3 Apr 1593: Mr. (Rev.) George Herbert born in Calvinistic CoE (Oh no!)

3 April 1593.  Mr. (Rev.) George Herbert was born.  We also bring some quotes from Dr. Doerksen on Anglicanism and English Calvinism—that awful subject.  Oh no!  Not that, please!  What!?  Calvin’s volumes in translation found the largest market in England?  Positively disturbing!

http://reformationanglicanism.blogspot.co.uk/2010/11/george-herbert-anglicanism-and.html

We draw some quotes below re: George Herbert, Anglicanism and English Calvinism in the Elizabethan and Jacobean period. By way of background, George Herbert (3 April 1593 – 1 March 1633) was a Welsh poet, orator and Anglican priest. Being born into an artistic and wealthy family, he received a good education. He took prominent positions at Cambridge University and Parliament. As a student at Trinity College, Cambridge, England, George Herbert excelled in languages and music. After the death of King James and at the urging of a friend, Herbert's interest in ordained ministry was renewed. In 1630, in his late thirties he gave up his secular ambitions and took holy orders in the Church of England, spending the rest of his life as a rector of the little parish of Fugglestone St Peter with Bemerton St Andrew, near Salisbury...Herbert has a window honouring him in Westminster Abbey.

Now, for Dr. Doerksen's study.

Doerksen, Daniel W. "George Herbert, Calvinism, and Reading "Mattens." Christianity & Literature 59, no. 3 (Spring2010 2010): 437-451. Academic Search Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed November 14, 2010).

What you will not hear at many Anglican websites, blogs or news centers, p. 438.

"Historian Anthony Milton, in an important book on the Church of England from 1600-1640, defines English Calvinism as `a general sympathy with the continental Reformed tradition in all its purely doctrinal aspects, and a sense of identification with the West European Calvinist Churches and their fortunes' (8). This definition silently acknowledges that other writers, such as Bucer and Bullnger, and of course English ones, were influential in the movement. Milton also recognizes that Calvinism, like other aspects of the Early Modern Church of England, comprised a range of views, and changed as it developed. Milton's definition of Calvinism easily includes Herbert, who had an enduring `interest in the success of international Protestantism' (Malcolmson 21) - an interest not shared by the Laudians.' More specifically, English Calvinism had a doctrinal core of Protestant theology, emphasizing God's grace."

Oh no!  Can’t be. Calvin's works, the most popular books in England, the most dominant influence at Cambridge and Oxford. What you will not hear at most Anglican websites, blogs or news centers, said to include, but not limited to: David Virtue, www.virtueonline.org,  Anglican Mainstream, BabyblueRose, GAFCON, Anglican Things, Stand Firm, Thinking Anglican, Old High Churchman, and a host of other sites including American ones--AMiA, ACNA, etc.

"According to Pettegree, a tally of the revised Short Title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, 1475-1640 indicates that English editions of Calvin's works "easily outstripped all other continental writers, and dwarfed the production of native English theologians" (281). Pettegree reports that Leedham-Green's substantial survey of books recorded in Cambridge wills, carefully analyzed, confirms `the preeminent position of Calvin as the dominant theological influence in Elizabethan England" (280). Also, he cites Francis Higman's bibliographical studies showing that England was `far and away the biggest market for Calvin's work in translation.' Calvin's Institutes and Catechism became required reading at the universities."

On the other hand, Calvinism and Episcopacy, something--indubitably--one does not hear from Dutch and Scots Calvinists in their forums. p.439  (Ditto from Anglican sources).  Back to Dr. Doerksen.

"Also, although Calvin had definite views on church structure, he did not insist that churches in Poland or England should give up episcopacy or adopt Genevan liturgy (Prestwich 2). Instead he recognized the Word preached and the Sacraments duly administered as the essentials of the church (as do the English 39 Articles), and said that other matters could be patterned differently in different nations and times {Inst. 4.10.30). Accordingly, Calvin's teachings were welcomed in England, where the leading clergy, and not just puritans, whole-heartedly accepted Calvinist theology. Still, some English clergy wanted to adopt Genevan liturgical or disciplinary practices. When Queen Elizabeth resisted such changes, puritans objected, and protested in varying degrees. Most, however, stayed within the Church of England, and when King James showed willingness to tolerate moderate puritans who were good preachers, they in turn were willing in varying degrees to accept the rule of bishops and to follow some of the Prayer Book practices. Some, like Richard Sibbes, conformed fully, in spite of their own preferences. Calvinists in the English church, both puritans and conformists, formed what has been called a `Calvinist consensus,' influential at the very center of the Jacobean church, but coming under attack by Laudians from the mid-1620s on."

Most Elizabethan and Jacobean Bishops were Calvinists in the main, excluded, 439. Positively horrifying news!

Historians have given much attention to the dissenting puritans but have tended to neglect the moderate Calvinist conformists or episcopalians in the church, who were happy with a combination of Calvinist theology, episcopacy, and Book of Common Prayer liturgy. This group included archbishops, many bishops (Collinson 82), and people like Herbert and Donne.'' Stanley Stewart correctly points out that Herbert differed from Calvin about Lent ("Priest" 169-71), without realizing that this does not make him an anti-Calvinist. Calvinist episcopalians, including most Elizabethan and Jacobean bishops, similarly agreed to differ with Calvin on a matter not of the essence, even if important. Calvin, as Donne knew, was a significantly undogmatic interpreter of scripture {Sermons 6.301).

In context, some authors, e.g. in literature and history, due to an abhorrence of Calvinism, attempt to claim there were no Calvinists in the Church of England, but Daniel Doerksen affirms otherwise, 440.

"...but that is not what the historians tell us; they affirm that all the post-Reformation Archbishops of Canterbury before Laud were doctrinally Calvinist. It is probably more useful to have `true Calvinism' defined by someone not vigorously opposing it. Young speaks of Calvinist `rigor' (10), and `the most extreme Reformation tenets' (35).Undoubtedly, some Calvinists were extreme, but the Calvinism relevant to Herbert is moderate. Calvin himself emphatically taught moderation (Wallace 170-92)."

In context of a larger analysis of George Herbert, the author draws this conclusion to his article, p.446.

"Herbert is an amazing poet, never to be explained away by any reference to the backgrounds on which he draws. However, this reading should open a few doors to further exploration. Taking its title from the Book of Common Prayer, and key elements of its substance from a reading of the Psalms and Genesis like Calvin's, `Mattens' demonstrates how well English Calvinism, properly understood, could be integrated in Herbert's Church of England."

Mr. (Anglican Abp.) Peter Jensen: "Why I Am a Protestant Christian"

Peter Jensen - Why I am a Protestant Christian from Audio Advice on Vimeo.

1-Hr. Video. Mr. (Anglican Abp.) Peter Jensen: "Why I Am a Reformed Christian"

Peter Jensen - Why I am a Reformed Christian from Audio Advice on Vimeo.

Rev. Augustus Toplady: "Justification by Faith Alone"

Someone asked about “Reformed Anglicans” on a couple of views.  As a “Post-Anglican,” whatever that means, that does not entail “throwing the baby out with the wash.”  It does mean draining the dirty tub from time to time.  So glad to be retired, not need an income from anyone, and with no need to report or answer to anybody.  Also, our lovely TEC Rector doesn’t mind much about theology;  we live in quietness.  

So, indulge my confusions and tensions graciously.  I confess to having confusions.  I have an old BCP and hold to the Westminster Standards. But, back to the questioner from yesterday, a “Reformed Anglican.” Here's an example from better years.   

I came across—today—another wonderful hymn by the Rev. or Mr. Augustus Montague Toplady (1740-1778), a Church of England man, a stern antagonist to the “Arminian and High Anglican,” the Rev. or Mr. John Wesley.  While at Oxford, John was known as a “high  Anglican” (what we call doctrinally and abysmally “low”).  Some have ascribed that to old John. So high, in fact, that he was “methodical.” Things might have been different, if the Church of England had been more sober, more reflective, and more scholarly, but no, they ditched the Westminster Standards in their extremism and enthusiasm in 1662. But I digress.

Of all things, the “Anglican hymn” by Toplady is found in the “Presbyterian hymnal.”  Never mind the 1982 TEC hymnal: it’s gone. Poof!  Too much!  And never mind asking Bob of Pittsburgh about it!  Or, Jack Iker either.  

A minor annoyance with the Presbyterians is that they “filed” the hymn under “adoption,” a category not to be seen in the Anglican hymnal or heard amongst them.  The hymn should have been filed under “justification by faith alone.”  It’s a classic, in my estimation.

Here is old Augustus’s hymn; it’s sung to the tune of St. Matthew, C.M.D.; of course, it is a “liturgical hymn;” that is, the Presbyterians are often mis-caricatured as having “no liturgy.”  Or, impugning these statesman as producing only a “spectator religion” with an “auditorium” only.  Such people fail to see the “Amen” at the end of the hymn  and fail to see that the 1982 TEC lacks—entirely—“Amens” at the end of the hymns; in other words, these hymns are liturgical for those inclined to lack of insight. 

I’m not sure old Toplady can be improved. 
 

Here’s old Toplady. 

1.  Fountain of never-ceasing grace,

Thy saints’ exhausting theme,

Great Object of immortal praises,

Essentially supreme,

We bless Thee for the glorious fruits,

Thine incarnation gives,

The righteousness which grace imputes,

And by faith alone receives.

 

2.  In thee we have a righteousness,

By God Himself approved,

Our Rock, our Sure Foundation this,

Which never can be moved.

Our ransom by Thy people giv’n,

The law Thou perfectly obeyed,

That they might enter heav’n.

 

3.  As all, when Adam sinned alone,

In his transgression died,

So by the righteousness of One,

Are sinners justified,

We to Thy merit, gracious Lord,

With humblest joy submit,

Again to Paradise restored,

In Thee alone complete. Amen.

We would also recommend reading Rev. or Mr. Toplady’s “Historic Proof of Doctrinal Calvinism in the Church of England.”  However, institutionally, the Church of England must be abandoned—keeping the baby, a Reformed Prayer Book with a Reformed Confession, but ditching the dirt and draining the dirty water.  They’ll never recover barring divine intervention.  Here’s the URL if desired. Cheers!


FWIW.  

http://books.google.com/books?id=vHhOAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=augustus+toplady+calvinism+church+of+england&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ofXdUc8F8cjgA5yWgJAE&ved=0CDEQ6AEwAA 

 

An Anglican Cleric--Actually, Really-- Believes in Predestination

 

Life has simple surprises.  Here's another Anglican clergyman who--yes, sit down and take a deep breath--actually believes in Article 17 and Predestination.  Most of them, in my experience, wouldn't know or care about it much like other Reformation themes.  Nor would the parishioners, thanks to the clerics.  This Anglican clergyman actually says this: 

"Arminianism is a serious compromise of the gospel. It may not simply be erroneous but, when carefully analysed, be deemed to be heretical."

 

 

He actually said, "Heretical." 

 

Also, the highlight and bold in the text below is in the original. 

http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=16518


ARTICLE XVII - PREDESTINATION: PASTORAL RATHER THAN POLEMICAL
By Roger Salter
Special to Virtueonlinewww.virtueonline.org
Sept. 13, 2012

The purpose of Article XVII is primarily pastoral. The intention of the leaders of the English Reformation was to address the common people for the edification of the whole church rather than engage in speculative theology and disputation. They pursued their academic tasks in another context e.g. William Whitaker versus Peter Baro who objected to the doctrine of an unconditional election.

Their aim in the Article was to entice believers to an assurance and enjoyment of their God-appointed state of salvation through grace alone. Predestination was a definite truth of divine revelation to be humbly received, but it had practical implications that required wise counsel and sensitive guidance. It was not beyond the competence of the English Reformers to consider issues such as supra-lapsarianism versus infra-lapsarianism, or to weigh theories, later formulated logically in the 17th century by Amyraut and Pajon, as to the extent of the atonement or the nature of effective grace.

The English were as astute and as bold as their Continental confreres. Their priority was not to prove or debate predestination in the Augustinian sense for that was already agreed. Their aim was to propose and propound the security of the true believer in the love of Christ and promote the "sweet, pleasant, and unspeakable comfort" the doctrine affords as the ground for its proclamation. It is an eternal election effected in and through Christ. Sovereign mercy is the theme. Before time was the "names" of the elect were associated with the Lord Jesus in the mind of God for prospective union with the Beloved, and when the time was right the Lord Jesus accomplished all that was necessary to re-unite the predestined ones with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit forever.

The way of salvation (or ordo salutis, as some folk prefer to say) as outlined in Romans 8:28-30 is repeated in the Article. The eternal decree is fulfilled in consecutive stages. Salvation, conceived in eternity, is wrought in time. The elect are called, justified, adopted, sanctified, and in due time glorified. The record of their election is sealed in the exercise of faith, the sanctification of their lives, and the witness of the Spirit - these signs are not always consciously recognized by believers.

The necessity for encouragement is ministered to in the second paragraph. The grace of God may be observed and felt in the life of the Christian if the conscience is kept clear and the course of life is lovingly obedient. There are of course pastoral situations that are more complicated where sensitive or disturbed minds are concerned, or inconsistencies of thought and behaviour are present. But confirmation of a gracious state is pledged to the careful enquirer: Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure (2 Peter 1:10).

Just as balm is applied to humble and believing souls so warnings are announced to irreverent and incautious persons who pry into into the eternal determinations of God. Christ is the focus of the elect and also the earnest enquirer. Humility is the approach to the secrets of the Lord - not attitudinal and intellectual hubris. Curiosity and pride become the tools of the devil in his onslaughts upon the soul causing desperation that engenders a sense of hopelessness and futility in spiritual matters or a daring in reckless godlessness. Forebodings derived from misreadings of providence or dark introspection are to be avoided. They are the snares of the evil one who knows only too well our susceptibilities and vulnerabilities.The Article's universal advice to folk in any condition is to look to Christ and appeal for his mercy with persistence and patience.

Casual speech or unfeeling, cold, and over-confident debate concerning election and reprobation are unseemly and potentially injurious. However, the doctrine is not to be concealed. It stimulates the fear and seeking of God. It confronts us with our helplessness and casts us upon God. It reinforces the fact that the central problem in the plight of man is his possession of a fallen will that is entirely and incurably averse and antipathetical to anything to do with God and his goodness apart from the unbidden intervention of grace.

Such an awareness necessitates an open acknowledgement of predestination if we are to encounter lost humanity on the basis of gospel candour. Biblical particularism exalts God's majesty and dominion over all things in a most salutary way. And although the election of grace highlights our wretchedness as guilty rebels before God it does not permit us to regard the ultimately reprobate as either identifiable or "trash".

Sometimes the doctrine of predestination seems to be interpreted as license to vent misanthropic sentiment or personal spiritual arrogance and superiority. Perdition is a tragedy given the human vocation to bear the image of God defaced in our fall. Charles Spurgeon makes it clear that the sentence of damnation will be uttered with divine respect for the creatures that veered away so seriously from their original purpose: "While I believe in eternal punishment, and must, or throw away my Bible, I also believe that God will give to the lost every consideration, consistent with his love. There is nothing vindictive in him, nor can there be in his punishment of the ungodly (Charles H. Spurgeon, London's Most Popular Preacher, W.Y. Fullerton, Moody Press, pages 151 - 152). "Lord", Spurgeon was heard to pray, "save your elect and then elect some more".

Article XV11 is directed to the hesitant who seek the infinite consolation of rescue through Christ and also to the hardened who are impervious to his overtures of compassion. It is not a guide to strictly dogmatic theology as such and a solution to even legitimate controversy. It establishes how Anglican pastors should preach and deal with precious souls. It is founded in Scriptural truth but it blends divine and human compassion for the lost by wooing the penitent and warning the impenitent. It urges us to an experiential knowledge of God and weans us away from the tendency to abstract theology void of humane concern. The tone is expressive of electing love, love that chooses. Its exhortation is empirical - are you receptive of or resistant to the mercy of God?

The imperfect understanding of the hesitant causes them to summon all the negatives they can think of to exclude themselves from the mercy of God. Their minds are still fixated on merit although they do not intend to be of that persuasion. They need to be educated in the thought patterns of Holy Scripture and come to agree with Blaise Pascal that if you desire God you already have him: "You would not seek me if you had not already found me." (The Mystery of Jesus). The powerful change of desire and affection that creates and disposes the will to know and trust Christ is the supernatural work of God in the hearts of the elect sovereignly selected and separated from the mass of sinful mankind. Prescience is not the ground for marking out certain ones for eternal life but the divine prerogative to favour whom he will (Acts 13:48).

As Augustine avers, the will has to be prepared for assent to Christ as Saviour prior to its volitional and free consent and then assisted all the way thereafter. Regeneration is the Spirit's sovereign deed. The consequence is that the predestined ultimately attain that for which the renewed heart intensely yearns. The non-elect manifest that they are such by their continued and final rejection of God. They spurn his grace, refusing what they do not desire (These are the Scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. John 5:40), and mock his justice, impugning unfairness to him and blaming him for the exercise of absolute sovereignty (One of you will say to me, "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will? Romans 9:19). The elect and the non-elect, determined by the will of God, gain exactly what they incline towards - the acceptance or absence of God. To describe the disposition of the elect and non-elect throughout the course of this life is no concession to Arminianism or conditional election. Nor is greater consistency in Biblical particularism gained through assuming Supra-lapsarianism, which may or may not be correct, but seems unlikely (See B.B. Warfield, The Plan of Salvation). Election and rejection in Scripture are always treated in relation to human sin and the remedy of the gospel. "Oh, how self-condemned must the man be who says that the gospel is true, and the gospel is free, and saying that, stays away from God." (John "Rabbi" Duncan).

"The obstinacy of men rejects the grace which has been provided, and which God willingly and bountifully offers" (John Calvin, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets, Calvin Translation Society: repr. Banner of Truth, 1986, vol 1, pp 476-7). The paradox in Scripture is that God selects whom he will favour and yet he still summons those whom he chooses to pass by (For I take no pleasure in the death of anyone. Ezekiel 18:32 cf 18:23, Do I take pleasure in the death of the wicked? & 33:11, As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn. Turn from your evil ways. Why will you die, O house of Israel? If it is pointed out that God is addressing Israel as his chosen we note Paul's observation that, "Not all who are descended from Israel are Israel", Romans 9:6. See also Matthew 23:37, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem".  Arminianism is a serious compromise of the gospel. It may not simply be erroneous but, when carefully analysed, be deemed to be heretical. It diminishes the efficiency and sufficiency of the Lord Jesus, reducing his stature and accomplishment as almighty and reliable Redeemer. It touches negatively and disparagingly on so many vital points of soteriological doctrine as virtually to make man his own saviour if its assertions are to be taken seriously. Arminians themselves may be friends and worthy advocates of the gospel, as no doubt many of them are, but the opinions they espouse, when isolated and examined, are foes of the gospel of grace.

Simeon's famous rapport with Wesley is charitable and right in terms of Christian brotherliness, but alleged compatibility in doctrine seems to be based on the common confusion, twofold, of responsibility with ability, and the sincerity of the gospel offer with special grace that achieves its aim. It is gently, and not judgementally observed that due to the well-intentioned truce with Wesley the seepage of Simeonism has adversely affected the witness of Reformed Anglicanism, causing it to be more of a matter of private conviction rather than public proclamation. If Arminianism is, objectively and accurately, determined to be unscriptural and contrary to the doctrine of grace then can it be condoned by Anglicanism and its clergy who are instructed at ordination, "To banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to God's Word" (The Ordinal)? According to Thomas Aquinas, a convinced predestinarian, those who teach others, "are bound to believe explicitly more things than others are".


The Rev. Roger Salter is an ordained Church of England minister where he had parishes in the dioceses of Bristol and Portsmouth before coming to Birmingham, Alabama to serve as Rector of St. Matthew's Anglican Church

Thomas Becon (1512-1567): Cambridge Don, Prebend (Canterbury) & English Reformer

http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/3756/Becon-Thomas-1512-1567.html

 Thomas Becon (1512–1567) - BIOGRAPHY, MAJOR WORKS AND THEMES, CRITICAL RECEPTION

Thomas Becon is one of those writers whom students of English history and literature invariably see, when they look at the writers at all, as examples of the “incipient Puritanism” of the mid-Tudor dynasty. One of the most prolific of the first generation of English Protestant divines, Becon wrote dozens of works aimed initially at providing devotional guides to the new faith during the 1540s but later added explicitly catechetical and polemical strands to his bow as monarchs and circumstances changed. His collected edition published in the 1560s runs to three long folio volumes. By the time of his death in 1567, he had written over thirty works, not including various collections of prayers and sermons, and several of his more fortunate pieces ran to multiple editions.

Born around 1512 near Thetford, Norfolk, Becon entered Cambridge in 1527 at a time when the university was known for its Lutheran leanings. He appears to have been turned to the new learning by Hugh Latimer, with whom he is often compared, with some justification: both were homilists rather than theologians, and both were tremendously popular. After he left Cambridge with his B.A. in 1531, he joined the community of religious scholars at the College of St. John Evangelist in Rushworth, close to his home, and was there ordained priest in 1533. He seems to have left before the house ascribed to the oath acknowledging the royal supremacy in 1534, for his signature is not among the members who affirmed the schism. By 1538 Becon had attracted the patronage of Thomas Lord Wentworth of Nettlestead (who helped bring John Bale into the Protestant fold) and was plying the circuit between Norwich and London as an intinerant preacher. The conservative backlash in 1540 forced him into the first of his two recantations, and he retreated to the relative security of layman’s clothing and pseudonymous publication, which he left only when Henry VIII died. Three years before his books were officially condemned in 1546, he was forced to cut them up in his second recantation at Paul’s Cross. From that time until Edward VI’s accession, Becon once again became itinerant—this time drifting among households of Protestant gentry in the Midlands, educating children and servants and writing.

After Edward’s accession, Becon attracted the patronage of Edward Seymour, the lord protector, and left his rural retreats for St. Stephen’s Walbrook in London. His theology, which formerly had been Lutheran and rather circumspect concerning the Eucharist, calcified into Zwinglianism—perhaps as a result of his exposure to the daunting intellectual household of the protector whose chaplain he had become. His writings, now under his real name, make explicit and predictable connections between Reformed theology and the acute social problems then current. Perhaps as a result of his many years on foot among the rural laborers, Becon’s Edwardine works voice a guarded but laudable sympathy for the poor.

Under Mary, Becon spent some time in the Tower, then fled abroad. He adopted a moderate stance in the theological tussles between Cox’s moderation and the Calvinism of John Knox* that divided the English exiles on the Continent. Eventually, in 1556, Becon found himself in a familiar position as domestic tutor to the household of Philip, Langrave of Hesse. He continued to write exhortatory works for an English audience as well as undistinguished Latin polemics for a Continental readership, but his pen was sharpened by the company he kept—notably John Foxe and John Bale. Convinced that Mary’s persecutions were proof of God’s direct and unmistakable punishment for the failure of the Reformation under Edward, Becon was ready to join the chorus of her champions in proclaiming Elizabeth* as the English Deborah. While many of the more rigorous former exiles were led to Calvinist nonconformism and even active opposition to the Elizabethan settlement, Becon lived out his days after her accession as a minor prebendary in Canterbury, patronized by Matthew Parker, collecting income as a nonresident pastor from his several cures in London and elsewhere.

 

MAJOR WORKS AND THEMES

 

Becon’s works fall most easily into two groups—the homiletic or devotional and the polemical, both of whose margins bristle with scriptural references. He also compiled and published lists of Protestant proof-texts and “commonplaces,” translated Continental Protestant authors into English, and composed lengthy prayers and sermons, many of which are found in the various official formularies of Edward VI and Elizabeth. His early devotional pieces include a sequence of dialogues superficially modeled after Erasmus’* Colloquies . The similarities are strictly formal—in his A Christmas Banquet (1542) he draws the setting, the sequence, and even many of the names of the interlocutors from Erasmus’ A Godly Feast (1522). Unfortunately, he passes over the irony, the complexity, the verbal dexterity and, of course, the humanist leaning of his model in favor of a prolix and transparent Protestant catechesis whose rhetorical simplicity and signal distrust of figurative speech are its most prominent features. Becon’s forte as a popularizer perhaps resulted from his homiletic style, and many of his works are really little more than sermons in print.

By the time it became necessary to educate the second generation of English Protestants, distrust in the virtues of a classical curriculum was widespread among the more evangelical. The impact of Becon’s efforts under Elizabeth in shaping the emerging generation has yet to be assessed, but his views on the utility of non-Christian authors are unmistakable. His educational works, such as the later New Catechism (c. 1560), bring the genre of the humanist dialogue to its knees: in it, a father expounds on the repugnance of Ovid and other pagan authors while his six-year-old son cites approvingly (if somewhat hypocritically) Plato’s expulsion of “poets” from his ideal commonwealth. Lucian, whose ironies and ambiguities delighted both More* and Erasmus only a generation earlier, is delated as especially wicked. Becon’s antihumanist attitude is seen most clearly in the introduction to his collected works, published in 1560, where he chastises English schools for teaching “the profane and strange letters of the wanton poets, lying historiographers, prattling sophisters, babbling orators, vain philosophers” (Ayre, vol. 1, p. 10) instead of an exclusive focus on sacred Christian texts as they once did in the golden apostolic age and now do in Germany.

Becon’s polemics, such as his The Monstrous Merchandise of the Romish Bishops and his Displaying of the Popish Mass , reflect the chiliastic theology then popular among returning exiles and draw from the common stock of Protestant diatribe. But they were never as popular as his devotional pieces or his prayers. An inventory of Tudor-Stuart private libraries reveals quite a few works by Becon, including his best-selling contribution to the ars moriendi genre, The Sick Man’s Salve .

CRITICAL RECEPTION

Perhaps the soporific effect of his prose is responsible for the relative absence of scholarly attention to this quintessentially Tudor writer. Yet Becon’s acknowledged popularity suggests we can learn much from a study of his works and the ironies of his career. A creature of the new technology of print, Becon owes his popularity to a medium he exploits yet repeatedly condemns. He imitates writers whose works he censures and whose rhetorical forms he laments but imitates. Like those of his colleagues Bale and Foxe,* Becon’s writings helped shape generations of English piety. Ayre’s edition of his collected works is the only one available, and it deliberately omits several polemical pieces offensive to nineteenth-century decorum. Only one study—a biography—treats his theology in any depth, and it is now badly out of date. With the rising interest in the history of print and its relationship to the popular culture of the English Reformation, attention to Becon’s works promises to be rewarding.


Read more: Becon, Thomas (1512–1567) - BIOGRAPHY, MAJOR WORKS AND THEMES, CRITICAL RECEPTION - English, Becon’s, Protestant, and Time - JRank Articles http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/3756/Becon-Thomas-1512-1567.html#ixzz23LXQdg53

Dr. R. Scott Clark: "The History of Covenant Theology"

One of those must-buys and must-haves.

From one of the very few trusted voices in the nation and Reformed Churchmanship, an accolade I do not post much, if ever, including R.C. Sproul Sr. (host to Anabaptists at Ligonier Ministries.)  Yet, Ligonier has hosted Scott, thankfully.  Ligonier has dropped the ball with their truculent Baptyerianism.  So has "Ligon `my ole friend' Duncan" with his Baptyerians and southern Presbyterian-revivalist ways. They lack courage to confront the sectarians and schismatics. Thank you Dr. Clark.  Marines like courage.

http://www.ligonier.org/learn/articles/history-covenant-theology/

The History of Covenant Theology

by R. Scott Clark

Until recently, it was widely held that covenant theology was created in the middle of the seventeenth century by theologians such as Johannes Cocceius (1609–1669). In fact, covenant theology is nothing more or less than the theology of the Bible. It is also the theology of the Reformed confessions. In the history of theology, the elements of what we know as covenant theology; the covenant of redemption before time between the persons of the Trinity, the covenant of works with Adam, and the covenant of grace after the fall; have existed since the early church.


Indeed, Reformed readers who turn to the early church fathers (c. 100–500 AD) might be surprised to see how frequently they used language and thought patterns that we find very familiar. The covenant theology of the fathers stressed the unity of the covenant of grace, the superiority of the new covenant over the old (Mosaic) covenant, and that, because Jesus is the true seed of Abraham, all Christians, whether Jewish or Gentile, are Abraham’s children. They also stressed the moral obligations of membership in the covenant of grace.


The covenant theology of the medieval church (c. 500–1500 ad) was related to that of the early fathers but distinct in certain ways. In response to the criticism that Christianity gave rise to immorality, the early church tended to speak about the history of redemption as the story of two laws, the old (Moses) and the new (Christ). They tended to speak of grace as the power to keep the law in order to be justified.


This habit only increased in the medieval church. The major theologians argued that God can only call people righteous if they are actually, inherently, righteous. This, they thought, will happen when sinners are infused with grace, and cooperate with that grace, so that they become saints. In this scheme, sanctification is justification, faith is obedience, and doubt is of the essence of faith.
In medieval covenant theology the word “covenant” became synonymous with “law.” They did not speak of a covenant of works and a covenant of grace, as we do. Rather the grace of the covenant enables one to keep the law.


Late in the medieval period, some theologians began to stress the idea that God has given a kind of grace to all humans and made a covenant so that “to those who do what is in them, God does not deny grace.” In effect, God helps those who help themselves. The Reformation would not only reform the covenant theology of the early fathers, but wage full-scale war on the covenant theology of the medieval church.


When he rejected the medieval doctrine of salvation by cooperation with grace, Martin Luther (1483–1546) rejected the old law/new law understanding of redemptive history. He came to understand that all of Scripture has two ways of speaking, law and gospel. The law demands perfect obedience, and the gospel announces Christ’s perfect obedience to that law, his death and his resurrection for his people.


Not long after Luther came to his Protestant views, others were already reforming covenant theology along Protestant lines. In the early 1520s, the Swiss Reformed theologian Johannes Oecolampadius (1482–1531) was teaching what would later become known as “the covenant of redemption” between the Father and the Son from all eternity. He also distinguished between the covenant of works as a legal covenant and the covenant of grace as a gracious covenant. A few years later Heinrich Bullinger (1504–75) published the first Protestant book devoted to explaining the covenant of grace. Like the early fathers, this work stressed the graciousness and unity of the covenant of grace.


John Calvin (1509–1564) had a robust covenant theology and taught the substance of the more highly developed federal theology including the covenant of redemption in eternity, the covenant of works before the fall, and the covenant of grace after the fall.
The post-Reformation theologians after Calvin faced severe challenges, namely a resurgent Roman church, Arminianism, and Amyraldism, that forced them to articulate a more detailed covenant theology. They had to explain not only the history of salvation, but how that history relates to our understanding how sinners are justified and sanctified.


The Reformed theologians in Heidelberg did this by weaving together the threads left by the earlier Protestants. Two of the most important Reformed covenant theologians of the late sixteenth century were the chief authors of the Heidelberg Catechism (1563), Zacharias Ursinus (1534–1583) and Caspar Olevianus (1536–1587). Ursinus began his covenant theology with the covenant of works in which Adam could have entered a state of eternal blessedness by obeying the law. Transgression of that law-covenant meant eternal punishment.


According to Ursinus, in his obedience for the elect, Christ fulfilled the covenant of works and bore their punishment. On this basis God made a covenant of grace with sinners. The message of the covenant of grace is the Gospel of undeserved favor for sinners.
This was the focus of Caspar Olevianus influential book, On the Substance of the Covenant of Grace Between God and the Elect (1585). He taught that the covenant of grace can be considered in a broader and narrower sense. In the narrower sense, the covenant can be said to have been made only with the elect. It is the elect who are united to Christ by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone, who receive the benefits of the covenant, strictly speaking.


Since only God knows who is elect, in its administration, the covenant of grace, considered broadly, can be said to be with all the baptized. Therefore we baptize on the basis of the divine command and promise, and we regard covenant children (before profession of faith) and all who make a credible profession of faith as Christians until they prove otherwise. Those who are in the covenant only in this broader sense or externally, do receive some of the benefits of the covenant (Heb. 6:4–6), but they do not receive what Olevian called the “substance of the covenant,” or the “double benefit” of the covenant: justification and sanctification. Only those who are elect actually appropriate, by grace alone, through faith alone, the “double benefit” of the covenant of grace.


Two of the most developed covenant theologies of the seventeenth century were those of Johannes Cocceius (1609–1669) and Herman Witsius (1636–1708). They taught the covenants of redemption, works, and grace, and they used the biblical covenants as ways organizing redemptive history. Most other Reformed theologians, in Europe and Britain taught theology using the same categories. This was also the covenant theology of the Westminster Confession of Faith and catechisms.


The confessional Reformed theologians in the modern period (for example, the Princeton theologians) followed the outlines of the covenant theology of the Reformation and post-Reformation periods. Nevertheless, there has been considerable confusion about covenant theology since the nineteenth century. Some of this has been due to the influence of the Swiss theologian Karl Barth (1886–1968). He rejected much of classic Reformed covenant theology as legalistic, “scholastic,” and unbiblical. Judged by historical standards, much of the rest of covenant theology in the twentieth century must be judged to be idiosyncratic as well. By the middle of the twentieth century, several influential Reformed theologians in the Netherlands and in North America had rejected the covenants of redemption and works. Others argued that there is no narrow/broader distinction in the covenant of grace. Other revisions or rejections of orthodox covenant theology include the so-called Federal Vision movement that not only rejects the covenant of redemption; it rejects the distinction between law and gospel and the distinction between the covenants of works and grace. According to them, every baptized person is elect and united to Christ through baptism, but this election and union can be forfeited through faithlessness.


In sum, throughout the history of the church there has always been a theology of the covenants. The Reformation recovery of the Gospel and the biblical distinction between grace and works made it possible for Reformed theology to construct a detailed and fruitful covenant theology.


The experiments of the modern period, in doing away with the covenants of redemption and works, have tended to turn the covenant of grace into a legal covenant. Conflating the covenants of works and grace confuses law and gospel, which is the very foundational distinction of the Reformation and the Gospel. Instead of making Reformed theology more gracious and Christ-centered, as promised, the revisions actually lead to more self-centered theology.


There are encouraging signs, however. Some recent biblical scholarship has called attention to the existence of ancient Near Eastern treaties that illumine the biblical covenants of works and grace. Historical theology has renewed its study of the original sources of Reformed covenant theology, which is helping to recover the classical and confessional covenant theology of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries in our time.

Cranmer's Curate: Oak Hill, Wycliffe Hall (Oxford) and Ridley Hall (Cambridge)

WHY OAK HILL STRUGGLES FOR SUPPORT

There are historical reasons why Oak Hill, the Reformed Anglican theological college in north London, struggles to get the backing of English conservative evangelicals. The roots of the current problem lie in the Oxbridge focus of late Victorian Anglican evangelical leaders such as J.C. Ryle.

Regularly select preacher at both Oxbridge universities in the 1870s, Ryle was instrumental in founding Wycliffe Hall, Oxford in 1877 and Ridley Hall, Cambridge in 1881. Oxbridge was chosen as the strategic location for these residential clerical training colleges, laudably established as evangelical strongholds against the growing influence of Anglo-Catholicism in the national Church.

In the 20th century, the trajectory of Ryle's Oxbridge strategy led to the establishment of the Iwerne Minster ministry in the 1930s. This work was based on evangelistic holiday camps for boys from the top 30 English public schools. Iwerne's professed strategy was to reach the few in order to reach the many.

For more, see:

http://cranmercurate.blogspot.com/2012/03/why-oak-hill-struggles-for-support_14.html

Robin Jordan: Vision of Reformed North American Anglican Church

http://anglicansablaze.blogspot.com/2011/12/vision-of-reformed-north-american.html

A Vision of a Reformed North American Anglican Church

 

By Robin G. Jordan

What is needed in North America is an Anglican Church that:

1. Is unwavering in its commitment to the authority of the Scriptures and the Anglican formularies. There is a clear need for an Anglican Church in which the centrality of the Scriptures to the Christian life is recognized, in which the Scriptures are taken seriously as God’s word to humankind, in which the authority of the Thirty-Nine Articles is acknowledged without equivocation as coming from their agreement with the teaching of Scripture and acceptance of their authority is unhesitatingly affirmed as constitutive of Anglican identity.

2. Is wholeheartedly devoted to the fulfillment of the Great Commission, to the task of making disciples, preaching the gospel, proclaiming the message of repentance and forgiveness of sins, and participating in God’s mission in and through Jesus, to the task of reaching all the nations and all the world. More than ever is there a pressing need for an Anglican Church for the congregations and clergy of whom the work of evangelism in its many forms is both their first priority and their second nature.

3. Truly values and practices responsible, synodical church government. Responsible church government is not autocratic. It is constitutional and governed by the rule of law. Those occupying positions of authority and leadership are answerable for what their actions. Synodical church government is based upon the principle that the government of the Christian community properly belongs under God to the whole Church, clergy and laity together, and not exclusively to bishops. The role of a bishop is not that of “a lord over God’s heritage.” Rather his role is that of a presiding officer who shares in the governance of the Church with synods and other bodies of godly clergy and laity. His central task is to preach and teach the Word of God. Whatever spiritual gift of oversight he exercises is in “the form of sound advice and wise judgment” in matters affecting the Church.

God was behind the spiritual movement that lay at the heart of the Reformation, in England as well as on the Continent. It was the Holy Spirit that led men like Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Thomas Cranmer to rediscover the gospel and realize its full implications. It was the Holy Spirit who inspired them to reform the Church in accordance with the teaching of Scripture. As the apostle Paul wrote the Church in Philippi, “…it is God who works in you to will and act according to his good purpose” (Philippians 2:13, NIV 1978). God raises up in every generation those who take with due seriousness the words that he has spoken and that he caused to be written for us.

God has permitted developments that not only call attention to the need for a reformed Anglican Church in North America but also create opportunities for its establishment. There have been several false starts—a number of Anglican entities built upon the wrong foundation. But here are opportunities to erect a new Anglican Church on the solid base of the Scriptures, the Anglican formularies, the Great Commission, and responsible, synodical church government. May God give us the courage, discernment, and wisdom to seize these opportunities and make the best use of them and not to squander them.

Memorize Westminster Shorter Catechism in 90 Days

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/westminster-shorter-catechism/id357433595?mt=8

Memorize the Westminster Shorter Catechism in 90 days.  It's an i-tunes/ipad application rather than the flashcard method (or the one this scribe used decades ago...straight from the text itself).

Young American Anglicans: CBN Story

URL and youtube explanation on young American Anglicans.  It's worth watching.  Imagine young Americans, fed in the revivalist and non-confessionalist culture, finding whiffs, hints, scents and traces of Anglicanism bracing and helpful.  Who would have thought it? (Hints and traces of Anglicanism in America are the few residuals left these days.)

http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2011/December/Anglican-Fever-Youth-Flock-to-New-Denomination-/

The story carried at the uber-charismatic outlet, CBN, or Pat Robertson's 700 Club--of all places.  "Anglican Fever" is the title.  "Fever," a good word choice by CBN and an expected one--enthusiasm.  "Anglican Substance" would have been better.   The story is found at http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/us/2011/December/Anglican-Fever-Youth-Flock-to-New-Denomination-/


CHICAGO -- For decades young people have flocked to seeker-friendly churches that feature culturally relevant services and a casual environment.

Now, a new denomination that emphasizes tradition and centuries-old sacraments and practices is drawing them in.

The Anglican Church in North America (ACNA) officially began in 2009 with hundreds of congregations that severed ties with the Episcopal Church.

In Albany Park on Chicago's north side, a group of college students and recent graduates have started one of the ACNA's newest church plants.

They worship on Sunday afternoons, renting a church building that's close to several university campuses.

New Denomination, Old Worship

While the congregants are casually dressed, the service has a more formal, liturgical feel and the students that CBN News spoke with say that's exactly what they like.

"I love the emphasis on Scripture. I love that we read four long passages every Sunday so you really ingest a lot of scripture each Sunday," said Andie Roeder, who studies at Moody Bible Institute.

"And I love the way it's interactive so there's a call and a response and you get to pray back and forth," she said.

Deacon Mike Niebauer, who oversees both the Albany Park congregation and one at Northwestern University in Evanston, said the liturgy builds community and helps students who often long to be connected.

"I think it's easy for so many people, especially young people, to feel like they're not anchored anywhere, not rooted in anything, particularly people who are very mobile" he said.

"So the idea that the church traces its roots back and its worship back 2,000 years to this very day is I think something that's very attractive," he said.

Anglican Fever

Archbishop Robert Duncan dubbed the movement "Anglican fever" in an address to the Lausanne Congress last year.

CBN News spoke with Anglican leaders who are witnessing college communities springing up, from Florida to Massachusetts and beyond.

A possible reason for the growth is the authenticity. Many congregations in the new denomination gave up buildings and property in order to break from the Episcopal Church and its increasingly liberal theology.

One of the worst cases happened in Binghamton, N.Y., where the Episcopal Church evicted the Good Shepherd congregation and then sold its property to a mosque.

Rector Matt Kennedy found out about the new owner while he was driving by the old property and saw a crane taking down the steeple.

"It was very sad," he said. "Because it is a place where generation after generation the gospel had been preached."

"People have come to know Jesus Christ, people have been brought from darkness into light and now it has been sold to a group that promotes the darkness," Kennedy added.

A Different Approach

While property battles are still a reality for many congregations, ACNA leadership doesn't want to focus on the courtroom drama.

Instead, the group is ambitiously planting new churches with a goal to double in size to 2,000 churches in five years.

The strategy involves combining Anglican tradition with modern church planting models from Africa.

"They're actually following some of their southern and global Anglican churches in how they're building churches using less trained leadership," explained Lon Allison, evangelism expert and director of the Billy Graham Center at Wheaton College.

This is exactly what's happening in Chicago.

Rev. William Beasley has overseen the planting of nine Anglican churches in and around college campuses there. He said he expects continued growth with students.

"I think we're actually just beginning," he said. "We're at the very beginnings of something that's perched to grow exponentially."

What's drawing young people to the Anglican Church is what many would not expect. It's about sacraments, like weekly Communion and traditional prayers, that the entire congregation participates in reading.

"I like the fact that it's something that Christians around the world are saying, and that they've been saying it for a long time," said Wheaton College student Josh Melby who attends a church just off campus.

"I grew up in a Baptist church my whole life," fellow student Michelle Nelson added. "So coming to an Anglican church where there's liturgy and sacraments every week, I appreciate the tradition."

Moving Forward with Faith

Students also appreciate the church's global connections. The ACNA is part of the Anglican Communion worldwide and has enjoyed a close relationship with like-minded orthodox Anglicans in Africa and South America.

"I felt like my interest in missions and working with global poverty, those were all being spoken to by a very passionate body who's passionate about serving the poor and being there for the needy," Wheaton student Matt Jones said.

Another area of growth for the new denomination is in the Latino community.

CBN News visited a worship service in Franklin Park, a northwest suburb of Chicago. Hispanics there and elsewhere appreciate the Anglican worship style, its reverence, and its community.

In the end, what may also be drawing young people, Latinos, and others is the integrity that comes from standing for one's faith.

It's a process that has profoundly shaped the character of the ACNA.

"Whenever you have to lose something for your faith, be it a pension or a building, whenever there's a sacrifice, it's also a moment you can choose to go forward, without bitterness, without rancor, and you become refined," Rev. Beasley explained.

One of his congregations surrendered its building to the Episcopal church more than six years ago.

Today, that church has bought its own property and plans to move in next year.

In Binghamton, New York, Church of the Good Shepherd now meets in an old Catholic church -- perfect for its congregation which has doubled.

These are all encouraging signs for a young denomination determined to advance the Gospel and multiply the church.

Original air date was on Friday, December 16th.

Ryle: Anglican Prayer Book Churchmanship Far Superior

http://www.churchsociety.org/issues_new/doctrine/bcp/rylethoughts/iss_doctrine_bcp_rylethoughts_usefulness.asp

Thoughts on the Prayer Book : J.C. Ryle
The Usefulness of a Liturgy

John Charles Ryle, the first Bishop of Liverpool, lived from 1816-1900. He was a prolific writer of both Devotional and Doctrinal books and tracts. This present booklet is an edited version of the ninth paper in his book “ Principles for Churchmen” which was published in 1884, four years after his consecration. The book is sub-titled “A Manual of positive statements on some subjects of controversy “.

Church Book Room Press - Ryle Reprint Series 1962

Thoughts on the Prayer Book

It is probably true to say that there is no book in existence, apart from the Bible, which is so well known. and yet so little appreciated, as the Book of Common Prayer. Every Sunday a very large number of people throughout the world, hold it and use it, and yet probably very few have ever really considered what an immense value there is in a liturgical form of worship. Even fewer. no doubt, have realised the excellencies and principles of the Church of England liturgy.

The Usefulness of a Liturgy

Let us first of all, then, examine the general usefulness of forms of prayer in public worship. Now it must be admitted that Christians are not entirely of one mind on this point. Some Churches hold that no prepared form of prayer ought ever to be used. It is left entirely to the minister, and the Spirit is trusted to guide him aright, on the grounds that prayers should always be extempore. This is, of course, the opinion of the Scottish Presbyterians and most Nonconformists.

On the other hand, other churches maintain that it is best to have a fully prepared form of worship, which the minister must use. He is left with no discretion in the matter, but must use the form of prayer provided. The Church of England is among these denominations.

The question which we have to answer then, is, “Which of these two plans is the better form of public worship?” “Which is the more edifying, wiser and profitable for the Christian?” As a minister of the Church of England, I obviously think that a set form is better than extempore prayer. But before giving reasons for this preference, it must first be stated that this is not a matter which is necessary to salvation. It is not claimed that there can be no acceptable public worship without a prayer book. Nor is this, at the moment, a special defence of the Church of England Prayer Book as such. The immediate question concerns what is the most useful manner of worship; and whether it is good to have any liturgy at all. At present the aim is to give some general reasons why forms of public prayer appear to be preferable to extempore prayer.

Let us look for a moment at some of the disadvantages of extempore prayer, without a prayer book. Firstly, it makes the congregation dependent upon the minister's health, circumstances or feelings. If he is sick, or depressed in spirit by some matter, then the devotions of the congregation are bound to suffer. A minister is only a man, and if he prays extempore, his feelings must of necessity colour his prayers.

Secondly, the worship becomes dependent upon the minister's memory. He may forget many things which he ought to pray for, and which he intended to pray for. But again, he is a man, and liable to forget.

Thirdly, the congregation becomes entirely dependent upon the minister's doctrinal beliefs. He may be moving away, gradually, from the true faith ; adding to, or taking away from the Gospel. If this is happening, the people are bound to suffer, for his unsoundness will become apparent in his prayers.

Fourthly, extempore prayer makes it almost impossible for the congregation to join in public worship. They cannot know what the minister is going to pray for. They must concentrate very hard to avoid loosing the thread of the prayer. Indeed, sometimes they may not understand him because of his language.

Lastly, it must be added that, after a time, extempore prayer becomes as much a form to most congregations, as any form of prayer ever written. After a few years the congregation knows well the phrases, expressions and order of the petitions of the minister. Sometimes they can make a shrewd guess how long the prayer will last, and when it is nearing its end. When this is the case, it is just as formal to pray extempore as to pray from a book.

All of these reasons indicate how much more useful is an ordered form of worship. Indeed, these problems do not arise when a book is used. It is very easy to say that an ordered worship is formal and bondage, and to claim that extempore prayer is more spiritual. But it is far more easy to make such claims than to prove them, and so often they are made without any real thought.

Before we go on to think particularly concerning the Prayer Book, there are a few general remarks which must be made.

1. Salvation does not depend on being a member of a Church which uses a prayer book form of worship. Nor does it depend upon belonging to one which uses extempore prayer in worship. The way of salvation is for each person to be born again, repent of sin, believe on Christ, become a new creature and live a holy life. Without this, it will not make the slightest difference what was thought about form of worship.

2. Extempore prayer may sometimes be very solemn, spiritual, soul-exalting and heart-edifying. Sometimes Church of England clergy pray, extempore, so beautifully that nothing better could be desired. If all men prayed always as some men do sometimes, there would be nothing better than extempore prayer. But all ministers are not highly gifted, and the question to be considered is, what mode of worship is most likely to be carried on effectively and profitably to a congregation, by the average run of ministers? Taking the broad view of clergy, it is better for most to pray from a book.

3. Liturgical prayers may be spoilt by the bad reading of the minister. Through speed, bad tone, or irreverence he may do no good to the congregation ; he may even weary and disgust them. But forms of prayer cannot be judged by the reading of careless or unconverted ministers. Before any judgment is made, they should be heard when read reverently, carefully and audibly, with the congregation joining in. It will then be discovered that forms may be read spiritually, quite as easily as extempore prayers may be used formally.

4. Let anyone who is used to the Prayer Book, but who says he is tired of it, attend no other worship for a while than " extempore ". He will hear many good prayers, no doubt, and sometimes be much edified and pleased. It must be remembered that, for example, the Presbyterian church has many clergy who would benefit any church on earth. But at the end of a few months, most sensible churchmen will return, convinced that there is nothing so useful for a congregation as a good liturgical form of worship.

The church that has good, sound Scriptural fervent extempore prayer does well. But the church that has a well-composed, well-arranged Scriptural liturgy does far better. The way of " forms " in public worship, is better than the wav of ''extempore" prayer.