laudable Practice

Gilbert Burnet's sermon for 30th January 1681 is a fine example of how those termed 'Latitudinarians' could approach this commemoration of the Royal Martyr. The sermon was preached before the Aldermen of the City of London in St Lawrence Jewry, a Latitudinarian centre. The vicar at the time was Cambridge Platonist Benjamin Whichcote. The phrase 'Royal Martyr' is a good place to begin consideration of the sermon. Burnet had no hesitation in referring to the "just esteem and veneration of this Royal Martyr" or to expressing "detestation of so unparalleled a wickedness ... the horridness of so unexempled a wickedness". Indeed, in the sermon Burnet pointed to that iconic statement of Royalist and Episcopalian devotion when considering the darkness of the 1640s, Eikon Basilike : "we have his character given us in such true and lasting colours, in that Picture which he drew for himself, in his solitudes and sufferings". In other words, Latit...

Published in Latin, English, and French on 13th May 1644, ' The Declaration of the most Excellent and Potent Prince, Charles King of Great Britain, sent to the Protestant Churches beyond the Seas ' offers a significant insight into the Caroline defence of the Elizabethan Settlement.  In face of the Parliamentarian dismantling of the Elizabethan Settlement - beginning in 1643 and completed in 1645 - Charles addressed "the Protestant Churches beyond the Seas", presenting "the Anglicane Church" as the jewel of the Reformed Churches, its liturgy and discipline admired by those Churches beyond the Seas.  This was a classic Conformist understanding , shared by both Laudians and non-Laudians, and to be repeated by Conformist apologists after the Restoration (e.g. Durel's work being an obvious and significant example). Another feature shared by 'Reformed Conformists' and Laudians is the invocation of the Lutherans of Germany, Denmark, and Sweden, togeth...

Many thanks to The North American Anglican for publishing my essay on how reverence for the Royal Martyr has an echo in Cosin's revision of the Saint Stephen's Day collect.  The essay serves as something of a rejoinder to straightforward accounts of the cult of the Royal Martyr, whether from critics or supporters, that 30th January is an unambiguous proclamation of sacral monarchy.   Likewise, it also challenges those contemporary accounts from some devotees of the Royal Martyr that his role as a political actor is to be forgotten in order to enable a focus on narrowly construed ecclesial concerns.  This, of course, entirely ignores the purpose of the 30th January liturgy , a day given over to fast and lament, not celebration of a martyr's heavenly birthday.  Fasting and lamentation were required precisely because chaos descended upon the common life of the realm with the execution of Charles, overturning - in the words of one of the prayers for 30th January - ...

In a 30th January sermon in 1660, just months before the Restoration, John King (Dean of Tuam) praised the Royal Martyr as "the British Josiah".  This (deliberately, of course) placed Charles in venerable company.  Not only had Edward VI been obviously regarded as a latter-day Josiah but Bancroft's famous 1588 sermon had proclaimed Elizabeth "as a most zealous Solomon, Jehoshaphat, and Josiah".  In other words, King placed Charles within the narrative of (in words from the 1662 Preface ) "the Reigns of several Princes of blessed memory since the Reformation". This understanding of the Royal Martyr as "the British Josiah" animated, in a variety of ways, much 30th January preaching in the Restoration Church.  It found expression as a means of interpreting the Laudian agenda.  Thus, for example, a 1670 sermon : Josiah was very zealous for the House of God, took great care for the Repairing and Beautifying of the Temple. So our Josiah was zeal...