laudable Practice

... a Storm being there upon raised in the Church. This is how Robert Nelson, in his 1713 Life of Dr. George Bull , describes the context in the Church of England in the aftermath of the publication of Bull's Defensio Fidei Nicaenae (1685). The storm had not been caused by Bull's work but, rather, by a clumsy attempt by the orthodox divine William Sherlock to defend Trinitarian doctrine. As Nelson puts it, Sherlock applied "the principles of the Cartesian Metaphysicks" to the Holy Trinity, with the result that his work was seen "false, heretical, and impious" by "a great many" (not least because he depicted the Trinity as, again quoting Nelson, "three infinite distinct Minds and Substances"). In the heated debates over the Trinity which followed, "some Drops fell upon the Head of Mr. Bull also", his view of the Son's subordination being a particular target - as we have seen - of criticism by the divines of Reformed Orthodox...

On this day when we rightly give thanks for the failure of the Powder-plot, I turn to Jeremy Taylor's 1634 sermon " upon the anniversary of the Gunpowder Treason ". One of the themes running throughout the sermon is the repeated view that, prior to Pius V's 1570 bull  Regnans in exclesis - declaring Elizabeth a "heretic" and "depriv[ing] of her pretended title to the kingdom ... and of all dominion, dignity and privilege whatsoever" - England's Roman Catholics had conformed and worshipped in parish churches. Indeed, as the final extract below indicates, Taylor also noted how this had, in some cases, continued long after Regnans in excelsis :  From primo of Elizabeth to undecimo, the Papists made no scruple of comming to our Churches, Recusancy was not then so much as a Chrysome, not an Embrio. But when Pius quintus sent forth his Breves of Excommunication and Deposition of the Queen, then first they forbore to pray with us, or to have any re...

Wherefore, to resume that mother-sentence, whereof I little thought that so much trouble would have grown, "I doubt not but God was merciful to save thousands of our fathers living in popish superstitions, inasmuch as they sinned ignorantly": alas, what bloody matter is there contained in this sentence that it should be an occasion of so many hard censures! Did I say that "thousands of our fathers might be saved"? I have showed which  way it cannot be denied. Did I say, "I doubt it not but they were saved"? I see no impiety in  this persuasion ... On this commemoration of Richard Hooker, we turn to words from his A Learned Discourse on Justification   (1585),   responding to those who attacked him for affirming that salvation was to be found within the pre-Reformation Roman Church. We might begin by noting Hooker's insistence regarding the salvation of "our fathers", an insistence that surely echoed the Christian instincts of the average pari...

As David Lindsay - Bishop of Brechin (1619-34 and Bishop of Edinburgh 1634-38) - continues his defence of the Articles of Perth, in his 1621 account of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland held at Perth in 1618 , he again emphasises that such matters of ceremony and practice are not  determined by Scripture. Contrary to those who attacked the Articles of Perth, and who exalted the previous ceremonial order of the 1560 Book of Discipline , Lindsay explicitly states that the provisions of the Articles were not "knowne verities": None of the affirmatiue voters approued the Articles for knowne verities; for when wee speake of knowne verities, we vnderstand the verities defined in Scripture, such as are the points of our faith, which no man ought to call in question: but that any man did giue his voice otherwise, then his iudgement led him, yee will hardly perswade vs, much lesse, that any man would openly professe this. This, as Lindsay has previously demonstrated , re...

Last week we saw how, in his 1621 account of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland held at Perth in 1618 , David Lindsay - Bishop of Brechin (1619-34 and Bishop of Edinburgh 1634-38) - made the case that the Church of Scotland had authority to alter ceremonies established at the Reformation. Lindsay invoked Reformed insistence that "ceremonies are but temporal" to undermine an exalted claim for fixing that particular ceremonial order as beyond change and reform. In today's extract, Lindsay moves on to consider the various Articles of Perth , demonstrating how it was fitting that they, in changed circumstances, altered the ceremonial order of the 1560 Book of Discipline . He began by again emphasising that changing circumstances justify a change to mere ceremonies: For if by occasion of any of these circumstances, the obseruation, which was profitable at one time, become hurtfull at another, and that which serued for reformation, breedes and fosters corruption, pr...

Having considered how David Lindsay, Bishop of Brechin (1619-34 and Bishop of Edinburgh 1634-38) - in his 1621 account of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland held at Perth in 1618 - articulated the case for episcopacy and conformity in the Jacobean Church of Scotland, we now turn to his defence of another significant pillar of the Jacobean vision, the Royal Supremacy. Lindsay addressed the allegation that the Royal Commissioners - representing James VI - voting in the decisions of the Perth Assembly was a rejection of previous practice in Scotland. He did so by pointing to ancient precedent for monarchs and their representatives engaging in the decision-making of councils and synods: Whatsoeuer his Maiestie in former times hath done, remitting of his owne right, for causes knowne to himselfe, should be no preiudice to his Royall priuiledges; especially amongst these that haue abused, and set themselues obstinately to crosse his Royall and iust designes. The practice of thes...

In his 1621 account of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland held at Perth in 1618 , David Lindsay, Bishop of Brechin (1619-34 and Bishop of Edinburgh 1634-38) reminded his opponent - "the Libeller" - that presbyterian government had not been the fixed order in the Church of Scotland since the Reformation.  Particularly addressing the charge that the Perth Assembly was not "free and lawfull" because the ministers in the Assembly had not been chosen by presbyteries, Lindsay points to how episcopacy followed the system of superintendency by which the Church of Scotland had been governed until 1592: The Libeller .... thinks, that because it was the custome while the Presbyteriall gouernment stood in force, that all Commissioners, at least of the Ministrie, should bee chosen by the seuerall Presbyteries, it should now bee so: But he must remember that sort of gouernment is changed, and now they must haue place in Assemblies, that are authorized by their calling...

Last week , we considered the defence of episcopacy offered by David Lindsay, Bishop of Brechin (1619-34 and Bishop of Edinburgh 1634-38), in his 1621 account of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland held at Perth in 1618 . Central to that Assembly had been the Articles of Perth , which James VI called the Assembly to approve. These Five Articles strengthened the bonds between the three Churches in James' realms by directing that communicants should kneel to receive the holy Sacrament; permitting administration of holy Communion to the sick in the home; likewise, administration of the Sacrament of Baptism, when necessary, in the home; restored Confirmation administered by bishops; and instituting observance of the great festivals of our Lord. Many of these practices, of course, were also to be found in other Reformed Churches. Just as his defence of episcopacy was profoundly Hookerian, so too was Lindsay's defence of the Articles of Perth. The matters at hand were adia...

John Spottiswoode, Archbishop of Saint Andrews 1615-39, has made occasional appearance on laudable Practice . He offered a masterly defence of the Articles of Perth , emphasising how they restored to the Church of Scotland practices common elsewhere in some of the Reformed Churches. He - along with the Laudian divine Brian Duppa - regarded the Church of Scotland's previous system of superintendency as exercising episcopal office, thus providing precedent for the restoration of episcopacy under James VI. His presbyteral orders, received before the restoration of episcopacy in Scotland, were also accepted by Bancroft , the robust champion of Jacobean Episcopalian Conformity. Spottiswoode, in other words, embodies what could have been - indeed, should have been - the future of the Church of Scotland: episscopal order with elements of presbyterian government; Reformed doctrine with liturgical practices and ceremonies known in England and other Reformed Churches. It was the crisis foll...

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...

It is the contention of this book that the abolition of order of bishops and the establishment of Presbyterianism in Scotland was not a foregone conclusion ... The fall of episcopacy in Scotland was neither expected nor inevitable (pp.1 & 7). Ann Shukman's Bishops and Covenanters: The Church in Scotland 1688-1691 (2012) is a story of missed opportunities.  Perhaps surprisingly, it is King William III who emerges as the wise figure in this account of the Scottish church settlement, his desires for comprehension frustrated by a combination of radical Covenanters and Jacobite bishops.  William's initial desire was for the Restoration Church of Scotland to continue, with its combination of episcopacy and presbytery. As Shukman states, "his attitude towards the Scottish Church was rather on balance to have favoured episcopalianism" (p.12). Henry Compton, the Williamite Bishop of London, had made this clear to Alexander Rose, Bishop of Edinburgh, in 1688/89, declaring ...