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

Friday, May 23, 2014

(Church Society) Formulary Friday: "Only in the Name of Jesus"



A commendable article and blog.  A blog recommended to other bloggers directly.  Protestant and Reformed Anglicans largely in England;  there be few in the US.


Smith, Mark. "Only in the Name of Jesus."  Church Society.  23 May 2014.  http://churchsociety.org/blog/entry/formulary_friday_only_the_name_of_jesus_christ#When:06:00:00Z.  Accessed 23 May 2014.


Formulary Friday: Only the name of Jesus Christ
A short and crisp post this week – and a reminder that these old Articles remain endlessly contemporary.
Article XVIII: 'Of Obtaining Eternal Salvation Only By the Name of Christ'. They also are to be had accursed that presume to say, That every man shall be saved by the Law or Sect which he professeth, so that he be diligent to frame his life according to that Law, and the light of Nature. For holy Scripture doth set out unto us only the Name of Jesus Christ, whereby men must be saved.
The Article is taking aim against the kind of inclusive, liberal view that says ‘it doesn’t really matter what you believe, it just matters that you’re sincere, and live in accordance with your beliefs’. Perhaps today this might often be expressed in terms of being respectful of other religions – ‘we’re all following the same God really’, ‘there are many paths up the mountain’.
But the Church of England has set her face decidedly against all this. The Article refers us back to Holy Scripture, wherein we read (Acts 4.12): There is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. Only in Jesus Christ do we find redemption, he alone is the way, the truth and the life, and no one comes to the Father, but by him (John. 14.6). To deny this is wilfully to set aside the grace of God in Jesus Christ, and in vain to set up our own gods – it is to spurn our only hope and our only Saviour.
Beyond all the debates that currently preoccupy our Church, this Article points to her primary concern, and her fundamental message. Beyond all the many things which can distract us in our daily ministry and service, let us not forget this fundamental truth, which gives shape to all others: the uniqueness and sufficiency of Jesus Christ, who alone is our mediator and advocate.
CS Lewis puts this strikingly in the sixth of his Narnia books, The Silver Chair. It’s a conversation between the great Lion Aslan, and a new arrival to the land of Narnia called Jill, who knows little of the strange land, and even less about this great Lion. All Jill knows is that she’s very thirsty, but the only stream she can find is right next to the Lion.
‘Are you not thirsty?’ said the Lion.
‘I’m dying of thirst’, said Jill.
‘Then drink’, said the Lion.
‘May I – could I – would you mind going away while I do?’, said Jill.
The Lion answered this only by a look and a very low growl. And as Jill gazed at its motionless bulk, she realized that she might as well have asked the whole mountain to move aside for her convenience. The delicious rippling noise of the stream was driving her nearly frantic.
‘Will you promise not to – do anything to me, if I do come?’, said Jill.
‘I make no promise’, said the Lion.
Jill was so thirsty now that, without noticing it, she had come a step nearer.
‘Do you eat girls?’, she said.
‘I have swallowed up girls and boys, women and men, kings and emperors, cities and realms’, said the Lion.
It didn’t say this as if it were boasting, nor as if it were sorry, nor as if it were angry.
It just said it. ‘I daren’t come and drink’, said Jill.
‘Then you will die of thirst’, said the Lion.
‘Oh dear!’, said Jill, coming another step nearer. ‘I suppose I must go and look for another stream then.’
‘There is no other stream’, said the Lion.
Mark Smith is Curate at All Saints, Little Shelford, Cambridgeshire –





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