laudable Practice

Sitting on my desk, alongside a somewhat battered Church of Ireland BCP 1926, is a hard-backed copy of a 1973 Alcuin Club study, by Timothy J. Fawcett - The Liturgy of Comprehension 1689: An abortive attempt to revise The Book of Common Prayer . It is, I think, the only published study of the Liturgy of Comprehension, the attempted revision of the Prayer Book in the immediate aftermath of the Glorious Revolution, in an attempt to reconcile Dissenters to the Church of England. It sits on my desk for two reason. Firstly, because it influenced the Church of Ireland post-disestablishment revision of the Prayer Book. Secondly, because of my affection for John Tillotson, Archbishop of Canterbury 1693-97, a strong supporter of William and Mary, and a leading figure in the proposed revision of 1689. It is not that I welcome all the suggested revisions of 1689. Some, I think, would have been unwise and de-stabilising for the Church of England and 18th century Anglicanism. Some were unnecessary,...

On this Whitsun Ember Day, we turn to Tillotson's sermon 'The Authority of Jesus Christ, with the Commission and Promise He Gave to the Apostles', on the text Matthew 28:18-20.  In rooting apostolic ministry - that is, the ministry of the Apostles and those whom Tillotson twice describes in this sermon as their "successors" - in the dominical command to baptise in the Triune Name, Tillotson first places the Trinitarian confession at the very heart of church's faith and life, and thus of the faith to be proclaimed by the ordained minister: As for the form of baptism, "in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," it plainly refers to that short creed, or profession of faith, which was required of those that were to be baptized, answerably to the reciting of the precepts of the law, at the baptizing of proselytes among the Jews: now the articles of this creed were reduced to these three heads, "of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,...

In this Whitsuntide we are considering sermons by Tillotson on the third Person of the Holy Trinity. Today we turn to his sermon 'Of the Coming of the Holy Ghost, as an Advocate for Christ', on the text John 17:7-8. At the opening of the sermon, Tillotson affirms that the doctrine of and creedal belief in the Personhood of the Holy Spirit is rooted in the teaching of Our Lord in the Farewell Discourse: The necessity of Christ's leaving the world, in order to the coming of the Holy Ghost: "Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; it is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you." That it is the Holy Ghost which is here spoken of, and that as a person, and not as a quality, or power, or virtue, is plain from our Saviour's discourse all along this sermon, in which he is spoken of under the notion of a person, and that in as plain and express terms as Christ himself is, As the ...

During this Whitsuntide, laudable Practice will be posting extracts from Whitsun sermons by Tillotson. Considering how his sermons were widely regarded by Anglicans throughout the 18th century, there is a sense in which they provide an insight into the spiritual vitality of Anglicanism during this era. His Whitsun sermons, of course, draw particular attention to how the Person and work of the Holy Spirit were considered. In reading them, we are struck not by what is often caricatured as an insipid 'latitudinarian rationalism' but, rather, by a lively, vital affirmation of the role of the Holy Spirit in the Christian life. We begin with a Whitsunday sermon on the opening of the Acts reading for the feast, Act 2:1-4: Luke's description of "cloven tongues, as of fire" and the disciples speaking in "other tongues". The sermon is entitled 'Of the Gift of Tongues Conferred on the Apostles' and Tillotson is explicit that this miraculous gift of Penteco...

From Tillotson's sermon ' The Danger of Impenitence, Where the Gospel is Preach'd ', on the text Matthew 11:21-22: Sin will yet farther appear shameful, in that it is so great a Reproach to our Understandings and Reasons, and so foul a Blot upon our Prudence and Discretion. Omnis peccans aut ignorans est, aut incogitans , is a Saying, I think, of one of the School-men; (as one would guess by the Latin of it) Every Sinner is either an ignorant, or inconsiderate Person. Either Men do not understand what they do, when they commit Sin; or if they do know, they do not actually attend to, and consider what they know: Either they are habitually or actually ignorant of what they do: for Sin and Consideration cannot dwell together; 'tis so very unreasonable and absurd a thing, that it requires either gross Ignorance, or stupid Inadvertency, to make a Man capable of committing it. Whenever a Man sins, he must either be destitute of Reason, or must lay it aside or asleep for ...

From a sermon preached by John Tillotson, then Dean of Canterbury, on Ash Wednesday 1689, on ' The unprofitableness of Sin in this Life, an Argument for Repentance ': there is another great Miscarriage in this matter, and that is the delay of Repentance; men are loth to set about it, and therefore they put it upon the last hazard, and resolve then to huddle it up as well as they can: but this certainly is great folly, to be still making more work for Repentance, because it is to create so much needless trouble and vexation to our selves; 'tis to go on still in playing a foolish part, in hopes to retrieve all by an after-game; this is extreamly dangerous, because we may certainly sin, but it is not certain we shall repent, our Repentance may be prevented, and we may be cut off in our sins; but if we should have space for it, Repentance may in process of time grow an hundred times more difficult than it is at present. But if it were much more certain, and more easie than it i...

From a sermon preached by Burnet, Bishop of Salisbury, on the First Sunday in Lent, 1695: It is certain, That the main design and chief effect of Religion, is to Purify our Hearts, to Reform our Natures, to Restrain our Inclinations, our Appetites and Passions, and to spread such an influence through our whole Lives, through all our Powers, and in all our Actions, that the world may from thence, as from the evidentest as well as the powerfullest Argument, be convinc'd both of the beauty and force of this Religion. The Christian Religion in its true Purity, and as it is received among us, is so stript of all those outward appearances of Pompous and Costly, of severe or cruel Performances, that unless it reforms our Natures and our Lives, it has not enough in it to feed and support that false quiet that Superstition may give ... But as to us and our Religion, What can we expect from it, if it has not a real influence upon our Hearts and Lives? Can we think that for our going sometim...

Confession must be always accompanied with great sorrow for our sins, considering the great dishonour we have brought to God, and the danger into which we have brought our selves; I will declare mine iniquity, (says David,) and I will be sorry for my sin. And this Sorrow must be proportionable to the degree of our Sin. If we have been very wicked, and have sinned greatly against the Lord, and have multiplied our transgressions, and continued long in an evil course, have neglected God, and forgotten him days without number, the measure of our sorrow, must bear some proportion to the degree of our Sins; if they have been as Scarlet and Crimson, (as the Prophet expresseth it) that is, of a deeper dye than ordinary, our Sorrow must be as deep as our Guilt; for it is not a slight trouble and a few tears that will wash out such stains. Not that tears are absolutely necessary, tho' they do very well become, and most commonly accompany a sincere Repentance. All tempers are not in this alik...