Reformed Churchmen

We are Confessional Calvinists and a Prayer Book Church-people. In 2012, we remembered the 350th anniversary of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer; also, we remembered the 450th anniversary of John Jewel's sober, scholarly, and Reformed "An Apology of the Church of England." In 2013, we remembered the publication of the "Heidelberg Catechism" and the influence of Reformed theologians in England, including Heinrich Bullinger's Decades. For 2014: Tyndale's NT translation. For 2015, John Roger, Rowland Taylor and Bishop John Hooper's martyrdom, burned at the stakes. Books of the month. December 2014: Alan Jacob's "Book of Common Prayer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Book-Common-Prayer-Biography-Religious/dp/0691154813/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1417814005&sr=8-1&keywords=jacobs+book+of+common+prayer. January 2015: A.F. Pollard's "Thomas Cranmer and the English Reformation: 1489-1556" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-English-Reformation-1489-1556/dp/1592448658/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1420055574&sr=8-1&keywords=A.F.+Pollard+Cranmer. February 2015: Jaspar Ridley's "Thomas Cranmer" at: http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Cranmer-Jasper-Ridley/dp/0198212879/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1422892154&sr=8-1&keywords=jasper+ridley+cranmer&pebp=1422892151110&peasin=198212879

Thursday, March 13, 2014

13 Mar 1559: Disputation at Westminster Re: English Services, Church Power, the Mass

13 March 1559. A disputation was held at Westminster in behalf of “English services.” It’s hard to realize the significance of this, but England was just coming off the Marian regency; there were also severe Anglo-Italian bishops and presbyters in the land. 
 
The participants on the Reformed side were: Misters Scory, Coxe, Whitehead, Sandys, Grindal, Home, Aylmer, and Guest (a quasi-Lutheran).

 The subject: “…disputation between nine divines of either contending party, to be conducted in writing, in the English language, before the members of the Council and both houses of Parliament, in the church of Westminster, was appointed to be held on the 13th of March, 1558-9.”



The points to be discussed were:


1. The lawfulness of prayers in the vulgar tongue;


2. The power of the Church to change rites and ceremonies;


3. The scriptural authority for the sacrifice of the Mass: all having an immediate bearing upon the contemplated measure.


It is assumed that the most able men favoring the “new opinions,” or to use the contemporary term of art in the 16th century, the “Evangelicals,” were selected to advocate their cause on this occasion.


John Jewell's name was in the list of the nine reformed divines along with those of Scory, Coxe, Whitehead, Sandys, Grindal, Home, Aylmer, and Guest.  This is no slight testimony to the estimation in which he was held.


We tie in an aside from John Jewel to Jack Iker of the ACNA.


On side note: a few weeks back, Mr. (they call him bishop) Jack Iker opined that Tractophiles/Tractaholics/TFOs were ensconced in the patristic and early period while others were/are rooted in the Reformation. To wit, those ensconced in the English Reformation don't appreciate the patristic period.  Here’s Jack’s false dilemma, errant either/or, reduction, and over-simplification:


“We rather like the 1549 Prayer Book,” Iker said, “as the standard. We would contend that Anglicanism flourished in England for many years prior to the Reformation era and that we are a reformed catholic church rather than a Protestant denomination born in the 16th century. Henry VIII did not found the Anglican Church and neither did the reformers. Dr. Edward Pusey, the early Tractarian and the spiritual father of the Oxford Movement, said we understand reference to the ancient Church, instead of the Reformers, as the ultimate expounder of the meaning of our Church.”


The hubristic and arrogant upshot is that “we,” the TFOs, have the “leg up” due to “our” more ancient roots. They've chattered themselves up again and again on this point. It’s gas. Remember clearly the open and repeated hostilities of the TFOs to the English Reformation. The TFOs will use about anything to advance themselves in Anglicanism.  Jim Packer called them "Roman Trojan Horses." In 1842, the entire episcopal bench opposed the TFOS. By 1900, opposition softened, but was not gone. The TFOs tried but failed (due to more skilled defenders) in 1928 to get a TFO BCP in England; the TFOs tried and partially succeeded in a less able nation, the US.


For Jack's statement, see:
Iker, Jack. “Sermon by The Right Reverend Jack L. Iker, Bishop of Fort Worth.” Reformed Churchmen. Feb 27, 2014. http://reformationanglicanism.blogspot.com/2014/02/stand-firm-mr-bp-iker-on-tfo-rec-divide.html . Accessed Mar 13, 2014.


Now, for the tie-in from Iker to Jewel. Emphatically, the English Reformers understood themselves to have worked in the patristic era. Jewel is one such example, but there are others also. If anything, the English Reformers were ensconced in patristics; they knew they were the continuing Church of England; they realized the Church of England pre-dated Henry VIII.  Iker's chatter works with the unlettered, but not others. 


For “a” larger backstory on Mr. (Bp.) John Jewel, a patristics scholar, see: http://reformationanglicanism.blogspot.com/2013/08/mr-rtrev-john-jewel-bishop-of-salisbury.html 
 
We have “other” backstories also on Jewel and other. Sit down Iker. Better, go join a Continuuers group of TFOs.


Back on point, on this day, 13 May 1559, a disputation was held at Westminster in behalf of “English services.” The participants on the Reformed side were: Misters Scory, Coxe (a rather rough sort), Whitehead, Sandys, Grindal (future Canterbury), Home, Aylmer, and Guest (a quasi-Lutheran).

No comments: