laudable Practice

On Friday 2nd February 1787, Dr. William White and Dr. Samuel Provoost, citizens of the United States and ministers of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, were introduced by the Archbishop of Canterbury, John Moore, to King George III. William White presented a "preconceived address" to the King: we were happy in the opportunity of thanking his majesty, for his license granted to his grace the archbishop, to convey the Episcopal succession to the Church in America. The King responded: His grace has given me such an account of the gentle men who have come over, that I am glad of the present op portunity of serving the interests of religion. It was a quite remarkable meeting, related in White's Memoirs of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America (1820). White and Provoost had both been Patriots during the Revolutionary War. Now, by the provisions of an Act of Parliament, and welcomed by George III, they were, two days lat...

In its ' Alterations agreed on and confirmed in Convention, for rendering the Liturgy conformable to the principles of the American Revolution, and the constitutions of the several states ', the first General Convention of the Protestant Episcopal Church, held in Philadelphia in 1785, set forth a ' Service for the 4th of July '. The thanksgiving appointed for the day included this reference to the events of 4th July 1776: O God, whose Name is excellent in all the earth, and thy glory above the heavens, who as on this day didst inspire and direct the hearts of our delegates in Congress, to lay the perpetual foundations of peace, liberty, and safety; we bless and adore thy glorious Majesty, for this thy loving kindness and providence ... The appointed Epistle opened with the words "Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice"; the appointed Gospel concluded with "If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed". There is littl...

On Epiphany 1813, William White, Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and Presiding Bishop of PECUSA, preached in Christ Church, Philadelphia. The sermon addressed the newly-established Society for the Advancement of Christianity in Pennsylvania, founded by White in the previous year to support the creation of Episcopal churches in the state.  What is striking about the sermon is how it is defined by what White terms "the festival of this day". Remembering that White is regarded as an exemplar of the low church tradition in PECUSA, and that there was little, if any, high church influence in Pennsylvania, the sermons points to how the feast of the Epiphany was meaningfully observed in pre-1833 Anglicanism: It has been often remarked concerning the calling of the Gentiles, that the great event became distinct a prophecy, in proportion as the time of its accomplishment drew near. The truth of this is especially evident in the text. The ...

It appertaineth to the Office of a Deacon, in the Church where he shall be appointed to serve, to assist the Priest in Divine Service ... When the fifth question at the Ordering of Deacons sets forth the wider duties of the diaconate, William White - in his Commentaries Suited to Occasions of Ordination (1833) - raises the issue of a permanent diaconate as a means of providing for divine service, sermons, and Holy Baptism in communities where it would be impracticable to have an incumbent: But the institution would be still more useful in places in which, because of the small number or the poverty of the people, there can be no permanent provision for a minister devoting his whole time to the service of the sanctuary; an evil, which would be in some measure remedied by the appointment to the deaconship of a proper character, wherever it should offer, with the view not only of his distributing to the poor, but further, for the reading of the Scriptures and discourses, and for baptizin...

Will you diligently read the same unto the people assembled in the Church where you shall be appointed to serve? Answer. I will. Addressing the fourth question in the Ordering of Deacons, William White's Commentaries Suited to Occasions of Ordination (1833) points to how patristic accounts regularly emphasise the significance of the public reading of holy Scripture in the liturgies "of the primitive Church": Of the many marks manifested by this Church, of her being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, there may be considered the importance which she gives to the public reading of the Holy Scriptures, as not one of the least. There is no branch of the service of the primitive Church more demonstrative than this. In the apology of Justin Martyr, edited within half a century of the decease of the last of the apostles; and in the account which the apologists gives of the worship of the Christian assemblies of his day, this is distinctly noticed, as a part of...

Do you unfeignedly believe all the Canonical Scriptures of the Old and New Testament? Answer. I do believe them. In considering the third question asked at the Ordering of Deacons, William White's Commentaries Suited to Occasions of Ordination (1833), points to how Jewish and Christian understanding has been remarkably settled on the matter of, respectively, the canons of the Old and New Testaments: There is something worthy of remark in the unanimity of testimony which the Church, in all the various places of her settlement, has borne to the integrity of the Scriptures handed down in her. In regard to the Old Testament, indeed, the Roman Catholic Church has added to the canon. But this does not affect the principle maintained; because the witness in that department is the Jewish Church, and not the Christian ... In regard to the Scriptures of the New Testament, there is no diversity. And that this should be the case, after all the contentions which have taken place in regard to t...

Do you think that you are truly called, according to the will of our Lord Jesus Christ, and according to the canons of this Church, to the ministry of the same? In reflecting upon the second question in the Ordering of Deacons, William White's Commentaries Suited to Occasions of Ordination (1833) addresses the apostolic nature of the Church from which the candidate receives holy orders: To justify the candidate in believing that he is called according to the will of Christ, he should be convinced, after due inquiry, that the Church to which he looks for ordination, is a true apostolick Church, deriving its authority from that founded by the apostles. For since they did confessedly found a communion, and since it did confessedly transmit its ministries, there seems no possible right to the name of a Christian Church at present, but in succession from the originally established body. What then is the result, but that an opinion, formed under due care, is a prerequisite of admission ...

Following last week's introduction to this series on William White's Commentaries Suited to Occasions of Ordination , we now turn to the substance of White's work. The Commentaries are structured around the questions addressed to candidates in the Ordering of Deacons and the Ordering of Priests. It is not without significance that ( with one - rarely used - exception ) the PECUSA Ordinal was the same as that of the Church of England. The questions addressed to the candidates for holy orders, therefore, were the same as in 1662. The first question in the Ordering of Deacons concerned the nature of the call to orders: Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon you this Office and Ministration, to serve God for the promoting of his glory, and the edifying of his people? Answer: I trust so. White emphasises the understanding of ministerial call embodied in this question: it is not an immediate, direct call to which reference is being made but, rathe...

Over the next few months, laudable Practice will have a weekly post considering extracts from William White's  Commentaries Suited to Occasions of Ordination . This was published as a single volume in 1833, but first appeared in the Quarterly Theological Magazine and Religious Repository in 1813/14. The request for publication as a single volume came unanimously from White's fellow bishops , during the 1832 General Convention: "we do earnestly recommend such an edition of that work to the patronage of all the Clergy and Members generally of the Church".  There are at least three reasons why we might give consideration to White's Commentaries Suited to Occasions of Ordination . Firstly, the unanimous request from the House of Bishops is suggestive of how White's understanding of ordained ministry appealed to both the Old High and Evangelical traditions within early PECUSA. Secondly, the year of publication, 1833, also has obvious importance: the work points t...

On the 28th May 1787, in Christ Church, Philadelphia, the first ordination took place in the Protestant Episcopal Church in the State of Pennsylvania. The bishop was, of course, William White, who had been consecrated to the episcopate two months earlier by bishops of the Church of England, in Lambeth Palace chapel.  The preacher at the ordination was Samuel Magaw, Rector of St. Paul's, Philadelphia, and then vice-provost and professor of moral philosophy at the University of Pennsylvania. Magaw's sermon offers a significant insight into Protestant Episcopalian self-understanding as a church in, as then was the case, the States of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, and South Carolina. When the sermon was published, the dedication to White celebrated his "appointment to the Episcopal Chair". This introduced a major theme in the sermon: the unembarrassed Protestant Episcopalian dependence upon the Church of England. Indeed, Magaw was expl...

I continued, as did all of us, to pray for the king, until Sunday (inclusively) before the 4th of July 1776. So said William White , supporter of the Patriot cause and chaplain to the Continental Congress. It is a reminder of the complexities and nuances of Anglican allegiances and identities in North America during these years. Similarly we might also point to the Loyalist parson Jonathan Boucher's critique of the Administration in Westminster in a 1774 sermon: Their whole conduct, indeed, has been so utterly devoid of counsel, that I seem to have no right to tax those persons with being superstitious, who ascribe to it a preternatural infatuation ... That they wish for a reconciliation, we cannot but believe: yet every step they have taken, since the dispute began, has, through their folly, or our perverseness, or both, tended only to widen the breach; tended to make new enemies and lose old friends. Boucher also admitted, in his farewell sermon the following year to his parish i...