Light On Dark Water

Those Were the Days

The un-ecumenical days, when books like this were published:

The Lenten Lectures of Rev. Thomas Maguire;
delivered in Dublin in 1842,
in answer to the Thirty-nine articles of the Church of England

Lecture V is:

        The Absurdities, Contradictions and Blasphemies of the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Parliamentarian Rule of Faith of the Episcopalian Protestants

Yesterday was Guy Fawkes Day, of which there is a pretty complete treatment here.  The lasting animosity generated by the Gunpowder Plot is a good lesson in the harm that can be done to a cause by its more fanatical members. Though of course if the cause eventually wins, it doesn't look so much that way. John Brown is not remembered very fondly, but he is not the arch-villain of a nation that Fawkes was for so long. And no doubt still is in some minds. It's not unusual to find Englishmen who are no longer Christian but are still anti-Catholic.

That word "parliamentarian" might be the most telling of Maguire's points. That the English government had (has?) the power to make theological judgments on the Church of England was one of the things that helped push Chesterton to Rome.

Maclin Horton
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12 responses to “Those Were the Days”

  1. Louise

    One Catholic blogger I read once burned Elizabeth I in effigy on Guy Fawkes Day and possibly took Pius X’s Oath against Modernism. I though that would be rather jolly. 🙂

    Reply
  2. Mac

    Good clean family fun!

    Reply
  3. Louise

    😀

    Reply
  4. Robert Gotcher

    Rats. Nov. 5th has passed; we’ll have to wait until next year.

    Reply
  5. Mac

    Well, you could do it sooner, but it wouldn’t be as much fun. You can never take the Oath Against Modernism too often.

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  6. Robert Gotcher

    Gotta do it in Latin.

    Reply
  7. godescalc

    The British political institutions don’t directly pass laws stating what Anglican theology should be, not anymore, but only because that level of theological detail is not considered to be all that important these days. (This is the flip side of the “age of whatever” that you mentioned in a prior post.) But if the media and political classes want something from the church, they’ll get it – women priests, at some point women bishops, and I’d be surprised if the CofE can drag its feet on gay marriage for another 10 years (David Cameron’s indicated the church can have as much time as it needs, as long as it’s conforming to the zeitgeist). Though it’s not really “parliamentarian” any more, legislation just mops up after social and media pressures do their job.

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  8. Mac

    I was wondering about that. I couldn’t imagine that the government had any interest in, say, the question of nature and grace anymore. But you do see references, in stories about CofE controversies, to a governmental voice in those matters you mention.
    “David Cameron’s indicated the church can have as much time as it needs, as long as it’s conforming to the zeitgeist”
    Sounds a lot like the liberal wing of our government, with allowance for the very different church-state relation, and it’s funny that Cameron is counted as some kind of conservative.

    Reply
  9. Louise

    You can never take the Oath Against Modernism too often.
    So true! And yes, I must do it in Latin. 🙂

    Reply
  10. Louise

    OT – Maclin, will you and Karen be around in the few days before and after Thanksgiving? We are starting the proper planning of our road trip and just wanted to see if you’ll be away yourselves or not, or too busy etc.

    Reply
  11. Mac

    I don’t know exactly what will be going on, but we’ll definitely be in town. If you’re going to be coming through Mobile anyway, I’m sure we could manage some kind of meeting, possibly excepting on Thanksgiving Day. You could come watch the Alabama-Auburn game with us on Saturday.:-)

    Reply
  12. Louise

    That’s sad – we’ll have to miss the game. 😦
    Ok, glad to hear you’ll be around. I’ll send you a message via FB in the next day or two. 🙂

    Reply

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