The Three Marks of the Visible Church—Part 2

By Robin G. Jordan

Concerning the Service of the Church in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, the Preface to the 1552 Prayer Book, was drafted by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer himself, and first appears at the back of the 1549 Prayer Book, after the services. Archbishop Cranmer gives great weight to reading the Word of God, mediating upon it, and hearing it.

There was never any thing by the wit of man so well devised, or so sure established, which in continuance of time hath not been corrupted: As, among other things, it may plainly appear by the Common Prayers in the Church, commonly called Divine Service. The first original and ground whereof if a man would search out by the ancient Fathers, he shall find, that the same was not ordained but of a good purpose, and for a great advancement of godliness. For they so ordered the matter, that all the whole Bible (or the greatest part thereof) should be read over every year; intending thereby, that the Clergy, and especially such as were Ministers in the congregation, should (by often reading, and meditation in God's word) be stirred up to godliness themselves and be more able to exhort others by wholesome Doctrine, and to confute them that were adversaries to the Truth; and further, that the people (by daily hearing of holy Scripture read in the Church) might continually profit more and more in the knowledge of God, and be the more inflamed with the love of his true Religion.

Cranmer lays out a number of important liturgical principles. Among these principles is that liturgy must be Scriptural.

Yet, because there is no remedy, but that of necessity there must be some Rules; therefore certain Rules are here set forth; which, as they are few in number, so they are plain and easy to be understood. So that here you have an Order for Prayer, and for the reading of the holy Scripture, much agreeable to the mind and purpose of the old Fathers, and a great deal more profitable and commodious, than that which of late was used. It is more profitable, many things, whereof some are untrue, because here are left out some uncertain, some vain and superstitious; and nothing is ordained to be read, but the very pure Word of God, the holy Scriptures, or that which is agreeable to the same; and that in such a language and order as is most easy and plain for the understanding both of the readers and hearers. It is also more commodious, both for the shortness thereof, and for the plainness of the order, and for that the rules be few and easy.

In their commentary on the Jerusalem Declaration, Being Faithful: The Shape of Historic Anglicanism Today, the GAFCON Theological Resource Group draws to our attention:

The 1662 Book of Common Prayer remains a true and authoritative standard of worship and prayer, because the principles it embodies are fundamentally theological and biblical. The liturgies of this book enable all who participate to think in true and biblical ways about God and about their life as his people. The central role of Scripture is reflected in the language of the Prayer Book liturgy, with the result that far more of the word of God is heard in this liturgy than in many other forms of service used by other denominations. Also prominent in the Prayer Book is the lectionary, which is designed to ensure that Scripture is read in a systematic way.

The original lectionary in the 1552 Prayer Book covered Old Testament once in a calendar year and the New Testament twice in the same time period. It covered the entire Psalter in a calendar month of thirty days.

The closing paragraphs of Concerning the Service of the Church directs all priests and deacons to read Morning and Evening Prayer every day, “either privately or openly,” unless they are prevented by “sickness, or some other urgent cause.” Priests who have a cure of souls are enjoined to read the services in the parish church or chapel where they minister and to summon the people in their care to join them with the ringing of a bell.

In Isaak Walton’s The Life of George Herbert we read how the devote parishioners of Mr. Herbert’s little parish of Fugglestone St. Peter with Bemerton St. Andrew, near Salisbury, joined him for the common prayers and the reading of the Scriptures every morning and every afternoon. Those whose occupation prevented them from attending the services when they heard the bell would remove their hats and bow their heads in prayer. George Herbert was noted for unfailing care for his parishioners, administering the sacrament of Holy Communion to them when they were ill, and providing food and clothing for those in need. Henry Vaughan said of him"a most glorious saint and seer.”

Herbert who was a poet as well as a priest labored in God’s vineyard for three years. He wrote The Temple: Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations and A Priest to the Temple, or the Country Parson, His Character, & c. His life and ministry were cut short by tuberculosis. Some of Herbert's poems have endured as hymns, including "King of Glory, King of Peace" (Praise), "Let All the World in Every Corner Sing" (Antiphon) and "Teach me, my God and King" (The Elixir)

The Exhortation in the Form and Manner of Ordering Priests in the Ordinal is unmistakable in the stress it lays upon the role of the priest, a contraction of the English prester, derived from the Greek presbyter, or elder, as a minister of God’s Word.

Ye have heard, Brethren, as well in your private examination, as in the exhortation which was now made to you, and in the holy Lessons taken out of the Gospel, and the writings of the Apostles, of what dignity, and of how great importance this Office is, whereunto ye are called. And now again we exhort you, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye have in remembrance, into how high a Dignity, and to how weighty an Office and Charge ye are called: that is to say, to be Messengers, Watchmen, and Stewards of the Lord; to teach, and to premonish [= warn], to feed and provide for the Lord's family; to seek for Christ's sheep that are dispersed abroad, and for his children who are in the midst of this naughty world, that they may be saved through Christ for ever.

The Scriptures are to be central to his teaching and ministry. He is not only to read and expound the Scriptures to the people in his care but also to immerse himself in the study of God’s Word and to live his life according its truths and principles.

Forasmuch then as your Office is both of so great excellency, and of so great difficulty, ye see with how great care and study ye ought to apply yourselves, as well to show yourselves dutiful and thankful unto that Lord, who hath placed you in so high a dignity; as also to beware that neither you yourselves offend, nor be occasion that others offend. Howbeit, ye cannot have a mind and will thereto of yourselves; for that will and ability is given of God alone: therefore ye ought, and have need, to pray earnestly for his Holy Spirit. And seeing that ye cannot by any other means compass the doing of so weighty a work, pertaining to the salvation of man, but with doctrine and exhortation taken out of the Holy Scriptures, and with a life agreeable to the same; consider how studious ye ought to be in reading and learning the Scriptures, and in framing the manners both of yourselves, and of them that specially pertain unto you, according to the rule of the same Scriptures; and for this self-same cause, how ye ought to forsake and set aside, as much as ye may, all worldly cares and studies.

The priest as a minister of God’s Word is not only to be a model for his flock but so are the members of his household.

We have good hope that ye have well weighed these things with yourselves, long before this time; and that ye have clearly determined, by God's grace, to give yourselves wholly to this Office, whereunto it hath pleased God to call you: so that, as much as lieth in you, ye will apply yourselves wholly to this one thing, and draw all your cares and studies this way; and that ye will continually pray to God the Father, by the mediation of our only Saviour Jesus Christ, for the heavenly assistance of the Holy Ghost; that, by daily reading and weighing the Scriptures, ye may wax riper and stronger in your Ministry; and that ye may so endeavour yourselves, from time to time, to sanctify the lives of you and yours, and to fashion them after the Rule and Doctrine of Christ, that ye may be wholesome and godly examples and patterns for the people to follow.

We find the same emphases in the Examination.

The Bishop. Are you persuaded that the Holy Scriptures contain all Doctrine required as necessary for eternal salvation through faith in Jesus Christ? And are you determined, out of the said Scriptures to instruct the people committed to your charge; and to teach nothing, as necessary to eternal salvation, but that which you shall be persuaded may be concluded and proved by the Scripture?

Answer. I am so persuaded, and have so determined, by God's grace.

The Bishop. Will you be ready, with all faithful diligence, to banish and drive away from the Church all erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to God's Word; and to use both public and private monitions and exhortations, as well to the sick as to the whole, within your Cures, as need shall require, and occasion shall be given?

Answer. I will, the Lord being my helper.

The Bishop. Will you be diligent in Prayers, and in reading the Holy Scriptures, and in such studies as help to the knowledge of the same, laying aside the study of the world and the flesh?

Answer. I will endeavour so to do, the Lord being my helper.

A distinctive element in these vows is the clear charge made to priests not only to teach but also to defend from error the doctrine of the Church as it is established upon God’s Word. Before the Reformation the bishops alone had been viewed as the guardians of the apostolic faith. The reformed Church of England entrusts this responsibility also to the priests of the Church.

The Medieval custom of giving a paten with a host and a chalice with wine to each ordinand was dropped from Cranmer’s 1552 revision of the Ordinal. The delivery of the Bible and the accompanying formula emphasize that the newly ordained priest is a preacher of God’s Word and a minister of the Gospel sacraments, not a sacrificing priest.

Then the Bishop shall deliver to every one of them kneeling the Bible into his hand, saying,

Take thou Authority to preach the Word of God, and to minister the holy Sacraments in the Congregation, where thou shalt be lawfully appointed thereunto.

This prayer of the 1550 Ordinal was slightly revised in 1662. It highlights the particular emphasis that the English Reformation gave to the role of the priest, or presbyter, as a teacher and preacher of the Word of God.

Most merciful Father, we beseech thee to send upon these thy servants thy heavenly blessing; that they may be clothed with righteousness, and that thy Word spoken by their mouths may have such success, that it may never be spoken in vain. Grant also, that we may have grace to hear and receive what they shall deliver out of thy most holy Word, or agreeable to the same, as the means of our salvation; that in all our words and deeds we may seek thy glory, and the increase of thy kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

In Part 3 of this article we will complete the examination of the connection between the place given to the Scriptures in the reformed Church of England and the theology of the Bible and the Church espoused by the English Reformers, as expressed in the historic formularies of the Church of England.

To read Part 1, click here.
To read the previous article, "Recognizing theVisible Church of Christ, click here.