laudable Practice

He told them that the house of theirs to which he alluded was this their church, in which he now addressed them for the first time; that their most welcome and proper manner of bidding him God-speed would be their patient obedience to his teaching of the gospel; but that he could put forward no claim to such conduct on their part unless he taught them the great Christian doctrine of works and faith combined. Thus did Mr. Arabin preach himself into the living of St. Ewold's in Barchester Towers . Trollope here echoes what was a significant critique of Solafidianism. That critique was the mainstream view of the 18th century Church of England and maintained by the 'Orthodox' into the 19th century. A fine representation of this critique is seen in the primary visitation charge of Thomas Burgess, Bishop of Salisbury (received holy orders in 1784, consecrated to the episcopate 1803), delivered to his clergy in August 1826. In the preface to the published version of the charge, B...

Having considered the account given by Nelson, in his 1713 Life of Dr. George Bull , of the controversy following the 1669 publication of Bull's Harmonia Apostolica , we now turn to one particular aspect of that controversy, the involvement of a leading Dissenting divine: Some time after this, Mr. Daniel Williams, now a Doctor in Divinity, and an eminent Preacher and Writer in this City, among the Presbyterians, made himself famous for managing the Controversy against the Anti-Antinomian Principles, when they were breaking in with great impetuosity among those of his Persuasion. Williams (b.1643, d.1716), who refused to conform in 1662, was described by Nelson as standing in the line of Baxter's thought - in his  Aphorisms of Justification (1655) - regarding the necessity of works for our salvation, as against those whom Bull critiqued as 'Antinomians':  Dr. Williams may be said to have succeeded Mr. Baxter, in the Management of these Disputes, as he also incurred ther...

Last week, in our readings from Robert Nelson's 1713 Life of Dr. George Bull , we reached a crucial, defining moment - the publication, in 1669, of Bull's Harmonia Apostolica . The heated controversy surrounding this work on justification is addressed at some length by Nelson. In the edition we have been reading, Nelson's account of the controversy and the various debates surrounding the work extends from page 89 to page 276, one-third of the entire book. This itself provides some idea of the significance of the work and the debate it provoked.  Despite this, Nelson presents the opposition to Bull's work as unnecessary. He notes at the outset, for example, that, from the perspective of 1713, Bull's understanding of the relationship between faith and works had become the settled view of the Church of England: The best of it is, this Contention was of no long Continuance: For not long after this Treatise was Printed and received with much Applause on one side, and Con...

Our readings from Nelson's 1713 Life of Dr. George Bull now reach the publication of Bull's first work, the work which would establish his reputation as the leading divine of the Arminian Conformist stream of thought in the post-Restoration Church of England. His  Harmonia Apostolica   quickly became a defining text of what Samuel Fornecker's excellent study terms Arminian Conformity. It is this which makes Nelson's opening comments on the work particularly interesting: In the Year 1669, he first Printed that excellent Piece, his Apostolical Harmony, &c. which was begun by him, when but Young, with a View of settling Peace in the Church, upon a Point of greatest Importance to all its Members. This Book he Dedicated to his Diocesan the Bishop of Gloucester, Dr. William Nicholson, a very proper Judge and Patron, who had very much also encouraged and supported him in this Work. I have previously mentioned in this series that Stephen Hampton places Nicholson amon...

Having considered the exposition of the Exhortation (on penitence and worship ) at Morning and Evening Prayer by John Shepherd in his A Critical and Practical Elucidation of the Morning and Evening Prayer of the Church of England (1796), a footnote provided by Shepherd is significant.  It is a footnote to a line in his discussion of how the Exhortation sets before us the gift of absolution and reconciliation: For forgiveness and justification we are indebted solely to the "infinite mercy and goodness of God," through the meritorious sufferings, and efficacious mediation of our Lord, and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Shepherd's footnote quotes the Homily on Justification as an example - no doubt to the surprise of many Anglicans today - of moderation , a "general" account of justification free of the "speculative points" concerning predestination which had disturbed the peace and unity of the Reformed Churches: We are forgiven, acquitted, absolved, and ...

In  An answer to Monsieur de la Militiere  (1653) - a response to a Roman apologist - Bramhall defends the stance of the magisterial Reformation on  justification, merits, and the invocation of Saints, identifying this with the teaching of "the ancient Church", and reminding us of the Protestant nature of Laudianism over and against Tridentine norms.  Set alongside the other aspects of Bramhall's defence of the ecclesia Anglicana in this work, it points to a robustly Christocentric reformed Catholicism, richly sacramental, episcopally ordered because this is a divine institution and the apostolic order, rooted in patristic teaching and practice. Concerning Justification, we believe that all good Christians have true inherent Justice, though not perfect according to a perfection of degrees, as gold is true Gold, though it be mixed with some dross. We believe that this inherent Justice and sanctity, doth make them truly just and holy. But if the word Justification be ...