“The
Historic position of Catholics in the
Church of England”
A
Lecture delivered at the Reading Branch of the
English Church
Union
(24th March 1888, St Lawrence’s School Room, Reading,
Berkshire)
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| Image from A History of the Municipal Church of St Lawrence, Reading. by Charles Kerry (1883) |
The Reading Branch of the English Church Union held a meeting on Monday evening, in St Lawrence’s Schoolroom, under the presidency of Mr. S. S. STALLWOOD. There was but a small attendance, owing to the weather.
Amongst those present were the Revs. R. W. Enraght (Poplar, E.). J. F. Coleridge, H. Last, and – Hiley, Messrs. W. W. Williams, C. O. Fullbrook, J. Golder, Frederick Lake (Honorary Secretary), &c.
Apologies were announced from the Revs. J. M. Guilding, C. W. H. Kenrick, H. F. Hunt, and other gentleman. The Rev. A. D. Crake (Vicar of Cholsey, Oxfordshire), had been announced to give an address on “The Historic position of High Churchmen in the Church of England,” but as Mr. Crake was suddenly attacked by a sore throat, and forbidden by his doctor to leave home, the Rev. R. W. Enraght kindly attended in his stead.
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Mr ENRAGHT, in an earnest address, said he
should prefer to call his lecture “ The Historic position of
Catholics in the Church of England,” for he always said he was
simply a Churchman, neither high nor low.
Catholics were members
of the universal Catholic Church of Christ, in one sense coming down
from the creation to the present moment, and going on to eternity,
and in another sense the Church set up the Apostles at the day of
Pentecost – the one holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church. (Hear,
hear.)
Strictly speaking nothing was Catholic that was not held by the Apostles and handed down to the present day, and every deviation from that true faith was heretical – such as the doctrines of Papal Infallibility and the Immaculate Conception. What applied to doctrine applied also to practice.
Any practice which was Scriptural was perfectly allowable, but not so a practice which was superstitious, such as the burning of candles before images of saints. Catholics in the sense he had explained, alone truly represented the Church of England, all other members representing the Church only partially.
Before Henry VIII. A good deal went on in the direction of reformation, but the first absolute clear beginnings of reformation in doctrine and practice began in his reign. Although Henry worked only for his own selfish interests, God employed him for good, as He over-ruled the treachery of Judas to salvation of the world.
In the second year of Edward VI. Came out the first English Prayer Book that was absolutely Catholic. In his fifth year what was called the Revised Prayer Book was issued – as they believed revised very much for the worse. The proper way was for the Church to bring out the Prayer Book, to make canons and ordinances, and then for Parliament to ratify them ; but that was not the case with the Public Worship Regulation Act, so that Lord Penzance had no more real authority over him (the speaker) than any lady in the room ; and therefore they had to suffer accordingly.
The Act of Parliament that ratified and made law the second Prayer Book of Edward VI. Abused that Prayer Book in several places, and used strong expressions about it. It said the book was only brought about by people “desirous of gratifying their own sensuality,” and also that it was brought out by persons who mistook the first Prayer Book of Edward VI. ; and the second book was the only Prayer Book that tried to satisfy the Protestants.
All
subsequent Prayer Books had been going back to the first, as in that
of Elizabeth (1559), where a return was made to the first of Edward
in several places, while the alterations made in the reign of James
I. Were more Catholic in tone, the proposed uncatholic changes being
peremptorily refused. Again, the doings under Charles I. Were
eminently Catholic. Under Cromwell the good work of Reformation was
unhappily interrupted, but it was resumed under the auspices of
Charles II., when they had a practical return to the first Prayer
Book of Edward VI.
Almost as soon as Elizabeth came to the
Throne she got her secretary to write to Archbishop Parker to say
that what were then called the Protestant innovations in the Church
must be put down. The Puritans of that day were really the ancestors
of the Church Associationists of the present day ; and he always
“gibbeted” them as the representative bad Churchman of the
present day ; and Elizabeth said she would “unfrock” Archbishop
Parker if he did not put the Puritans down. Archbishop Parker drew
up his famous “advertisements,” stating what those Puritans were
to do and what they were not to do ; but the Queen refused to sign
them, and the only copy in existence had written on the back by Lord
Burleigh “Not signed by the Queen,”
And yet, under the
argument that such a document was in existence, the case was gained
against Mr. Ridsdale ; and yet afterwards when the Church side was
retaining him the same lawyer said the documents did not exist, and
that if they could not be produced in Court they were not binding.
Tearing their own law to pieces was not the way to treat the English
Church, nor did it justify turning them out of their livings. (Hear,
hear.)
More shameful treatment was never received by respectable Britons ; and the public ought to have those things put clearly before them, that they might see them in their true light. But even Archbishop Parker’s “advertisments” were never intended to pull down the ornaments rubrics. For instance, the orders for wearing of a surplice and the celebration of the Sacrament at least five or six times a year, meant to imply that at any rate the Puritans must come up to a certain point.
It was just the same with the canons of 1603. The 24th canon said that in a cathedral churches the Eucharist should be celebrate four times a year. Did that mean that the rubric in the Prayer Book which compelled a celebration at least once a week was put aside ? Certainly not ; the rubric was supreme, and those who were anxious to celebrate daily supreme.
Good churchmen and the Puritans, who were in the habit of not celebrating even four times a year. So with canon 25, the point was not that the cope was not to be regularly worn, but that the Bishop, the Dean, or at least a Prebendary or Canon resident, must celebrate, “in a cope,” in cathedrals on the principle festivals ; “the epistoler and gospeller being vested agreeably and properly to the church’s use” – that was, in copes also.
Then
the ornaments rubrics of the Prayer Book of Elizabeth said that the
ornaments of the minister should be such as they were in the second
year of King Edward VI. “ until other orders shall be dictated by
the Queen under proper authority.”
The question was,
what was that other order. The Judicial Committee of the Privy
Council agreed in Mr Ridsdale’s case that the “ advertisements “
were the other order, but as Mr Stephens argued in Mr Edwards’
case, they were never signed, and consequently had no authority. All
the efforts in Elizabeth’s reign were to improve the church, and to
do everything possible for reverence and decency of Divine
service.
What the Church Association had been doing was to
try and bring back the Commonwealth persecution of some churchmen, if
certain clergymen and their congregation had not stood in the way,
backed up by the E.C.U., the Church of England Working Men’s
Association, and other excellent societies, the Church might now have
been under the Commonwealth state of things.
The lecturer
then referred to the troubles of the Church under the Roman Catholic
James II., and under William and Mary, and the sufferings of
conscientious clergymen in those days, observing that the driving out
of the “ non-jurors “ in the latter reign did immense harm by
admitting in their place all sorts of Erastians and Puritans. Queen
Anne did her best for the Church ; but in the time of George I., the
dominant Erastianism created a great ferment, ending in silencing of
Convocation, whose voice had only been revived in the present reign.
When Convocation began to speak again it was laughed at by all the
newspapers : but it was only after Convocation had allowed itself to
be silenced for 100 years that it began to be laughed at ; and it was
gradually regaining its influence, and if the Church should be
disestablished, it would be wanted to do its proper work.
The State had no more right to legislate for the Church without hearing the Church’s voice formally and synodically expressed, than the Church had to legislate for the State. Everything went wrong during the silence of Convocation. Then came the Wesleyan revival, then the Evangelical revival, and lastly the Catholic revival under Keble, Pusey, and Alex. Knox, and scores of other excellent clergymen and laymen. The latter did not seem to be going down, but seemed to be answering to Daniel’s prayer, that it should conquer the kingdoms (by love), but should never be destroyed. (Applause.)
Mr.
C. O. Fullbrook then moved the following resolution :- “That the
English Church Union has special claims on the support of Churchmen
as a Church Defence Society ; because while recognising fully the
necessity of offering a vigorous resistance to all attacks on the
historic position and endowments of the Church of England, it has
always given a ready support to useful measures of Church reform,
such as the increase of the Episcopate, the revival of synodical
action, and the better representation of the clergy in Convocation,
and it has not failed to keep in the forefront the duty of defending
the doctrine and discipline, and all that concerns the spiritual
character, of the Church of England.”
The Union, he
said, to a certain extent was perfect, from a human point of view,
and greatly assisted in maintaining the spiritual rights and the
constitutional liberties of the Church against Erastianism,
Rationalism, and Puritanism. He asked them to join the Union and give
their influence, small though it might be, to a cause which defended
the legitimate ritual of the Church.
Mr. Williams seconded
it, and it was carried,
A hearty vote of thanks having passed to
Mr Enraght on the motion of the Rev. H. Last, seconded by Mr. S.
Golder, the meeting was closed in the usual manner.
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See also the Berkshire Chronicle's version of reporting this Lecture :-
Catholics in the Church of England page
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*N.B. because of his active opposition to the Conservative Government's Public Worship Regulation Act., and against the wishes of his congregation, the Revd Richard Enraght, his wife Dorothea, and their six young children were evicted at Easter 1883, from their Bordesley Vicarage by order of the Lord Bishop of Worcester.
The Enraght Family with the help of the Church Union, moved to Brighton in Sussex, where Fr Enraght could continue his ministry helping his former vicar, Fr Wagner of St Paul's Brighton.
See the 'My Ordinations Oaths' page, written by Revd Richard Enraght while in Warwick Prison in December 1880.
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Reading Mercury 24 March 1888, transcription by D. Sharp (2025)