that all they that do confess thy holy Name may agree in the truth of thy holy Word, and live in unity, and godly love. Cranmer wrote these words in the very midst of the passionate disputes and bloody violence of the Reformation divisions. The significance of the petition is perhaps illustrated by  Diarmaid MacCulloch's suggestion that "the Reformation might indeed be viewed simply as two centuries of warfare". Against this background, we might have a greater appreciation of the words of the author of this prayer, a man described elsewhere by MacCulloch as a "cautious, well-read humanist", with a warm commitment to "concord by discussion". It is this which may have been a source for the deeply eirenic quality of the petition in the Prayer for the Church Militant. This deeply eirenic quality also had profound theological depth whic...

In the preface to his The Psalter of David (1647), Jeremy Taylor provided a beautiful account of how praying the psalter could renew a bitterly divided Christendom in "the Communion of charity". Written amidst the violent confessional conflicts that marked the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in these Islands and as the viciously bloody Thirty Years War drew to a close, Taylor urged Christians to see in their shared praying of the psalms a means for "the advancement of an universall Communion".  Taylor's words continue to resonate, emphasising the significance of Christians across ecclesial traditions praying and reciting the psalter. It suggests that, as Anglican Christians, we can be closest, in "the Communion of charity", to our brothers and sisters across the Christian traditions - Gaelic-speaking Reformed congregations in the Western Isles of Scotland, ancient Benedictine monastic communities in the heart of Europe, Ethiopian Orthodox praying in church...

In his account of the life of Laud, Cyprianus anglicus (1668), the Laudian Peter Heylyn addresses the accusation of 'Popery' levelled at the Archbishop by his opponents in church and state. Heylyn is clear, of course, that such accusations had no basis whatsoever, for Laud was committed to the defence of the Church of England, what Heylyn describes as "the true Protestant religion".  This, Heylyn states, was not at all contradicted by Laud's opposition to a populist, sectarian anti-popery stance. Rather, such opposition stood in the best traditions of the reformed Church of England. Heylyn first considered how Laud discouraged and used his influence against publications with "exasperating passages" which condemned the Pope as 'antichrist': he was not pleased that the Pope should be any longer stigmatized by the name of Antichrist; and gave a strict Charge unto his Chaplains, That all exasperating Passages (which edifie nothing) should be expunge...