laudable Practice

To mark Reformation Day, words from a sermon - ' Objections against the Ceremonies used in our Church answered ' - by George Smalridge, Bishop of Bristol 1714-19, in which he points to how such ceremonies did not separate the Church of England from "other reformed churches". The fact that Smalridge was a Tory with Jacobite allegiances, and a close friend of Francis Atterbury, emphasises that this was no Whiggish, low church declaration serving partisan Hanoverian purposes: rather, this was a sermon by a bishop who, unlike his low church colleagues, was pronounced in his criticisms of Dissent and supported Tory legislation against the Dissenting interest. This, in other words, was a thoroughly high church statement of the 18th century Church of England's care and affection for, and communion with, the other Churches of the Reformation, Lutheran and Reformed. I proceed now to consider another objection urged against them [i.e. ceremonies] in order to render them odi...

Following on from yesterday's post , there are three relevant episodes noted in the introductions by George Ornsby (b. 1809, received orders 1841) to the two volumes of Cosin's correspondence (published in 1869 and 1872). All three episodes suggest the significance of the influence of Bishop Overall (consecrated to the episcopate 1614, Bishop of Norwich 1618-19) on Cosin's understanding of French Reformed orders.  After taking orders, Cosin had been appointed Overall's secretary. The influence upon Cosin of Overall's acceptance of Continental Protestant non-episcopal orders is explicit: With regard to their [i.e. French Reformed] Orders, he would seem to have accepted the judgment of his "lord and master Overall " (as he delighted to term him), who "was wont to say, 'Though we are not to lessen the jus divinum of Episcopacy, where it is established, and may be had, yet we must take heed that we do not, for want of Episcopacy, where it cannot be h...

From John Cosin's account of his exile in Paris, with the court of King Charles II: I never refused to join with the Protestants, either  here  or  anywhere  else, in all things wherein  they  join  with  the  Church  of  England. Many  of  them  have  been  here at our Church  and we  have  been  at  theirs.  I  have  buried  divers of  our  people  at  Charenton, and  they  permit  us to  make  use  of  their  peculiar  and  decent  cemetery here  in  Paris  for  that  purpose; which  if  they  did  not,  we  should  be  forced  to  bury  our  dead in  a  ditch. I  have  baptized  many  of  their  children  at  the  request  of  their ...

From the Laudian Bramhall - then Bishop of Derry, appointed Archbishop of Armagh at the Restoration - in his  A Fair Warning, To take heed of the Scotish Discipline (1649), demonstrating that his critique of the attempt to impose the Scottish presbyterian system on England was not at attack on "forreign Churches": I foresee that they will suggest that through their sides I seek to wound forreign Churches. No, there is nothing which I shall convict them of here, but I hope will be disavowed, though not by all Protestant auctors [authors], yet by all the Protestant Churches in the world ... If it were not for this Disciplinarian humour, which will admit no latitude in Religion, but makes each nicity a fundamental, and every private opinion an Article of faith, which prefers particular errours before general truths. I doubt not but all reformed Churches might easily be reconciled. Before these unhappy troubles in England, all Protestants both Lutherans and Calvinists did give u...

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...

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 ...

I A. B do declare that it is not lawfull upon any pretence whatsoever to take Armes against the King and that I do abhorr that traiterous Position of taking Armes by His Authority against His Person or against those that are commissionated by him ... And I do declare that I do hold there lies no Obligacion upon me or on any other person from the Oath comonly called the Solemne League and Covenant to endeavour any change or alteration of Government either in Church or State And that the same was in it selfe an unlawfull Oath and imposed upon the Subjects of this Realme against the knowne Lawes and Liberties of this Kingdome. The requirement of the 1662 Act of Uniformity that clergy openly rejected the Solemn League and Covenant as "an unlawfull Oath", contrary to the "Lawes and Liberties" of the realm, was - despite now being usually overlooked by many Anglican commentators - a crucial provision of the Act. The Solemn League and Covenant had its roots in the 1638 N...

That every Parson Vicar or other Minister whatsoever who now hath and enjoyeth any Ecclesiasticall Benefice or Promotion within this Realme of England or places aforesaid shall in the Church Chappell or place of Publique Worshipp belonging to his said Benefice or Promotion upon some Lords day before the Feast of Saint Bartholomew which shall be in the yeare of our Lord God One thousand six hundred sixty and two openly publiquely and solemnely read the Morneing and Evening Prayer appointed to be read by and according to the said Booke of Comon Prayer att the times thereby appointed and after such reading thereof shall openly and publiquely before the Congregation there assembled declare his unfeigned assent & consent to the use of all things in the said Booke ... In this week in which the feast of St. Bartholomew is celebrated, laudable Practice will consider the Act of Uniformity 1662 , its provisions coming into force on 24th August of that year. Each year the anniversary is ofte...

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...