I had some online (just a few), and a bit more offline, commentary regarding yesterday’s quote from ‘Knots Untied’. A few of the offline missives were dismissive of Anglican evangelicals in general (don’t these folks know their history?) and of certain aspects (stereotypes?) in particular. This dismissive and condescending comments provided a bit of fodder for discussion amongst some of our clergy as we travelled to and from Florence, SC (did you know that yesterday, Florence, SC was named the 7th most unromantic city in the U.S.?). One consequence of our conversation was a universally renewed appreciation for Bishop J.C. Ryle and the timeliness of his writings – astounding for a work written across the pond well over a century ago.
One assertion of a Ryle dissenter noted the “disregard” with which Anglican evangelicals hold the Book of Common Prayer (or so the writer suggested). Ryle had this brilliant response to the same charge leveled in his day:
I go on to say that Evangelical Religion does not undervalue the English Prayer-book. It is not true to say that we do. We honour that excellent book as a matchless form of public worship, and one most admirably adapted to the wants of human nature. We use it with pleasure in our public ministrations, and should grieve to see the day when its use is forbidden.
But we do not presume to say there can be no acceptable worship of God without the Prayer-book. It does not possess the same authority as the Bible. We steadily refuse to give to the Prayer-book the honour which is only due to the Holy Scriptures, or to regard it as forming, together with the Bible, the rule of faith for the Church of England. We deny that it contains one single truth of religion, besides, over and above what is contained in God’s Word. And we hold that to say the Bible and Prayer-book together are “the Church’s Creed,” is foolish and absurd.
Knots Untied, p. 14
Bravo!
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Steve,
Do you realize that if you inspire Continuing Episcopalians to begin to read Ryle that they will become very displeased with the sorry excuse which they have bought-into in the denominations they are affiliated with, which not only do not share Bp Ryle’s views, but which are violently opposed to them?
Steve,
The sad truth is that a lot of folks in the ACNA, the AMiA, the Continuing Anglican Churches, and TEC do not know their history. The little history with which they are familiar has been reinterpreted and revised to present the Anglo-Catholic movement, Broad Church movement, the liberal movement, or the Ancient-Future/Convergence movement as representative of genuine Anglicanism. Traditional Anglican evangelicalism disappeared from the Episcopal Church by 1900. There was a brief revival of traditional Anglican evangelicalism in the 1970s but this revival was soon overshadowed by the charismatic movement. The charismatic movement was Wesleyan Pentecostal in theology. Traditional Anglican evangelicalism is Reformed. An offshoot of the charismatic movement is the Ancient-Future, or Convergence movement, which tends to tolerate or accept Anglo-Catholic doctrine and practice while at the same time as Gillis Harp and others have observed exhibits anti-Reformation and anti-Reformed proclivities.
As we both know, North American Anglicans who are Reformed in their theological outlook are not exclusively cessionists. ‘An Homily Concerning the Coming Down of the Holy Ghost and the Manifold Gifts of the Same’ does not takes a cessionist position:
“The Holy Ghost doth always declare himself by his fruitful and gracious gifts, namely [1 Cor. 12:[7–11].], by the word of wisdom, by the word of knowledge, which is the understanding of the
Scriptures, by faith, in doing of miracles, by healing them that are diseased, by prophecy which is the declaration of God’s mysteries, by discerning of spirits, diversity of tongues, interpretation of tongues,and so forth. All which gifts, as they proceed from one Spirit, and are severally given to man according to the measurable distribution of the Holy Ghost, even so do they bring men, and not without good cause, into a wonderful admiration of God’s divine power.”
At the same time the homily points to our attention, “…it is evident and plain to all men, that the Holy Ghost was given, not only to the Apostles, but also to the whole body of Christ’s congregation, although not in like form and majesty as he came down at the feast of Pentecost.”
I really appreciate this post and the preceding one based on Bishop Ryle. They go to the heart of being Anglican and counter-act a lot of fuzzy or misleading comments about Anglican identity. First comes Scripture, then Reformation doctrine, then appreciation of the Prayer Book. Thank you.