laudable Practice

In Tract 71  (published in 1836), John Henry Newman addressed "the Mode of Conducting the Controversy with Rome", articulating what he described as "intelligent opposition" to "Romanism". Amongst the "practical grievances" raised by Newman was the requirement of auricular confession: By the Council of Trent, every member of the Church must confess himself to a priest once a year at least. This confession extends to all mortal sins, that is, to all sins which are done deliberately and are of any magnitude. Without this confession, (which of course must be accompanied by hearty sorrow for the things confessed), no one can be partaker of the Holy Communion.  Newman highlighted as particularly objectionable that such auricular confession was required to be understood as "a point of faith": That there is no such impediment sanctioned in Scripture, is plain, yet to believe in it is a point of faith with the Roman Catholic. The practice is gri...

Having last week considered how Henry Phillpotts, in a series of letters - debating a Roman Catholic apologist - published in 1825, gave voice to an Old High critique of auricular confession, we now turn to this insistence that the special form of absolution in the Visitation of the Sick was not to be understood in the terms of Roman Catholic theology: But it may be said, a particular absolution "is given to him who has made a particular confession": true, it is enjoined in the Rubric, that after what has preceded, if the sick man humbly and heartily desire it, the priest shall absolve him in the form annexed, a form, the meaning of which, if it be ambiguous, must be understood from comparison with the express doctrine, and uniform practice, of our Church in all the preceding instances. But even in this very form there is an implied declaration of the nature of the absolving power; it is given to absolve all sinners who truly repent and "believe in our Lord Jesus Chris...

In a series of letters published in 1825 , Henry Phillpotts - standing in the Old High tradition, a rector in the Diocese of Durham, soon to be appointed Dean of Chester and, in 1830, Bishop of Exeter - engaged with a Roman Catholic apologist, Charles Butler. The ninth letter addressed the matter of 'Confession and Absolution in the Church of Rome', including a 'Statement of Doctrine and Practice of the Church of England on these points'.  Phillpotts noted that Butler had mischievously and inaccurately used the two references to private confession in the Book of the Common Prayer. There was, Phillpotts declared with right and proper confidence, no comparison between Roman Catholic teaching on the Sacrament of Penance and the Prayer Book's pastoral provision in the Exhortation in the Holy Communion: You know that auricular confession is, with you, an essential part of a Sacrament, which, as you value your soul's salvation, you must perform. You also know, that, w...

As part of the series of weekly posts from the responses to Tract XC by Old High bishops in the visitation charges of the early 1840s, today we have a final extract from the charge given in 1842 by Henry Phillpotts (Bishop of Exeter 1831-69). These charges are a rich seam of Old High teaching. In this extract, Phillpotts interprets the Prayer Book offertory in light of the rubric: "the Alms for the Poor". This reflects the original intent of the Cranmerian offertory , applied by Phillpotts to the changed social context of Victorian era. This, of course, was a quite different emphasis to that which would be given by Anglo-catholics - e.g. in Directorium Anglicanum - to the offertory, with the bread and wine as the focus. Phillpotts, however, demonstrated the continued relevance of the Cranmerian offertory and its alms for the poor, pointing to a vision of a society renewed by love of God and love of neighbour: There is, too, one other claim still more imperative than either,...

As part of the series of weekly posts from the responses to Tract XC by Old High bishops in the visitation charges of the early 1840s, today we continue consideration of the charge given in 1842 by Henry Phillpotts (Bishop of Exeter 1831-69). These charges are a rich seam of Old High teaching.  In today's extract Phillpotts addresses a matter which would become a significant point of controversy between Tractarians and Old High: private absolution. Contrary to what would become the Anglo-catholic imitation of the Roman discipline, Phillpotts maintains the caution and reserve of historic Prayer Book practice: rejecting any notion of a necessity for private absolution; no requirement to catalogue any or all sins; and the efficacy of absolution dependent on being received in faith and penitence.  Mindful of the divisive controversies which ensued upon the Tractarian and Anglo-catholic promotion of the Roman discipline, Phillpotts' Old High exposition was deeply Hookerian and of...

As part of  the series of weekly posts from  the responses to Tract XC by Old High bishops in the visitation charges of the early 1840s, today we continue  consideration of  the  charge given in 1842 by Henry Phillpotts  (Bishop of Exeter 1831-69). These charges are  a rich seam of Old High teaching.  The focus of these posts is not so much on the well-known critique of Tract XC articulated in the charges but, rather, on what these visitation charges reveal about the teaching, piety, concerns, and vitality of the Old High tradition nearly a decade after the emergence of the Oxford Movement. In today's extract, Phillpotts refutes those evangelicals who, in response to Tractarianism, adopted a low view of the sacraments (contrary, it must be said, to 18th century evangelicals such as Charles Simeon).  Phillpotts contrast such "ultra-Protestant" views - which he compares, in a footnote, to the sacramental teaching of Socinus (a point also made b...

Today we continue consideration of  the  charge given in 1842 by Henry Phillpotts ,  Bishop of Exeter 1831-69. This is part of  the series of weekly posts from a rich seam of Old High teaching, the responses to Tract XC by Old High bishops in the visitation charges of the early 1840s.  The focus of these posts is not so much on the well-known critique of Tract XC articulated in these charges but, rather, on what these visitation charges reveal about the teaching, piety, concerns, and vitality of the Old High tradition nearly a decade after the emergence of the Oxford Movement.  Phillpotts provides a robust Old High view of the the visible Church: "the true Christian life is not an individual, but a corporate life". What is significant, however, is that he sees no need to couch this in terms beyond the Formularies (a stark contrast with the Tractarians). He invokes Article 19 and provides a Reformed Catholic account of the visible Church which would be as eq...

Today laudable Practice resumes the series of weekly posts from a rich seam of Old High teaching, the responses to Tract XC by Old High bishops in the visitation charges of the early 1840s.  The focus of these posts is not so much on the well-known critique of Tract XC articulated in these charges but, rather, on what these visitation charges reveal about the teaching, piety, concerns, and vitality of the Old High tradition nearly a decade after the emergence of the Oxford Movement. Having considered the 1842 charge of Newman's diocesan, Bagot of Oxford , we turn now to the charge given in the same year by Henry Phillpotts , Bishop of Exeter 1831-69. In this extract from the charge, Phillpotts expounds an enduring Old High conviction - that the Prayer Book offers a much richer proclamation of the Gospel than a reliance on preaching alone. Central to this was the recognition of Prayer Book as deeply rooted in evangelical, catholic faith, against sectarian alternatives. Here Phillp...

In an 1826 exchange with a Roman Catholic apologist , Henry Phillpotts (appointed Bishop of Exeter in 1830) provided an account of "the doctrine of our Church" regarding "the real presence in the Sacrament".  It is another example of the vibrancy of pre-1833 High Church Receptionism.  Particularly worthy of note is the distinctive High Church emphasis on this providing a "more real" understanding of the Lord's presence in the Sacrament than a 'carnal' eating: I proceed to state more fully what is indeed the doctrine of our Church on this subject. She holds then, that after the consecration of the bread and wine they are changed not in their nature but in their use; that instead of nourishing our bodies only, they now are instruments by which, when worthily received, God gives to our souls the body and blood of Christ to nourish and sustain them: that this is not a fictitious, or imaginary, exhibition of our crucified Redeemer to us, but a real ...