Anglicanism and the Lord's Day
The following is an extract from the Anglican Catechism as found in the various editions of the Book of Common Prayer (e.g. 1662, C of I 2004):
The more Evangelical Articles of Religion of the Church of Ireland (a.k.a. the Irish Articles of 1615) written principally by the greatest Irish Anglican, Archbishop Ussher of Armagh, which were replaced with the more ambiguous and less godly 39 Articles of the Church of England by the High-Church Laudians in 1635, and under which English and Scottish Presbyterians served in the Anglican Church of Ireland without Episcopal ordination, state the following:
Question.You said, that your Godfathers and Godmothers did promise for you, that you should keep God's commandments. Tell me how many there be?
Answer. Ten.
Question. Which be they?
Answer.
...
IV. Remember that thou keep holy the Sabbath-day. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all that thou hast to do; but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord thy God. In it thou shalt do no manner of work, thou, and thy son, and thy daughter, thy man-servant, and thy maid-servant, thy cattle, and the stranger that is within thy gates.For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it.
...
The more Evangelical Articles of Religion of the Church of Ireland (a.k.a. the Irish Articles of 1615) written principally by the greatest Irish Anglican, Archbishop Ussher of Armagh, which were replaced with the more ambiguous and less godly 39 Articles of the Church of England by the High-Church Laudians in 1635, and under which English and Scottish Presbyterians served in the Anglican Church of Ireland without Episcopal ordination, state the following:
56. The first day of the week, which is the Lord's day, is wholly to be dedicated unto the service of God: and therefore we are bound therein to rest from our common and daily business, and to bestow that leisure upon holy exercises, both public and private.
Labels: Anglican Reformation, Anglicanism, Confessions, Creeds, Ecclesiology, Lord's Day, Sabbath, Worship
posted by Timothy Davis | 11:39 am
5 Comments:
Isn't it interesting that it's the one you count as less orthodox that actually quotes Scripture on this?
I'd be happy to assent to Article 56 of the ARCI, if I could see it was provable from Scripture. But I can't.
I can't see where Christians are told they have to obey the Mosaic Law (rather than rest on its fulfilment in Christ). I can't see where we are told that the 7th day Sabbath with its obligation to rest is transferred to the 1st day (rather than see that the Christians took the first day as the day when they met together).
Having said which, I of course see it as a good application of Ex 20 that we should take a day off, and I think it's good to spend as much time as possible thinking about, talking about and praising God, but I don't see that implies a legalistic Sabbatarianism.
John,
Just a quick comment. you must have caught a brief period during editing where I accidentally used the phrase "more orthodox". As you can see, I corrected this very quickly with "more Evangelical".
The Articles and the Catechism correspond to the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms produced during the heyday of the Church of England. Both the Anglican Catechism and the Westminster Catechisms give direct quotes from Scripture, whereas the Articles and Confession don't quote Scripture in their text.
Neither the 1662 version of Anglicanism nor the 1615 Irish version of Anglicanism nor the Reformed used Scripture quotation more than each other. They all used it in fundamentally the same way.
The Westminster Assembly originally didn't give Scripture quotations in the footnotes as they knew that many of these doctrines require an explanation of Scripture and not just a simplistic quotation of one or two texts.
I will reply to your comments on the continuing obligation of the Weekly Sabbath, or Lord's Day, later on. I want to get to some private worship now.
Again, on your point, "Isn't it interesting that it's the one you count as less orthodox that actually quotes Scripture on this?"
I see nothing interesting in this. If the Watchtower quotes more Scripture than the 39 Articles, is it more orthodox, or superior because it does? The 39 Articles are still more Scriptural.
Clearly, the Anglican Catechism can in no way be compared to this heresy, but you see the point I'm making.
Nevertheless, is confirmation, godparents and taking surety for another's faith and obedience Scriptural? Surely not. What a sad thing it is to see what is blatantly unscriptural mixed with the Scriptures.
Infant baptism is yet another discussion - not the one here. And FWIW, I think the Anglican Confirmation service is a bad hodge-podge, but Confirmation per se can be a good and helpful thing.
Agreed re use of Scripture and all that sort of thing. It was just an interesting contrast in the two sections you cited...
Where is Sunday, the first day, called the Lord's day in scripture?
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