I have received my copy of Reasons for Loving the Episcopal Church , by the Rt. Rev. William Meade, D.D., Bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Virginia, Pub'd by the PESPEK, (1858). The Table of Contents is as follows: I. Brief History of the P. E. Church II. Principle on Which the Reformation was Conducted III. Worship of the Church IV. Doctrine of the Church V. Discipline of the Church VI. The Church not Perfect APPENDIX. Showing that the English and Continental Reformers were perfectly agreed as to the principle on which the Reformation was conducted. The first chapter covers the history of the CofE from the New Testament era to the reign of EI, with brief mention of the CofE in America. I am skipping this chapter for now and have scanned the second. Right now I'm thinking I'll eventually scan the whole booklet (52pp) into a .pdf or some such and have a link on my blog so you can download it. Because of the holiday, I'm going to have to pos...

Each day, Christ offers to us: A cross to bear, A cup of joy, A balm of peace, Light on our path, His promises to claim. Treasures untold, beside these things, In heavenly places, where sits the King. Soon Him we shall see, Who our victory has won. Oh! Glorious sublimity! Our story only begun.

I hate to say this, but the last letter of the Archbishop of Canterbury re: the upcoming Primates' meeting in Tanzania was absurd in the light of current events. His statement that we need to keep listening and trying to understand one another, that we need to carefully consider this and that in a Christian spirit, working to hold together our bonds (viz., keep The Episcopal Church in the Communion) because of the onwatching of the Roman and Greek Churches, etc. - he's in the Twilight Zone! The die is cast, for crying out loud. He says TEC is not monochrome - well! it's sure getting that way fast! Just look at the most recent news regarding what is going on in the U.S. Sure it's ugly, but whose fault is that? He is concerned that we display a "Christian spirit." By that, he obviously means a spirit of understanding, patience, unity, etc. Fine. But that must be balanced with the Christian spirit which is zealous for truth, holiness, and gospel mission...

I've found a copy of Bishop William Meade's (d. 1862) Reasons for Loving the Episcopal Church , and as soon as it arrives, I'm going to start publishing portions of it here. I'm really looking forward to reading this thing.

O ALMIGHTY God, who out of the mouths of babes and sucklings hast ordained strength, and madest infants to glorify thee by their deaths: Mortify and kill all vices in us, and so strengthen us by thy grace, that by the innocency of our lives, and constancy of our faith even unto death, we may glorify thy holy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

MERCIFUL Lord, we beseech thee to cast thy bright beams of light upon thy Church, that it, being instructed* by the doctrine of thy blessed Apostle and Evangelist Saint John, may so walk in the light of thy truth, that it may at length attain to everlasting life†; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

G RANT, O Lord, that, in all our sufferings here upon earth for the testimony of thy truth, we may stedfastly look up to heaven, and by faith behold the glory that shall be revealed; and, being filled with the Holy Ghost, may learn to love and bless our persecutors by the example of thy first Martyr Saint Stephen, who prayed for his murderers to thee, O blessed Jesus, who standest at the right hand of God to succour all those who suffer for thee, our only Mediator and Advocate. Amen.

Here's a very interesting piece on the history of the Evangelical movement in the Church of England. Probably written in the 1930's - possibly the 1940's.

An excerpt: Fourth, today, there is a great deal of talk about social inclusion and community cohesion. But surely we must go beyond inclusion and cohesion to a vision of true humanity as we see it in the face of Jesus Christ. We, as citizens of this nation, must agree to build our dwelling tent together. The history of this great nation and the experience of two World Wars teaches us that nationhood is made of contributions of all and not claims. Active participation and engagement, not rights. What we offer willingly and not what we demand. Together we can make a Britain in which many minority ethnic people will feel it is their dwelling tent too – without making the indigenous population feel that this is no longer the Britain of their fathers. I believe we should talk more about the common good and the values that have shaped this nation and less and less about multi-culturalism and cultural diversity. Let us resolve to love our neighbour as ourselves; and to do to others as we wou...

You can hear an interview with Doug LeBlanc - GetReligion.Org - on "The Theological Divide in the Episcopal Church USA" at Issues, Etc. ; scroll down the page to it - Wed. December 6.

ALMIGHTY God, our heavenly Father, who hast purchased to thyself an universal Church by the precious blood of thy dear Son; Mercifully look upon the same, and at this time so guide and govern the minds of thy servants the Bishops and Pastors of thy flock, that they may lay hands suddenly on no man, but faithfully and wisely make choice of fit persons, to serve in the sacred Ministry of thy Church, And to those who shall be ordained to any holy function, give thy grace and heavenly benediction; that both by their life and doctrine they may show forth thy glory, and set forward the salvation of all men; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Last year I was teaching a class on Medieval History and, while doing some reading, I ran across the news of someone who had become ill with the Black Plague . You will recall that, back in the 1300’s, an outbreak of bubonic plague, called the Black Plague or the Black Death, resulted in the death of one-third to one-half of the population of Europe. Well, we think of the Black Plague as something in the past, yet it isn’t. It is still with us and if the conditions of the 1300’s were to reoccur, so would the decimating power of this disease. It’s like that with many diseases. There are diseases that we here in America used to find quite common, like polio and tuberculosis. Modern medicine has just about eradicated them from our society, but not completely. They are always there. And if we do not continue to diligently inoculate people against these deadly diseases and do the other things that have to be done, they will be back. This matter of disease in our society reminds me o...

Our Prayer At the Lighting of the Advent Candles: Almighty Father, who alone art the Light of mankind, we rejoice in the increasing light of these candles as they remind us of thy merciful readiness to increase in us the light of the knowledge of thy Son, Jesus Christ. We ask thee to evermore give us this light, that living in its brightness, we may faithfully walk the path which leads to the ever shining glory of thy presence, for the sake of the same, thy Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Here is an interesting summary I found at the AAC site on the status of the various Episcopal/Anglican groups in the USA at the present: http://aacblog.classicalanglican.net/archives/002603.html#more . Enjoy.

The Second Sunday in Advent is known in the Anglican Church as “Bible Sunday.” The reason is that the Collect for the day has to do with the Scriptures and the Epistle and Gospel, though both mentioning the coming of Christ in some fashion as befits the Advent season, also refer to the Word of God. Thus it is that, on this Sunday, we recognise the glorious role of the Holy Scriptures in the life of the Church. The Collect was written by Archbishop Cranmer in 1549 for the first English Prayer Book. It was in that year of its publication that the English Church heard for the first time one lesson from the Old Testament and one from the New in the Divine Service and both read in English. As one person has said, “The Collect was the Church’s burst of grateful joy at the recovery of a treasure she had lost so long”; viz: a firsthand knowledge of what was contained in the Scriptures. (Harper, Year with Christ ). The Collect for the day reads like a catec...

On Monday December 4, 2006 Hugh Hewitt discussed the new Nativity movie with Dr. Paul Maier and Mark D. Roberts. It's pretty interesting. Go here to listen (34 & 1/2 minutes) .

Bishop Millsaps was sent a copy of the article by Peter Stanford entiled "More sex please, we're vicars ..." (The Observer, November 19, 2006), and replied with the following words (published here with the Bishop's permission): Dear D-, This is a very interesting article and I thank you for sending it out. However, Peter Sanford is mistaken if he thinks all who cannot go along with the "priesting " of women think that women are inferior. The opposite is more likely the case. A priest, like a deacon or even a bishop, is a servant. He is the one who washes feet and hauls off garbage. He is also the one who offers himself, if the barbarians are determined to behead somebody. Think of the recent martyrs in Iraq and even in Bangladesh and Pakistan. Most were men. This is right and proper. The women, like Mary, are to be protected and shielded so they may do their superior work of bearing and nurturing children. Men cannot give birth and cannot nurse(give suck). I...