12.15 p.m. BYO
LUNCHEON – Tea and coffee provided.
1.00 p.m. Address by Dr David Wetherell, Fellow in
History at Deakin University,
on
‘The Oxford Movement and its
influence on the Anglican Communion
in the 20th and 21st
centuries - its lessons for the present-day Church’
Bookstall with latest publications available
We look forward to seeing
you and your friends
Chairman’s
Letter
Dear Friends,
After we had sent out the Newsletter for
August-September 2009 and had made arrangements to publish the events for the
rest of the year in The Melbourne
Anglican, we were informed that the Revd Timothy Gaden, Principal of
Trinity College Theological School, could not address us on 10 October, as he
was required to be at Synod, which had just been announced. This was a matter
of considerable concern to your Committee, who felt that the meeting date
should not be changed.
For this reason I agreed to speak instead on ‘1649 to
1661 and thereafter – the effect on the Prayer Book during that period’. This of
course included the execution of King Charles I, the Commonwealth, the
Restoration, the Savoy Conference of 1661, the BCP
of 1662, the Great Plague of 1665, the Great Fire of 1666, and the rebuilding
of St Paul’s Cathedral by Wren.
We were very disappointed that Dr Gaden could not be
with us then, but I have agreed that he will speak to us, hopefully in April
2010, on his subject ‘The early Fathers and their influence on Archbishop
Cranmer and The Book of Common Prayer’.
A tentative date has been set for Saturday 24 April 2010, but this cannot be
absolute at this stage.
The final address this year will be at our next
meeting on Saturday 14 November (details on page 1 of this Newsletter), when we
shall be addressed by Dr David Wetherell, Fellow in History at Deakin
University, on ‘The Oxford Movement and its influence on the Anglican Communion
in the 20th and 21st centuries – its lessons for the
present-day Church’. We hope that as many as possible will be with us at All
Saints’ East St Kilda on this occasion.
Another date for your diaries is the Annual General
Meeting on Saturday 27 February 2010. We have also been promised by the Revd Dr
Ross Fishburn, of Trinity College, an address during 2010 on ‘The Psalms as rendered
in the BCP’, which promises to be
an interesting topic which we have not covered for many years.
Mention was made in the last Newsletter that the
financial year ends on 30 November 2009. Enclosed with this Newsletter is a
notice concerning subscriptions for the year to 30 November 2010. We hope that
you will support the Society by sending your subscription for this year and, if
you so desire, a donation, as early as possible. We have not raised the subscription
for 2010 as members have been sufficiently generous for the needs and publications
of this Society. We pray that this will continue.
With greetings to you all.
Anthony C. Bailey
Chairman
A SERMON PREACHED BY THE REVD RAMSAY WILLIAMS AT THE PRAYER BOOK SOCIETY
EUCHARIST ON 10 OCTOBER 2009 AT ALL SAINTS’, EAST ST KILDA
‘For whosoever exalteth himself
shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.’
More than 160 years ago, in 1847, an
eminent Scottish surgeon, James Simpson conducted experiments with chloroform.
He discovered that by using chloroform as an anaesthetic, doctors could operate
without causing pain to their patients. His discovery revolutionised modern
medicine.
On one occasion, near the end of his life,
as a baronet and a surgeon to Queen Victoria, Simpson was lecturing at the
University of Edinburgh. A student asked him what he considered his most
valuable discovery. To everyone’s surprise, Sir James Simpson replied, ‘My most
valuable discovery was when I discovered myself a sinner and that Jesus Christ
was my Saviour’.
Sir James Simpson is but one example of an
eminent scientist who was also a humble Christian. There are other examples:
Copernicus - the Polish astronomer who postulated the modern theory of the
solar system, for instance, prayed the Divine Office daily throughout his adult
life; Isaac Newton, who developed the law of gravity, was a believer who read
the Bible daily. The founder of modern
geology, Niels Stensen, a Dane, was a priest, as was Georges Lemaître, the
Belgian astronomer and cosmologist who formulated the so-called ‘Big Bang’
theory of the universe.
Others include such eminent people as Sir
Francis Bacon, Louis Pasteur - and Galileo. The more they learned, the more
they realised their need for God, in the spirit of the author of the Book of
Ecclesiasticus: The greater you are, the more you must humble yourself.
Someone once wrote: ‘Humility is a virtue
all preach, none practice. The master thinks it good doctrine for his servant,
the laity for the clergy, and the clergy for the laity.’
The English word ‘humility’ in fact, comes
from the Latin word humus, meaning ‘earth’, or ‘soil’ or ‘ground’. The
words ‘humility’, ‘human’ and ‘humour’ all share the same origin. The word
means being close to the earth. One can’t help connecting it with the familiar
words of committal at the Prayer Book burial office: ‘earth to earth, ashes to
ashes, dust to dust’, which perhaps helps to put the concept of humility into
context.
Humus, however, is much more than the dust
of the earth: it is the richest of material: it generates life. In humus, seeds
thrive. From humus is produced the food that sustains life. How appropriate,
then, that such an essential yet undervalued substance is connected
etymologically to the word humility.
Humility is a virtue that is hard to practice. You
can't really work at being humble or go all-out for humility, or actively
promote a humble spirit. It's not something you can have power over. It is not
something you can chose or determine to become. It is something, by the grace
of God that comes upon you.
Humility is about not focussing on
ourselves, but looking towards God, and being, grounded or earthed in an
understanding of his very nature, and of our relationship with him.
In fact, people who are humble are ‘down
to earth’, with their feet firmly planted on the ground. Christian humility is
about understanding our true place in the universe, as part of God’s plan. It
has nothing to do with putting ourselves down, nor with trying to appear
‘lowlier than thou’, which can be a form of inverted pride.
St Augustine said the way to God is,
‘First humility, second humility and third humility’. St. Thomas More said ‘Humility, [is] that
low, sweet root, from which all heavenly virtues shoot’.
In today’s Gospel Jesus tells two
parables, one addressed to the guests at a banquet, and the other addressed to
the host. They are linked with Jesus’ powerful words: ‘whosoever exalteth
himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted’.
The setting is a grand banquet in the
house of a leading Pharisee, whose colleagues made up the guest list. Despite
their reputation for holiness and learning, they jostled for the seats which
they believed best suited their status and importance. It demonstrated how
proud, vain and selfish they really were.
Jesus’ parables are not a set of
guidelines for behaviour at the dinner table on special occasions, but a
criticism of those who push themselves forward and who engineer their way to
places which win men’s admiration.
This is not the way to gain honour in the
kingdom of God, where the Host, God himself, is the fountain of honour. God
confers honour on those who are humble. The Pharisees did not honour the host,
but sought to satisfy their egos and honour themselves.
In the Eucharistic banquet Jesus is the
Host, and we are his guests. Here there are no special places of honour.
Privilege, status and rank and other personal differences are devoid of
meaning. Before God we are all equal, not because we are reduced to a common
denominator, but because we are exalted together as children of The Most High
God.
At every Eucharist we are reminded
powerfully of our need of humility.
The story is told of the American
multi-millionaire, Cornelius Vanderbilt. When he was on his deathbed,
Vanderbilt asked his valet to sing to him. The valet, an elderly Negro sang
these words from the 18th century hymn by Joseph Hart:
At the
conclusion of the hymn, Vanderbilt simply said, ‘Certainly, I am a poor and
needy sinner’.
‘Whosoever exalteth himself shall be
abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted’.
+ In the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
1649 TO 1666 AND
THEREAFTER
A talk to the
Society on 10 October 2009 by the Chairman, Anthony Bailey
I thought it would be interesting to discuss the period
leading immediately to the execution of King Charles I on 30 January 1649, the
end of the Civil War and what followed, the period of the Short Parliament
(1640), the Long Parliament (1640-53),Pride’s
Purge (1648), the Rump (1648-53), the Barebones (or Little) Parliament (1653),
the Levellers (1647 onwards) led by John Lilburne and their first attempt to
obtain universal suffrage for all except ‘beggars, servants and women’, the
government of Oliver Cromwell (1645-58), his Protectorate from 1653 and that of
his third son, Richard Cromwell (otherwise known as ‘Tumbledown Dick’), the Restoration
of the Monarchy in 1660 largely through the offices of George Monk and the
Presbyterians, the Declaration of Breda (1660), the Savoy Conference (1661),
the BC
P itself (1662), the plague of 1665, the Great Fire of
1666, with finally the destruction of Old St Paul’s (1666-70) and its
rebuilding in 1670-1710 by Sir Christopher Wren. This was one of the most
extraordinary periods in English and indeed
European continental history.
The fact that this great period of change was bound up
with the evolution of the BCP came
first of all from Cranmer’s two Books, of 1549 and 1552, the former being a
largely Catholic Book in demeanour while the latter had Calvinist flavours (and
indeed hardly existed at all before it was banned by the first Parliament of
Queen Mary on the country’s return to Catholicism). The accession of Queen
Elizabeth I in 1558 and the slight alterations of the 1552 Book which lasted
throughout the 45-year reign of that great Queen led to its popularity with
most of the people of England being assured.
However this period saw the rise of the Puritans, a
‘mixed bag’ of various groups who disliked and distrusted ‘popery’ and ranged
from so-called Anabaptists, who disagreed violently with infant baptism, to
Independents, Congregationalists and others who disliked episcopacy,
ceremonies, any centralisation of the Church, vestments, the use of surplices
by priests and ministers, and a whole range of other colourful matters connected
with the Church.
Again, after the death of Queen Bess in 1603, James VI
of Scotland came to the throne. He had been brought up in Presbyterian Scotland
and almost the first thing that happened was that he was presented with the Millenary
Petition by emissaries of the Puritan element.
Whatever else King James I was, he was a shrewd
operator. He called the Hampton Court Conference in 1604, which first of all
mostly agreed to disagree with about changes to the Elizabethan BCP (1559) and
to agree to the preparation of the Authorised Version of the Bible (1611). The
bishops in England were delighted to have gained the ascendency, and this in
turn led partly to the emigration to Holland, and from 1620 to America, of a
considerable number of Puritan folk.
As a corollary to what was going on in these
directions there was turmoil in the House of Commons, largely fomented after
the accession of King Charles I in 1625 by various factors: some of these were
his marriage to Henrietta Maria, a Catholic princess, his need for money where
Parliament held the purse strings, his fury with Parliament which led to him
governing without Parliament for eleven years, the advice of Thomas Wentworth,
Earl of Strafford, the Ship Money cases where the opponents were Denzil Holles,
William Prynne (who had his ears cut off) and John Hampden. At the same time
the proponents of the Prayer Book led largely to the development of what was
called Arminianism, which was first of all effectively propounded by Bishop Lancelot
Andrewes, who is now revered as a father of Anglicanism but who in his services
used vestments and incense which one might say particularly incensed his
Puritan detractors. Later in this period Archbishop William Laud allowed for
the movable Communion table used for the 1552 Book and after 1559 by the
Elizabethan and Jacobean Church to be placed permanently in the sanctuaries of
churches (where the altar had been) and again, although he was a convinced
Church of England man, he was sufficiently regarded by the populace as King
Charles’s evil adviser and was then condemned to end his life on the scaffold
(like Strafford) at the behest of Parliament. In particular, the attempt to
introduce ‘Laud’s book’ in 1637 to Scotland led in turn to the later Scottish
invasion of England towards the end of the Civil War.
Some years ago I was with my elder daughter at a place
called Southwell in Nottinghamshire in England. It is incidentally the seat of
the diocese called Southwell and Nottingham, with one of the finest Norman
Minsters in the country. We had lunch in the ‘pub’ there where Charles I stayed
at the end of the Civil War and there he tried to treat with the Scots, who
then captured him and handed him over to the Parliamentary forces; he was never
released again. He was taken to Carisbrooke Castle in the Isle of Wight and
later, prior to his trial, to a windswept and uncomfortable place called Hurst
Castle near Southampton.
In the meantime the Parliament had voted for the
abolition of The Book of Common Prayer
and the elimination of the bishops, with all their authority taken away from
them. Some like Cosin, later Bishop of Durham, went overseas. Matthew Wren, who
again later was Bishop of Ely, was sent to the Tower of London, where he
remained from 1645 to 1660. How he survived and wrote considerable theological
works was anyone’s guess. He emerged later as a considerable administrator.
At that time the Directory of Public Worship was
brought in, ostensibly to provide a series of rubrics which have been described
as liturgical stage directions without actual words for prayers. At that time also
the Long Parliament was sitting and was dominated by a group of Anabaptists (more correctly
nowadays recognisable as Baptists) and
Independents who wanted complete freedom of worship and extemporary prayer and
felt that the BCP was too Papist
in tone and background.
Other aspects forbidden from this time were the
festivals of Christmas, Easter and Whitsun, which were regarded as pagan and
frivolous affairs aided in the first case by a measure of recognition in the
public eye of the Virgin Mary – certainly a form of idolatry not allowed
publicly but under cover was still practised in places.
Oliver Cromwell himself, as well as being the
organiser and General of the New Model Army, was Member of Parliament for
Huntingdon (which was many years later the seat of John Major, Lady Thatcher’s successor as Prime Minister), and Cromwell
was an almost fanatical Independent Christian.
Even after all these things happened in 1645 or
thereabouts, the Battle of Naseby brought the war effectively to an end. My
grandfather, who lived in Leicester and Northampton, had a Cromwellian sword given
to him which was dug up by a farmer from Naseby, and I have it with me here
today. Perhaps I shall need it, though I hope not!
King Charles, as well as being later regarded as a
Saint was not above attempting to do deals with whoever would either support
his cause or try to get even with Parliament.
However, the Parliament at this time got into trouble
with Cromwell, who as leader of the New Model Army became frustrated, as the
Long Parliament would not vote money to pay his men. It was this which led
first of all to ‘Pride’s Purge’ of those who in any way were seen to support
the King’s cause and anyone else who for conscience reasons refused to support
the payments to the soldiers. Thereafter the Parliament became known as ‘The
Rump’ and this with the so-called Regicides, including the young Harry Vane
advised by his lawyer, John Cooke, who attempted first to treat with the King,
gave up the attempt, tried him in Westminster Hall and found him guilty of
treason and had him executed, arguably without proper authority.
The King throughout fought for the Church of England and
indeed the Prayer Book, and later the famous King’s Book or Eikon Basilike,
originally published before his execution, was circulated to many and was in
part the background to eventual sainthood for the King. One of the principal
proponents for the set prayers from the BCP
was almost certainly the King himself, who argued strongly for the benefits of
high quality set prayers rather than hastily set up extemporary prayer.
Immediately following
the King’s death the Parliament reigned supreme but not so supreme that
Cromwell in 1653 marched in, said ‘Take away this bauble’ about the mace, and
sacked the Parliament.
After this he became Protector and then Lord Protector,
the latter title when he had been offered and refused Kingship. It was said
that he was elected but this was in essence a myth.
Meanwhile, at this stage many recalcitrant clergy lost
their benefices (not the first or the last time) but many learned by heart the
various services from the BCP and,
depending on where they were in the country continued, either in secret or in
some parts of northern England more or less openly, the services of Morning and
Evening Prayer and occasional Holy Communion.. The Directory was very little
used although it was so directed by the Commonwealth.
Trouble came with the main festivals, particularly
that of Christmas, which was the most popular festival with the public. In
various parts of the country there were arrests, probably more for wassailing
than necessarily for BCP services,
although these remained popular in the background, though illegal. English people
tend to resist tyranny and their dislike of popery became almost less than
their dislike of the Commonwealth and its regime.
At the same time Cromwell was fighting wars, mainly
with Holland and the Scots, and as always needed money. This was one of the
main reasons why Jews were permitted to settle in England for the first time
since 1290; the Quakers were left alone to practise their faith by Cromwell,
who did not see them as a threat. The Anabaptists were not so fortunate because
they had been more politically conscious. Going back to Lilburne, they had on
occasion fought with Cromwell in Parliament and indeed accused him of apostasy.
Cromwell died suddenly on 3 September1658 aged only 49. His successor,
Richard or ‘Tumbledown Dick’, though worthy, was not the equal of his father.
Charles II was not only worldly but also clever and well-advised.
The main wheeler-dealer prior to and at the
Restoration in 1660 was General George Monk, who had been a Parliamentary
General but who decided that the time was right for the monarchy to return. The
Declaration of Breda had promised toleration but this did not turn out to be
factual.
Immediately the bishops of the Church of England began
to return and appointments and re-appointments were made. As to the BCP the King summoned the Savoy Conference of 1661,
which was to consist of chosen members of the episcopacy and learned clergy and
Puritan representatives, of whom the most influential and famous was the Reverend
Richard Baxter, who had been ordained in the Church of England but who
throughout the Commonwealth had been the Independent minister at Kidderminster
in Worcestershire.
The Savoy Conference in a sense grew out of the
adoption, in secret at first and later publicly, of Jeremy Taylor’s Collection
of Offices and Robert Sanderson’s Liturgy in Times of Rebellion. Both these
books by future bishops were published in 1658 just before Cromwell’s death.
Following the Restoration of the Monarchy and the
Declaration of Breda, King Charles II stated that the Book of Common Prayer was
‘the best we have seen’ and set up by Royal Warrant the Savoy Conference with
twelve Commissioners on each side, those from the Presbyterian sympathisers
including Richard Baxter who had already put together a series of what were
considered by the bishops as peevish complaints against the Prayer Book. The
Bishops included Gilbert Sheldon of London (later Archbishop of Canterbury),
Robert Sanderson (already mentioned) and various others, including William
Sancroft (Bishop of London at the time of the Great Fire and thereafter), most
of whom were regarded as moderates. Sheldon largely ensured that the Prayer Book
should be kept and the Savoy Conference foundered. Finally in November 1661 there
was the meeting of the Convocation which ensured that the 1662 Book was largely
the 1559 Book as revised in 1604 with further additions. This included a rite
for adult baptism (to keep a measure of appeasement at that time with
Anabaptists), a Service for Use at Sea, prayers of thanksgiving, and the use of
the Benedicite. Also there were extended Prayers for the Royal Family. Later
the Thirty-Nine Articles were added (agreed from 1562) and later still were
added the Tables of Kindred and Affinity.
By 24 August 1662 not only was the Book required to be
used but it was annexed to the Act of Uniformity, which went against the
earlier toleration provided by the Declaration of Breda. Shortly after, some
900 clergy were removed from their benefices for failing to accept the newly-revised
BCP but the opposition was mainly
short-lived.
The reign of King Charles II was one of profligacy,
double dealing and intrigue, coupled with various startling events and the
foundation of the Royal Society for the furtherance of Science, and the
Greenwich Observatory.
After the Annexed BCP
in 1662 the Church of England went through a stage of development which was
threatened by the secret treaties with France and the ‘flirting’ of Charles II
with Catholicism, which he actively embraced finally on his deathbed in 1685. His
wife, Catherine of Braganza from Portugal, was openly Catholic and Charles II
throughout his reign tried with violent Parliamentary opposition to obtain
toleration for Roman Catholics. The Test Act was introduced and openly flouted
in relation to the King’s Roman Catholic brother, the Duke of York, who was
Lord High Admiral and made his name in that capacity before coming to the
throne as James II. His reign proved unpopular and at the so-called ‘Glorious
Revolution’ he was succeeded by his Protestant daughter, Queen Mary, and her
Dutch husband, William III, who was himself the nephew of Kings Charles II and
James II. This is in a sense very potted history of an extremely complex period
in English politics.
However the two major events of Charles II’s reign
were the Great Plague of 1665 (foretold by the crazy Solomon Eagle) and the
Great Fire of London in 1666. Charles II moved his Court from London for the
duration of the Plague but moved back and showed great personal bravery in the
Great Fire. One of the notable buildings largely destroyed in the Great Fire
was Old St Paul’s, the largest early mediaeval church in Europe, which had earlier
seen attempts at restoration by Inigo Jones, and later, largely through his
uncle, Matthew Wren, by Christopher Wren himself. It was finally decided to
pull down the ruined Cathedral and to rebuild it. Work went on from 1670 to
1710 and it became Sir Christopher Wren’s greatest work.
Meanwhile the Book of Common Prayer (1662) became
universally recognised for the great work that it was and still is. With the
expansion of the two British Empires (first in America and then elsewhere in
the world) it was taken with differences to all corners of the globe. It became
the unifying feature of the Church of England to the end of the 18th
century and remained as such throughout the Evangelical Revival of the Wesleys
and others.
Finally it remained a cornerstone of the Oxford
Movement and beyond, and apart from attempts to update it in 1928 remained the
foundation of liturgy up to the 1960s; it is of course still the most important
and indeed vital, part of Anglican belief and liturgy. It remains the standard
in Australia. Nothing should really underestimate its importance still.
NOTICE OF
COMMITTEE MEETING
The
next meeting of the Committee of the Prayer Book Society in Australia
(Victorian Branch) will take place on Tuesday 27 October ay 5 p.m. at St
Peter’s Eastern Hill.
EDITORIAL NOTE
For many years bookbinding has been a hobby of mine,
and I regularly enter a binding in the Art, Craft and Cookery section of the
Royal Melbourne Show. This year I won Third Prize in the Traditional Western
Binding class. And the book I submitted? A binding of the collected Newsletters
of the Prayer Book Society from 2003 to 2009, in blue cloth with gold titling
on the front and on the spine.
John Willis
NEWSLETTER – AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2009
NEXT MEETING
SATURDAY – 10 0CTOBER 2009
Where:All Saints’ East St Kilda
2 Chapel Street, East St Kilda near the corner
of Dandenong Road (Melway Map 58 D8).
There is limited parking at the rear of the church.
From the city, trams No. 5 (East Malvern) and 64
(East Brighton) travel along Dandenong Road and
trams Nos. 78 and 79 along Chapel Street.
11.00 a.m.HOLY COMMUNION WITH HYMNS
Celebrant & Preacher: The Revd Ramsay Williams, Vicar
12.15 p.m.BYO LUNCHEON – Tea and coffee provided.
1.00 p.m.Address byAnthony Bailey, Chairman of the
Prayer Book Society in Australia, Victorian Branch
1649 -1666 AND BEYOND:
The Book of Common Prayer and the Anglican Communion
(The previously advertised address by Dr Timothy Gaden will now be given at our next meeting)
Bookstall with latest publications available
We look forward to seeing you and your friends
Chairman’s Letter
Dear Friends,
I have been wanting to contact everyone for some time; however this year has proved somewhat complicated for me personally and I have been interstate on a number of occasions for various matters that have been required of me. We are anxious to let you know of our meetings for the remainder of this year. We were hoping to have the October meeting at TrinityCollege, but because of building works there over the rest of this year this has not proved possible.
Both the October and November meetings will be at All Saints’ East St Kilda, which is now what might be called our ‘ConventualChurch’, where we are given a warm welcome by the Vicar and the congregation. Both meetings will commence at 11.00 a.m. with Holy Communion with hymns, celebrated by Fr Ramsay Williams, one of our Council members.
Details of the first of these meetings are given on the front page of this Newsletter. Dr Gaden’s major research interest is the early Church Fathers, largely from the 1st to the 8th century, and this background should be most interesting.
The second meeting will be on Saturday 14 November, again at the same time and place, with the service followed by BYO lunch (tea and coffee provided). The Address again will commence at 1.00 p.m., and will be given by Dr David Wetherall, Fellow in History at DeakinUniversity, Geelong. His topic will be ‘The Oxford Movement and its influence on the Anglican Communion in the 20th and 21st centuries – its lessons for the present-day Church’. The Oxford Movement had a profound influence on the development of the Anglican Communion in the 19th century, which was carried further by the architectural developments that go back to its sister movement, the Cambridge Camden Society or Ecclesiological Society. This in turn can be seen even this year in the recent completion of St John’s Cathedral, Brisbane, after 111 years of gradual development. Again, Dr Wetherall is an expert in his field and his address promises to be most interesting.
We do encourage everyone to come themselves to both these occasions and to bring any others who may be interested in the activities of this Society and its membership.
You should note that the Annual General Meeting of this Society for this year to 30 November 2009 is expected to take place at All Saints’ on Saturday 6 March 2010, and we should be glad if all members would make a note in their diaries to this effect.
May I further mention that in relation to the two meetings of this Society for the remainder of 2009 I am exceedingly grateful to our Committee member Clive Tadgell for suggesting a talk in 2010 on the Psalms. Also, I am grateful to Fr Ramsay Williams for inviting Dr David Wetherallto speak to us and to the Revd Hugh McCartney for having obtained as a speaker the Revd Dr Tim Gaden.
For members of the Council, the next meeting of this body is expected to be at St Peter’s Eastern Hill on Tuesday 8 September 2009 at 5.00 p.m.
Many members renewed their subscriptions this year to 30 November 2009. As there are two more substantial meetings for this year we trust that if you have forgotten to send your subscription you may still do so. Subscriptions may be sent to the Honorary Treasurer, Mr Max Boyce, at 1/41 Glencairn Avenue, Camberwell, Victoria 3124. The amounts requested are:
Single membership$10
Couples$15
Retired persons and students$5
We should be grateful to learn the e-mail addresses of those who have this facility. These should be sent to Dr Peter Prideaux at the Society’s address (PO Box 2, Heidelberg, Victoria 3084) or by e-mail (peterpx@bigpond.net.au).
With my very best wishes,
Anthony C. Bailey
Chairman
VALETE
In this issue we wish to pay tribute to two former members and good friends of the Society.
The first of these is the Revd Dr Peter Toon, about whom a short article appears later in this Newsletter. The other is Mr Bruce Gibson, a member of our Council, who made many important contributions and suggestions for this Society. He was a New Zealander by birth, a pharmacist, and was also a Knight of the Orthodox Order of St John and a pillar of the Anglican Men’s Society. Sadly he passed away after a long and painful illness. Our condolences go to his widow, Margaret.
THE ROMANCATHOLICCHURCH AND
THE BOOK OF COMMON PRAYER
In recent years the Roman Catholic Church has shown increasing interest in the adoption in its English liturgies of some of the features of The Book of Common Prayer. The present article is a slight condensation by the Editor, John Willis, of two documents:
(1)An Editorial in the Easter 2009 issue of Faith and Worship, a publication of the (English) Prayer Book Society, on the Vatican approval in July 2008 of a new English translation of the Order of the Mass.
(2) The address given by Fr Ramsay Williams to our Society on 2 May 2009, entitled ‘Full Cycle: The use of The Book of Common Prayer in the Roman Catholic Church’.
A new English translation of the Order of the Mass
The changes issue from an ‘Instruction’, Liturgiam Authenticam, published by the Vatican in 2001. This document set forth ‘the principles of translation to be followed in future translations – whether they be entirely new undertakings or emendations of texts already in use’, having in view in the latter case ‘omissions or errors which affect certain existing vernacular translations’. The ‘Instruction’ makes some very important points, and includes the statement that liturgy is ‘not intended primarily as a sort of mirror of the interior dispositions of the faithful . . . rather, [its words] express truths that transcend the limits of time and space’. Liturgical language therefore
should be free of an overly servile adherence to prevailing modes of expression . . . Indeed, it will be seen that the observance of the principles set forth in this Instruction will contribute to the gradual development, in each vernacular, of a sacred style that will come to be recognised as proper to liturgical language. Thus it may happen that a certain manner of speech which has come to be considered somewhat obsolete in daily usage may continue to be maintained in the liturgical context.
On ‘inclusive language’ the Instruction is firm. ‘. . . in particular to be avoided is the systematic resort to imprudent solutions such as a mechanical substitution of words, the transition from the singular to the plural, the splitting of a unitary collective term into masculine and feminine parts . . .’
Specific guidance is given regarding the preservation in translation of ‘subordinate and relative clauses’, the full use of the various forms of addressing God, the showing of respect for ‘expressions that belong to the heritage of the whole or great part of the ancient Church . . . by a translation that is as literal as possible, as for example the words of the people’s response Et cum spiritu tuo’. Also the translation of the Creed ‘according to the precise wording that the tradition of the Latin Church has bestowed upon it, including the use of the first person singular’.
Space does not allow me to quote all the examples given, but here are a few:
Current TextRevised Text
(The Greeting)
Priest: The Lord be with you.The Lord be with you.
All: And also with you.And with your spirit.
(Gloria)
and peace to his people on earthand on earth peace to people
of good will
we praise you for your glorywe give thanks to you for your
great glory
(Sanctus)
Holy, holy, holy Lord,Holy, Holy, Holy
God of power and mightLord God of Hosts
(Nicene Creed)
We believe in one GodI believe in one God
of all that is, seen and unseenof all things visible and
invisible
eternally begotten of the Father.born of the Father before all
ages
he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became manwas incarnate of the Virgin
Mary, and became man
(Apostles’ Creed)
he descended to the deadhe descended into hell
on the third day he rose againon the third day he rose again
from the dead
The article concludes by saying that Pope Paul VI, during whose reign most of the liturgies in the vernacular were produced, had a great affection for The Book of Common Prayer, so it is surprising that it took so long for the Roman Church to restore some of the BCP’s language to its English liturgy.
Full Cycle: The use of The Book of Common Prayer in the Roman Catholic Church
One of the lesser known but more remarkable consequences of the decision to ordain women in parts of the Anglican Communion has been the adoption by the Roman Catholic Church of large sections of liturgical material which have their origins in The Book of Common Prayer! Liturgies derived from the 1549, 1662 and 1928 editions of the BCP, in ‘traditional’ English, are now in use by Roman Catholic parishes and congregations, not only with the official sanction of the papacy but with its encouragement, in the United States of America. There are at present seven of these parishes/worshipping communities, four in Texas and one each in Kansas, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania. So far, these classical Anglican liturgies have been confined to the Roman Catholic Church in the United States.
The liturgical book used, The Book of Divine Worship, is described as ‘being elements of The Book of Common Prayer revised and adapted according to the Roman rite for use by Roman Catholics coming from the Anglican tradition’. It was approved by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops of the United States of America and the date of its imprimatur [formal permission for it to be published] was 28 August 2003 (the Feast of St Augustine of Canterbury). The imprimatur was given by Cardinal Bernard Law, Archbishop of Boston 1984–2002.
A quick glance through the pages of The Book of Divine Worship reveals many familiar items, e.g.
the Coverdale Psalter in its entirety, adapted from the 1662 BCP.
the traditional Collects of the BCP and much-loved prayers such as The General Thanksgiving.
The familiar prayers of the BCP service of Holy Communion, such as the Collect for Purity, the Confession and Absolution (in the traditional Anglican position in the rite), the Comfortable Words and the Prayer of Humble Access.
The familiar offices of Morning and Evening Prayer with the traditional Canticles, and many other Anglican prayers and liturgies, including the Litany adapted for American circumstances.
There are of course some differences. The Church Calendar, although largely that of the American Episcopal Church, is supplemented with traditional Roman Catholic feast days and saints. The Lectionary for the Divine Office, however, is that of the Episcopal Church of the United States.
The Eucharistic rite is largely Anglican, with the exception of the Prayer of Consecration, which is the old Roman Canon, originally translated out of the Latin by Miles Coverdale (1488-1569), one-time Bishop of Exeter and translator of the BCP Psalter.
The Prayer for the Church and other prayers, naturally, include prayer for the Pope, which sounds as unfamiliar in that setting to our ears as does the prayer for the President of the United States!
There are also many additional Collects and Prefaces for the Eucharist, in both traditional and contemporary forms for the various saints’ days and major feasts, all of them, however, with a very ‘Cranmerian’ feel.
There are also other liturgical sources which draw on the BCP, for Anglican-use Roman Catholic parishes, such as The Anglican Use Office, published in 2007 by the Partridge Hill Press of Massachusetts. This book contains the non-eucharistic liturgies, such as Anglican versions of the Divine Office, the Litany and the Psalter, but with additional material such as the Litany of the Saints, the Office of the Dead, and the Anthems of Our Lady, but again, all in traditional ‘BCP English’.
Another resource is The Anglican Use Gradual, also published by Partridge Hill Press, which contains all the chants – Introits, Graduals, Alleluias, Offertory and Communion Verses for the liturgical year, adapted for the Three Year Cycle of Readings, but with the scriptural verses in the King James Version. Also available is the Anglican Use Sacramentary, which can be downloaded on the internet. This contains the rites of Baptism, Matrimony, Burial, the lectionary references for Sundays and weekdays and special propers for Ash Wednesday and Holy Week.
The amazing thing is that these are all Anglican liturgies, with roots in The Book of Common Prayer, but in use in Roman Catholic parishes for which they have been authorised. How has this extraordinary situation come about?
As mentioned at the outset, the principal event which brought about the need for an ‘Anglican Use’ in the Roman Catholic Church was the decision of the Episcopal Church in the United States to validate in 1976 the illegal ordinations two years earlier of a group of women, known as the ‘Philadelphia Eleven’ at the hands of a number of retired or resigned bishops.
Until that time, the ordination of women had not been supported by the majority of American bishops. The situation quickly changed, to the extent that by 1989 the first woman bishop had been appointed, and by 2006 the office of Presiding Bishop of the AmericanChurch was held by a female.
Whether one applauds this situation or not, there is no denying that the ordination of women in the Episcopal Church of the United States, and other related issues, has led to widespread internal division, the creation of a number of quasi-Anglican denominations in varying degrees of communion with the Anglican Communion, and many defections by Episcopalians, clergy and lay, to other Christian Churches, notably to the Roman Catholic Church, or to one or other of the various branches of Eastern Orthodoxy.
This situation has been acerbated in recent years. Three entire dioceses have recently left the Episcopal Church to align themselves with other parts of the Anglican Communion. In recent times six bishops of the Episcopal Church, two diocesan and four retired, have been received into the Roman Catholic Church, along with hundreds of priests and thousands of laypeople. Forty thousand committed Episcopalians are said to have left the Church in 2006 alone. (All this is in a part of the Anglican Communion which has approximately the same number of claimed adherents as the Anglican Church of Australia.)
The numbers of former Episcopalians, clergy and lay, who have sought a place in the Roman Church in the United States has been sufficient for the Roman hierarchy to take seriously their desire to maintain their Anglican identity while at the same time being in communion with the Holy See.
Not all converts from Anglicanism, naturally, sought to maintain a liturgical link with the church of their baptism or choice, but many did express a desire to continue worshipping in the way they had come to love, and which formed such an important part of their spiritual and cultural make-up.
At the heart of this desire lay the forms of worship, and traditional language, found in the American Prayer Books of 1928 and 1979, particularly the 1928 Book of Common Prayer.
In July 1980, the Prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Cardinal Franjo Seper, advised the National Conference of Bishops in the United States that Pope John Paul II, in response to numerous requests from former Anglican clergy and laity in the United States was creating for them a special ‘Pastoral Provision’. This would allow these former Anglicans special pastoral care and would permit them to retain certain customs and liturgy proper to the Anglican tradition.
The original approach to the Vatican came as early as 1977 from two traditionalist Anglican sources, the American Church Union and the priestly Society of the Holy Cross [of which Fr Williams is a member]. It was received favourably by the then Pope, Paul VI, who in 1970 had previously referred to ‘the worthy patrimony of piety and usage’ preserved in the Anglican tradition. After his death in August 1978, and the subsequent short reign of John Paul I, the matter was taken up by and received the approval of his successor John Paul II.
Under this Provision, the ordination of married former Episcopal priests was made possible. Worshipping communities were established, with a nucleus of former Anglicans, but open to all Catholics. Liturgies derived from The Book of Common Prayer were authorised for use, and subsequently approved by the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Committee for the Liturgy of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops.
The Pastoral Provision itself falls under the jurisdiction of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, whose ecclesiastical delegate in the United States, currently John Myers, Archbishop of Newark, New Jersey, is responsible for its functioning. (The first Delegate, appointed in 1981, was Bernard Law, then Bishop of Springfield-Cape Girardeau.)
In 1983 a Commission under the jurisdiction of the Congregation for the Sacraments and Divine Worship was set up to determine which elements of the Anglican liturgy would be allowed within the Roman Catholic Church in the United States.
The result was the The Book of Divine Worship. The first parishes to be set up in which liturgies from The Book of Common Prayer (via The Book of Divine Worship) were permitted were the Parish of Our Lady of the Atonement, San Antonio, and the Parish of Our Lady of Walsingham, in Houston (both in Texas), both with former Anglican priests appointed as Rectors.
Since 1983, close to one hundred former Anglican clergy, including a number of former Anglican bishops (among them the former Bishops of Albany, New York State, and Rio Grande, Texas, have been ordained for priestly ministry in the Roman Catholic Church, as a result of the Pastoral Provision.
These then are the circumstances which led to the creation of worshipping communities within the Roman Catholic Church which use the liturgy and language of The Book of Common Prayer, more than 450 years after it was first published. It could be pointed out that in these communities they are used more faithfully and with greater respect and appreciation than in many parts of the Anglican Communion.
An interesting sidelight is that these Anglican-rite parishes have among their congregations many parishioners who are cradle Catholics but who have come to value and admire the Anglican way.
In a recent article on the history of the Anglican Use movement in the United States, the Revd William H. Stetson, JCD Secretary to the Ecclesiastical Delegate for the Pastoral Provision has posed the question: ‘where is the Pastoral Provision likely to go from where it is now?’
He concludes: ‘The growing crisis of theological and moral authority both in the Episcopal Church and in other Protestant denominations is likely to result in a new wave of priests, ministers, and lay people seeking the sure home of the Catholic Church. They will bring to the Catholic Church the sound Christian traditions that have sustained them since the Protestant Reformation: a love for Sacred Scripture; joy in singing to the Lord; eagerness to spread the Word of God; and from the Anglicans a long and rich history of English in the liturgy. Perhaps the Pastoral Provision has served till now as the harbinger of this new springtime for Christianity in the United States.’
One can only wonder what Thomas Cranmer would have made of the unique role his Book of Common Prayer has played in this extraordinary situation!
THE REVD DR PETER TOON
1939-2009
Members of the Prayer Book Society will be sad to learn of the death on 25 April in San Diego, USA, of Dr Peter Toon, a distinguished theologian who was a faithful friend of the Society. He visited us in 2001 and gave one of the keynote addresses at the Conference on the Holy Spirit with which we celebrated the twentieth anniversary of the foundation of the Victorian Branch of the Society.
Peter Toon was born in Yorkshire and was the eldest of four children. After attending grammar schools in Sheffield he continued his education at KingsCollege, London, the University of Liverpool, and finally ChristChurch, Oxford, where he obtained a Doctorate of Philosophy.
After teaching religious studies in a College, Peter was ordained in 1973 in the Diocese of Liverpool. Since then he has served in various parishes in England and the USA and also as a theologian in theological institutions in both countries. In the last decade of his working life he served the Prayer Book Society of the USA as its President and CEO.
Peter wrote over twenty-five books, as well as booklets, essays and articles. He also wrote many opinion pieces for the Web. He was deeply committed to the Anglican Way as Reformed Catholicism, and to the importance of the historical formularies – the Thirty-nine Articles, The Book of Common Prayer, and the Ordinal. The woes of the Anglican Communion in recent days greatly distressed him.
He is survived by his wife of forty-seven years, Vita, and by their daughter Deborah, who live in San Diego. It is hoped that his remains will be interred in the family grave in Yorkshire.
SHAKESPEARE’S PRAYER BOOK
In the Trinity 2009 issue of the (UK) Prayer Book Society Journal is an article by the Revd Dr John Bunyan, of Campbelltown, NSW, on celebrating the 450th anniversary of the 1559 BCP. This Book officially came into use in England on John the Baptist’s Day (24 June) 1559, in the second year of the reign of Elizabeth I. Bunyan draws attention to an excellent modern edition of the 1559 Book, edited and annotated by John E. Booty and reprinted in 2005 by the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington DC, USA.
It is easy to overlook the 1559 Book, which is far less famous than the first English Prayer Book of 1549 or the second, introduced in 1552. But in point of fact it was in use far longer than either of the earlier Books, and was the Prayer Book of for instance, Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, Richard Hooker and Lancelot Andrewes.
The 1559 Book deserves more attention because of its ‘checking of a forceful movement in a Protestant or Genevan direction’ and in its representing the broad Elizabethan via media at its best, a move in a moderately conservative direction that was continued in the revision of 1604 and in the Prayer Book of 1662. The latter remains still the standard of worship ‘for use’ in the Church of Australia and that Church’s official liturgy.
Dr Bunyan describes plans by the NSW Branch of the Prayer Book Society to celebrate the 450th anniversary of the 1559 Book, and also the bicentenary of the appointment on 8 May 1809 of Lachlan Macquarie as Governor of New South Wales, with a special Vice-Regal service in St Peter’s ParishChurch, Campbelltown. Macquarie, ‘the Father of Australia’, was the greatest of the early Governors, and the founder in 1820 of what was then called Campbell Town, and of its small (and now beautifully restored) Georgian parish church, opened in 1823.
Dr Bunyan is preparing a small book to mark the occasion, witha special emphasis on the value of BCP Mattins. He hopes that this special celebration will help bring the Prayer Book to the fresh attention of church people.
The Prayer Book Society in Australia
(Victorian Branch) Incorporated
ChairmanPlease address all correspondence to:
Mr A.C. BaileyThe Prayer Book Society
6/129 The ParadeP.O. Box 2
ASCOT VALE VIC 3032HEIDELBERG VIC 3084
Tel. (03) 9372 0439Reg. No. A0013178F
Fax: (03) 9372 7990ABN 39692277220
Website: www.prayerbook.org.au
NEWSLETTER – APRIL 2009
NEXT MEETING
SATURDAY – 2 MAY 2009
Where:All Saints’ East St Kilda
2 Chapel Street, East St Kilda near the corner
of Dandenong Road (Melway Map 58 D8).
There is limited parking at the rear of the church.
Collect for the Third Sunday after Easter (3 May 2009)
Almighty God, who showest to them that be in error the light of thy truth, to the intent that they may return into the way of righteousness; Grant unto all them that are admitted into the fellowship of Christ’s Religion, that they may eschew those things that are contrary to their profession, and follow all such things as are agreeable to the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Chairman’s Letter
Dear Friends,
There have been many major events worldwide since I last wrote to you, and many of them have not been pleasant. We hear a great deal about climate change, and I was encouraged recently when seeing a newly-born cousin in a new outer suburb of Melbourne to find that every house was fitted with solar heating panels and most had enormous storage tanks. Many people are getting the message about conservation of resources. Again, so much has been said and written about what President Obama could and should do to avert the worldwide financial crisis that the whole affair becomes essentially rather boring to listen to and to read; perhaps it would be more useful to be prayerful at this time. Again, many of us have been affected by the bushfires and, further north, the flooding – all terrible but made worse in Victoria now that we know that much arson has taken place. Much sadness arises from the fact that a number of churches have been destroyed along with housing – again very sad, but with faith many of these will eventually be rebuilt and be places of prayer once more.
You will recall that our Annual General Meeting was held on 28 February at, All Saints’ East St Kilda, now the ConventualChurch for the PBS. Following the Holy Eucharist with Merbecke and hymns, conducted by the Revd Ramsay Williams, BYO lunch took place in the Parish Room adjoining the Gregory Hall and the usual elections were held.
Bruce Gibson has retired from the Committee. He has been very ill and is now living at Camberwell Grange. Joan Hill has, for the moment, relinquished her place on the Committee; she has also been unwell for a considerable period. Their positions have not so far been filled. We all wish to place on record their dedication to the work of the Committee for a long period and we thank them most warmly.
At the February meeting it was suggested that if anyone has interesting prayer books or Bibles we might have these on show at the next meeting. Your Chairman agreed to show an AV of the Bible dated 1634 and an early BCP from his own collection. Any other contributions will be welcome.
At the AGM there was a request for possible topics to be addressed over the remainder of the year. So far two good topics have been suggested and we are looking for two good speakers. The topics are ‘The Psalms as rendered in the BCP’ and ‘Lessons for today from the Oxford Movement’.
The arrangements for the next meeting are given on the front page of this Newsletter. Fr Ramsay Williams’s address promises to be most interesting.
It is of some interest that John Milton would have been 400 years old this month, and on the afternoon of Sunday 19 April a selection of readings from Paradise Lost was given at St Paul’s Cathedral. It is my hope that paradise may be regained and that we should pray for peace, relief from violence, and happier times in the years ahead.
At this Eastertide I send you all personal greetings and good wishes.
Yours sincerely
Anthony C. Bailey
THE PRAYER BOOK AND THE ANGLICAN JOURNEY
On Saturday 22 April 2008 the Archbishop, Dr Philip Freier, gave us an address on the above topic. The following account was prepared from a copy of the talk kindly provided by the Archbishop. Notes and minor corrections have been added in square brackets by the Editor, John Willis.
There have been thirteen Lambeth Conferences since 1867. [At the time this address was given Archbishop Freier was about to depart for the 2008 Lambeth Conference.] In that time there have been some 870 resolutions, of which around thirty have dealt with issues related to the Prayer Book. Whilst the Prayer Book may not have featured highly in Lambeth decisions, the occasions when the Conference has addressed itself to issues of the Prayer Book have often made important points about the Anglican journey and polity.
From the very first Lambeth Conference in 1867 we have Resolution 8 addressing the question of adaptations and additions to the worship services of the Church. This Resolution says ‘That, in order to the binding of the Churches of our colonial empire and the missionary Churches beyond them in the closest union with the Mother-Church, it is necessary that they receive and maintain without alteration the standards of faith and doctrine as now in use in that Church. That, nevertheless, each province should have the right to make such adaptations and additions to the services of the Church as its peculiar circumstances may require. Provided, that no change or addition be made inconsistent with the spirit and principles of the Book of Common Prayer, and that all such changes be liable to revision by any synod of the Anglican Communion in which the said province shall be represented.’
From Lambeth’s first conference there is a clear sense of the Church of England being the mother church of the Anglican Communion. There appears to be a close intent that the spirit and the principles of the Book of Common Prayer must be carefully preserved whilst allowing room for adaptations and additions that address local and particular circumstances.
So, at the very first Lambeth Conference, two clear and important principles emerge. First there is the requirement for adherence to the spirit and principles of the Prayer Book and second, recognition of the need for adaptation and modification to suit particular and local circumstances.
Subsequent Lambeth Conferences provide interesting snapshots of the Anglican Communion at ten-year intervals. It is interesting to see the topics which held the attention of later Conferences and it is possible to do this as all 870 resolutions are available on the Internet. In this address I am dealing only with a few of the resolutions on the subject of the Prayer Book.
The 1878 Lambeth Conference produced an encyclical letter on the BCP, which in addition to speaking about the diversity of worship for local and particular circumstances, introduced for the first time the concept of the Prayer Book as an instrument of unity: ‘. . . remembering that the Book of Common Prayer, retained as it is, with some modifications, by all our Churches, has been one principal bond of union among them . . .’
Two important points emerge here: First the retention of the BCP albeit with modifications and second, the BCP as an instrument of unity. The use of the technical term ‘Bond of Union’ persists for the next two conferences of 1898 and 1908.
Those of us accustomed to thinking of Prayer Book reform as a relatively recent phenomenon may be surprised to learn that reform was very much in the minds of Bishops attending Lambeth in 1867 and 1878. National Churches all around the world have undergone a form of liturgical reform in ways we understand from 1928, in the 1960s, and later in places like Australia in the 1970s. It seems now that many of these reforms were underpinned by, if not based on, the work of Lambeth Conferences a hundred years earlier. It is sometimes said today that Lambeth often lags behind present-day realities. We lose sight of the fact that just 140 years ago it was the other way round and Lambeth actually anticipated later reforms.
By 1878 there was some anxiety about the proliferation of modifications and excessive diversity of ritual. This anxiety can be traced in part to the emerging Tractarian influence as well as some concerns about practices in Colonial Churches. Resolutions relating to missionaries and missionary bishops contain questions about providing ‘books of common prayer for converts from heathenism’.
Tensions arising from the overlapping of English and American missionary activity led to a desire to have one prayer book and not one developed by the Church of England and another by the American Episcopal Church. Anglican Churches working in the same mission field should, Lambeth said, aspire to having one prayer book. The management of overseas missions became an important issue in this period. ‘. . . books of common prayer suitable for the need of native congregations in heathen countries should be framed that the principles embodied in such books should be identical with the principles embodied in the Book of Common Prayer and that deviations in the Book of Common Prayer in point of form should only be such as are required by the circumstances of the particular churches.’
By the time of the 1888 Lambeth Conference concerns had emerged about the excessive diversity of rituals. Where just ten and twenty years earlier the Conference had been happy to acknowledge the need for diversity necessitated by local and particular circumstances, now we see the opposite – a concern that diversity may have gone too far and a concern that there is not a shared reaction to prayer book reform.
From the 1888 Lambeth Conference we have the important observation that the BCP is not the possession of one Diocese or Province, but that it belongs to all. Here, for the first time, we hear the now familiar call that revisions in one part of the Communion must be done in consultation with other parts of the Communion.
The 1888 Conference is also noteworthy for the first mention of the question as to whether the English version of the Nicene Creed or the Athanasian Creed should be revised. This discussion is to continue for the next thirty years and from the outcome we have the words of the Athanasian Creed as they appear in the 1928 Prayer Book revision.
The 1897 Lambeth Conference sees a return to the ‘Bond of Union’ theme with the interesting recognition that having a book of liturgy and a book of offices is somehow characteristic of being an autonomous national church. A resolution welcoming the autonomous church in Mexico contains these interesting words: ‘We recognise thankfully the movement for the formation of an autonomous church in Mexico, organised along the primitive lines of administration and having a liturgy and book of offices approved by the presiding bishop of the Church in the United States and its advisory committee has been framed after the primitive forms of worship.’ Here, in the 1897 resolution we have a sense of the need to return to something that was the practice of the early church, a principle firmly embedded in the Preface to the 1549 BCP and which has remained there in subsequent revisions. In 1897 it was this principle of returning to ancient roots rather than [to the] felicity of the BCP of either the English or the American Church that was applied when recognising the status of the infant but autonomous Mexican Church.
Bishops at the 1897 Lambeth Conference raised the issue of the importance of translating books of worship and other texts. They also raised again with the Archbishop of Canterbury, as they did ten years before, the question of a new translation of the Athanasian Creed.
The 1908 Lambeth Conference carried seven resolutions broadly relating to the Prayer Book. Two short quotations from those resolutions identify the important issues: ‘. . . while the educative value of the book of common prayer and the importance of retaining it as a bond of union and a standard of relation should be fully recognised . . . every effort should be made under due authority to render the forms of public worship more intelligible to more uneducated congregations and better suited to widely diverse needs of the various races within the Anglican Communion.’
Here we have four important principles:
1.The educative value of the BCP
2.Its significance as a Bond of Union
3.Its importance as a standard of devotion
4.The importance of having it capable of understanding by the people.
The last of these points highlights the ongoing aspiration for reformation informing the BCP. This effect is still being felt. In the Northern Territory and Kimberley cattle country regions of Australia Kriol speakers have their own service book. This is a development from the 1980s. Prior to that, people in the Anglican missions had only the untranslated Book of Common Prayer. It should not surprise us that speakers of Kriol and other Aboriginal languages found the prayer book quite incomprehensible. It seems that some seventy years elapsed between the acceptance of the need for vernacular translations of the BCP and their availability to communities such as the Indigenous people of northern Australia.
In 1908 Lambeth concerned itself not only with the need for translations, but also with the manner in which revisions and translations should take place. This seems to show us how, even one hundred years ago, English in the modern idiom was making understanding and clarity difficult. This 1908 Conference also sought revision of the Calendar and Tables from the Book of Common Prayer and made yet another request that Canterbury give attention to a new translation of the Athanasian Creed. In an even more pointed resolution the Conference recommended that the Archbishop of Canterbury should consider the use or disuse of the Athanasian Creed, observing that its use is not a term of communion, allowing that several Churches of the Communion might rightly decide this issue for themselves.
What we see here is that a hundred years ago, elements long considered standards of faith were then becoming matters for local decision and adaptation. Some of these principles continue to be affirmed by subsequent Lambeth Conferences.
Interestingly, it is in 1908 that there is a revival of the practice of anointing the sick, albeit with some controversy over the issue. It is surprising that such a matter which today is relatively uncontroversial, should produce such anxiety. Lambeth of 1908 refers the matter to a Prayer Book Enrichment Committee called by the Archbishop but simultaneously observes that there is some uncertainty about the permanence of the practice as recorded by James in his epistle at James 5:14. The Conference, having regard for this view does not thereafter sanction the anointing of the sick as a rite of the Church. The Conference does not go as far as recommending the prohibition of anointing ‘ifanointing be earnestly desired by the sick person in all such cases the parish priest should seek counsel of the bishop of the Diocese.’ The Conference cautioned that care must be taken that no return be made to the custom of anointing as a preparation for death. So, one hundred years ago we see the revival of a practice which clearly causes some alarm, possibly because it sounds like the reintroduction of pre-reformation practices. That people thought the Anglican Communion and its identity would be in some way threatened by this, is itself interesting.
The next Lambeth Conference was in 1920, having been delayed two years by the interruptions of the First World War This conference moved position somewhat. Where earlier we saw affirming statements expressing the need for translation and revision, now we have an affirming statement that also notes that liturgical uniformity throughout the Anglican [Communion] is not now regarded as necessary ‘. . . while maintaining the authority if the Book of Common Prayer as the Anglican standard of doctrine and practice, we consider that the liturgical uniformity should not be regarded as a necessity throughout the churches of the Anglican Communion.’
It seems that from 1920, Bishops meeting at Lambeth are fairly much resigned to the fact that the worship practices of national churches will not necessarily be the same. It is here at the 1920 Conference that we hear discussion about a Diocesan Bishop's inherent right to sanction liturgical forms outside the narrow confines of the BCP, tempered by the observation that such variations [must] be achieved in a way that safeguards the unity of the Anglican Communion.
Lambeth of 1920 appears to be negotiating a difficult reality. On the one hand there is the fact of diversity, most obvious when Anglicans come together internationally, and on the other that worship is an important element in the unification of the Communion.
The 1920 Conference also sought to reform the manner of making Deaconesses and in so doing looked to the BCP as the standard. This is interesting because the conference talks about the former manner of making Deaconesses as the making of Deacons and in so doing stipulated three things that should happen following the form of the BCP:
1. Prayer by the Bishop and the laying on of hands, and
2. A formula for giving authority to execute the office of Deaconess in the church of God, and
3. The delivery of a New Testament by the Bishop to each candidate
This pattern sounds very much like the ordaining of a Deacon. So there is a sense that in 1920 there was something that starts to look very much like the ordination of women as deacons in the Apostolic order according to the formulary that exists in the Ordinal of the BCP.
Seventy-five resolutions emanated from the Lambeth Conference of 1930, but none of them dealt with the Book of Common Prayer and none with questions of worship.
The Second World War delayed the next Lambeth Conference until 1948. Here we see the Bishops holding to the BCP as a strong 'Bond of Unity'. So strong that great care must be taken to ensure that revisions are in accord with the doctrine and accepted liturgical worship of the Anglican Communion.
It is worth noting here that today when we talk about the instruments of unity in the Anglican Communion, we talk about:
1. The Archbishop of Canterbury
2. The Lambeth Conference
3. The Anglican Consultative Council
4. The Primates’ Meeting
The BCP has not been considered an instrument of unity since the 1920s. The very strong use of the BCP as one of the 'Bonds of Unity' was a feature of the Communion during the first half of the 20th century but that language ceases to be used during the second half.
The four-hundredth Anniversary of the 1549 Prayer Book would have been very much on the minds of the Bishops at Lambeth 1948, to which end they encouraged special services of thanksgiving to be held the following year throughout the whole Communion.
Lambeth 1948 also contains a resolution which tries to influence some practices surrounding Baptism, calling for Baptism to be done when the greatest number of the particular faith community is present.
There are a number of resolutions about the Prayer Book during the 1958 Lambeth Conference, mostly about revision, translation and adaptation. There is also a resolution of 1958 about the importance of translating the Bible; about the Bible being used in the language(s) of the people; and retaining the prominence of Holy Scripture in public worship.
For the Bishops meeting at Lambeth in 1958, recognising the work of Prayer Book revision being done in different parts of the Anglican Communion, called attention to those features of the Book of Common Prayer which they considered essential to the safeguarding of unity throughout the Communion:
1. The use of canonical Scriptures and Creeds
2. Holy Baptism, Confirmation and Holy Communion
3. The Ordinal
Lambeth 1958 urged acceptance of the view that the chief aim of Prayer Book revision should be to further recover the worship of the primitive church. This of course was the aim of the compilers of the first prayer books of the Church of England.
The 1968 Lambeth Conference resulted in no Prayer Book specific resolutions but did ask Churches to consider whether the Thirty-nine Articles needed to be published with and within the Prayer Book. So, by 1968 there is some questioning of the Thirty-nine Articles, their status and whether Ordinands need be required to subscribe to them.
Indeed 1968 is a period of significant post-colonial autonomy. The whole question of what has been inherited and what is essential is very much to the forefront. For colonial and post-colonial churches the question of connection to the established Church of England in England was a matter of vigorous discussion.
From 1978 onwards there is little reference to the Prayer Book at Lambeth. The last real reference to the Prayer Book is in the earlier 1958 Conference. In 1968 there was the question of the place of the Thirty-nine Articles. By the time of the 1978 Conference the issues are all about liturgy, common lectionaries and cultural identity.
Of sixty-nine Lambeth resolutions in 1988, none are about the Prayer Book. In 1998 there were 107 resolutions, none of which referred to the Prayer Book.
This trend foreshadows, sadly for some, the diminution of the Book of Common Prayer in the worship life of a good deal of the Communion. It is interesting to see from this brief survey of Lambeth Prayer Book-related resolutions that in fact the Lambeth Conference over time has anticipated and was predictive of the ways things were to go regarding the Prayer Book and its place in the worshipping communities of the Anglican Communion.
These then are the things it is said we should value. They are essentially broad and generic. Gone are quite specific arguments and the finely made points of the early 19th century where a particular text was examined closely in determining the direction and point of Lambeth resolutions.
In this brief survey my aim has been to walk you quickly through 150 years of Lambeth Conferences, highlighting Conference resolutions that have had an impact on our Prayer Book.
The Lambeth Conference has met every ten years or so. It is interesting to see the way in which the Bishops, over time, have identified in a predictive way trends that eventually have become part of our history. Some events and trends have taken 100 years to eventuate, others a much shorter time.
It is remarkable that the agreements and resolutions of successive Lambeth Conferences exhibited such a high degree of foresight in matters which have ultimately become very influential in the practice of worship of the churches of the Anglican Communion.
VENITE EXULTEMUS DEO
Come let us sing unto the Lord
(Psalm 95)
This article by the Revd Dr Peter Toon was received from his e-mail site petertoon@msn.com.
Psalm 95 has been used in the Christian Church of East and West at the commencement of the daily service ever since the early days. St Athanasius wrote ‘Before the beginning of their prayers, the Christians invite and exhort one another in the words of the 95th Psalm’. St Augustine wrote: ‘Then we chanted the Psalm (95), exhorting one another with one voice, with one heart, saying “O come let us adore . . .”’
At the beginning of the English Reformation, this ‘Invitatory Psalm’ is described in the Primer (1543) of Henry VIII as ‘A Song stirring to the Praise of God’. And in the new English prayer book, The Booke of The Common Prayer (1549), Psalm 95 is very near the beginning of ‘An Ordre for Mattyns dayly through the Year’. From then onwards Psalm 95 was a required part of Morning Prayer or Matins in all editions (1552, 1559, 1604, 1662) of the BCP, even though it came not so near the beginning in the editions from 1552 onwards.
The Psalm neatly divides into two parts. The first (verses 1-7a) is a hymn celebrating the LORD as the creator and king of the universe; the second (verses 7b-11) contains an admonition or prophetic oracle warning the congregation not to disobey the laws of the LORD, through recalling aspects of Israel’s history. The saints have recognised that both parts are necessary.
It is these two themes together – of celebration and of warning – which make it a perfect entry into the heights and depths of Daily Prayer for the people of the new covenant as they come before the Blessed, Holy and Undivided Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
The devout people of God come before the LORD stirring each other up to offer to their covenant King the thanks and praise due to him for who he is and what he has done and still does:
‘Oh come, let us sing to the LORD; let us make a joyful noise to the Rock of our salvation . . .’
They are ready to ‘bow down’ and ‘kneel before’ their King in adoration.
Yet – and this is most important – they come not as perfected saints, but a sinners being sanctified, disciples who are prone to temptation and weakness. So they are most suitably reminded of a part of the history of the elect people of God. That is of the hardness of heart and provoking of the Lord by the wilderness generation of Israelites, for which they were denied entry into the land of rest and promise.
‘Do not harden your hearts as at Meribah, as on the day of Massah in the wilderness, when your fathers put me to the test . . .’ (See Numbers 20:16 and Exodus 17:7.)
So the Christian congregation enters into Daily Prayer recognizing the high calling which it has embraced – to worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness – but it does so much aware of its weakness and imperfection due to sin remaining in the soul, and, therefore, seeking to be aware of possible pitfalls. In fact, it becomes aware that the confession of sin by the penitent soul is in fact the worship of God, proclaiming his judgment and mercy.
In the 19th century, Archdeacon P. Freeman made this perceptive comment about the content of Psalm 95:
It is not merely that in common with many other psalms, this Psalm invites to the worship of the great King, but that it goes on to exhibit so perfect a portraiture, in terms of Israelite history, of the frail and erring, though redeemed and covenanted, estate of man. It is this [quality] that fits it to be a prelude to the whole psalmody and worship of the day, whatever its character [e.g., Lent or Pentecost]; since it touches with so perfect a felicity the highest and lowest notes of the scale, that there is nothing so jubilant or so penitential as not to lie within the compass of it.
This important insight has of course been made by many others; but, regrettably, not by the liturgical experts of the American Episcopal Church. Its Prayer Book has omitted the prophetic oracle and admonition (verses 7b-11) since its first edition in 1789; and, sadly, it has been common to refer to the omitted second half as ‘the four distasteful verses’.
This condescending approach, originally inspired by principles of the Enlightenment, avoids the strong, biblical doctrine of God’s wrath against sin within the Bible, and seeks to make God to be always loving and only rarely displeased! Today most congregations in the West seem to omit these verses as not being suitable for ‘Christian worship’. This is usually because they are taken up with the prevailing, modern idea that worship must be ‘celebration’, sin, wrath and judgment are not common themes! This liberal, progressive religion has been accused – with justice – of being that religion, in which a God, without wrath, saves a people within sin, for a kingdom without judgment, by the ministry without the Cross.
Psalm 95 is an invitation and introduction to Daily Prayer for those who are truly submitted to the Father almighty, through his Incarnate Son, and who desire to be instructed and led by his Word. It is not for those whose view of ‘celebration’ removes from it the realistic message of the ‘deceitfulness and sinfulness of the human heart’ and its consequences!
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