laudable Practice

Continuing with extracts from The Ornaments of Churches Considered, With a Particular View to the Late Decoration of the Parish Church of St. Margaret Westminster (1761), we turn to its discussion of how the strictures of the Book of Homilies regarding imagery are to be understood in the context of the use and custom of the Church of England since the Reformation. The Ornaments of Churches quotes Sir Joseph Jekyll, a leading parliamentarian of the early 18th century, who became Master of the Rolls (a judicial role) in 1717.   I believe it will be admitted, that no more is intended by that Subscription, but that the Doctrine contained in the Homilies is right in the Main, and not that every Sentence of them is so: For in this last Senfe, I believe, never any Divine subscribed the Articles [regarding the Homilies], and it will be hard to name any Preacher or Writer of Note, who has not contradicted some Passages or other in them; nay as to one, the general and  approved P...

When Thomas Wilson, Prebendary of Westminster, turned to the Homily against Peril of Idolatry in his Introduction to The Ornaments of Churches Considered, With a Particular View to the Late Decoration of the Parish Church of St. Margaret Westminster (1761), he did not avoid the fact that the Homilies contained a strident critique of images. He addressed this in a manner which reflected wider and established Anglican thought regarding both the Homilies and other aspects of the Reformation era. Wilson began by recognising the context in which the Homilies were written, a context in which reformation of the Church was necessary and robust challenge had to be made of erroneous teaching and practices: the Compilers of the Homilies proceeded like Philosophers, who knew that when the Minds of Men were warped, it was necessary even to bend them into a contrary Direction. This, of course, echoed how Article 35 described the Homilies as "necessary for these times", wisely discerning ...

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 ...

What practices from 18th century Anglican might have relevance for contemporary Anglicans? Below, three suggestions prompted by some recent hints at such practices having continued relevance. And flowing from this, a proposal for how these could assist in sustaining and renewing Anglican life, presence, and witness. Firstly, this photograph (from the Prayer Book Society Facebook page ) of Evensong at Coombes Church , in the Diocese of Chichester, wonderfully captures how Evensong does not require an organ and large choir.  There is something in the photograph reminiscent of the 18th century West Gallery tradition and its less formal approach to music in divine service.   The vibrant, popular West Gallery tradition was intensely disliked by Victorian parsons under the spell of the Ecclesiological Society, pushed aside in favour of organs and robed choirs. It does not take much imagination, however, to think of its relevance for contemporary smaller churches, without organi...

Three classically Anglican reasons to rejoice on the commemoration of Saint Hilary of Poitiers. 1. In the midst of January, with the Sundays after the Epiphany sustaining the Church's joy in Our Lord Jesus Christ, "who in substance of our mortal flesh manifested forth his glory: That he might bring all men out of darkness into his own marvellous light" (Epiphany preface, Prayer Book as Proposed in 1928), commemorating Saint Hilary of Poitiers is a means of renewing our vision of the grace and truth of the Incarnation. In his discussion of the union of divine and human natures in the Incarnate Word, Richard Hooker turns to Saint Hilary's De Trinitate :   "He which in himself was appointed", saith Hilary, "a Mediator to save his Church, and for performance of that mystery of mediation between God and man, is become God and man, doth now being but one consist of both those natures united, neither hath he through the union of both incurred the damage or los...

We don't preach morality, we plant churches   - Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby, Church Times , 2nd July 2021. Compare the Archbishop's comment with some classical statements of the Anglican tradition: The Wise Man saith, He that believeth in God, will hearken unto his commandments. For if we do not shew ourselves faithful in our conversation, the faith which we pretend to have is but a feigned faith: because the true Christian faith is manifestly shewed by good living, and not by words only; as Augustine saith, Good living cannot be separated from true faith, which worketh by love ... Now forasmuch as he that believeth in Christ hath everlasting life, it must needs consequently follow that he that hath this faith must have also good works, and be studious to observe God's commandments obediently - 'A Short Declaration of the True, Lively, and Christian Faith', Book of Homilies . Faith may not be naked without good works; for then it is no true faith ... If h...

Also the Holy Ghost: the Comforter. The Te Deum's daily reference to the Holy Spirit has a particular relationship to Pentecost.  Describing the Holy Ghost as "the Comforter" grounds our praise in the pentecostal experience.  As we are aware during this Whitsun week, the collect of Whitsunday petitions that we may "evermore rejoice in his holy comfort", echoing the Gospel of the feast: And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever ... But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. What is more, this is also anticipated in collect of the Sunday after Ascension Day - "send to us thine Holy Ghost to comfort us" - and in the Gospel: When the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me...

The proximity of the feast of Saint Thomas the Apostle to Christmas, while disapproved of and abandoned by most recent liturgical revisions, offers a profound preparation for our celebration of the Lord's Nativity.  It invites us to behold the mystery of the Incarnation and how this mystery is set forth in the Church's Christological confession.  And it does so in harmony with the feast of Saint John the Evangelist, following Christmas just as Saint Thomas' Day precedes Christmas. The Church's Christological confession has been fundamentally shaped by the Johannine witness.  As the Gospel reading for Saint John the Evangelist's Day declares: This is the disciple which testifieth of these things, and wrote these things: and we know that his testimony is true (John 21:24). What is this testimony?  The Gospel of the feast of Saint Thomas draws us to its heart: Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrus...

The Homilies were intended to provide churchgoers with teaching about what the Church of England stood for and why it had embraced the Reformation. So says Gerald Bray on the website of the conservative evangelical Church Society.  From a rather different perspective, Eamon Duffy agrees.  The Edwardine and Elizabethan Homilies were a part of "the attack on traditional religion, "a relentless torrent" of Protestant "polemic". All this, of course, is standard stuff.  The Homilies are obviously thoroughly Protestant and Reformed. They were also thoroughly Conformist, in content and form.  In content, they reflected the Conformist vision of the reformed ecclesia Anglicana defined by the parish church, common prayer, and Royal Supremacy. In form, they sustained Conformist practice, enabling the humble parson and the lowly curate, when not licensed to preach, to yet fulfil their calling to "preach the Word of God" through the reading of the Homilies. The...