The Prayer Book and Articles III

Dear friends:

I offer another perspective on the question of the relationship of the Book of Common Prayer to the Articles of Religion: this one is presented by the Right Reverend John Wordsworth, Bishop of Salisbury and president of the Commission of the Archbishop of Canterbury on Relations with the Orthodox Churches. Bishop Wordsworth presents the official teaching of the Anglican Communion as endorsed by the Archiepiscopate of Canterbury to Orthodox Churches of the East. The year is 1900.
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What is the official confession of the Church of England? In what books is it contained, and what is its binding force or validity?

The elements of the teaching of the Church of England are found in the three Creeds, that is to say, (i) in the definition of the faith known as the Nicene Creed, which is constantly recited in the divine Liturgy; (a) in what is called the Apostles' Creed, which is professed by all at Baptism; and (3) in the hymn which is commonly called the Athanasian Creed. [This is the Creed which was ascribed by the Fathers of Chalcedon (A. D. 451) to the 150 Fathers of Constantinople (A. D. 381). It is now generally supposed by Western scholars to have been originally the baptismal Creed of the Church of Jerusalem. It is of course Nicene in doctrine, but with the addition of certain clauses required by the later growth of heresy.]

We receive these Creeds not only because we reverence the ancient Tradition of the Church and the Oecumenical Synods, but because we believe that the Holy Scriptures most clearly bear witness to the doctrines contained in them. For we honour the Holy Scriptures as the rule and test of divine truth, by which every form of doctrine, whether derived from ancient Tradition or from theological definition, must necessarily be tried.

Further, inasmuch as in our public worship we stand before the Almighty and All-wise God, whom we cannot approach except with entire faith and sincerity, we all consider the teaching contained in our Prayer-Book, which is in the hands of all, even of our children, to be an official and authoritative expression of the belief of the Church of England.

This Book had the fullest sanction which it was possible to give it, being ratified first by the Convocations of the two Provinces, and afterwards accepted by an Act of Parliament A.D. 1662. In this Book moreover is inserted, between the services for Baptism and that for Confirmation or Laying on of Hands, the Catechism or 'instruction to be learned of every person before he be brought to be confirmed by the Bishop.' This Catechism has to be learned by heart by every child and the meaning of it understood. It contains an explanation of the Apostles' Creed, of the Ten Commandments, and of the Lord's Prayer, and it also contains the most necessary information concerning the two great Sacraments of Baptism and Holy Communion (Eucharist).

Outside the Prayer-Book, but usually bound up together with it, we have 'The Articles of Religion agreed upon by the Archbishops and Bishops of both Provinces and the whole Clergy, in the Convocation holden at London in the year 1563, for the avoiding of diversities of Opinions and for the establishing of Consent touching true Religion.' We have given the full title of these Articles, usually called 'the XXXIX Articles,' because it describes the object with which they were framed. The XXXIX Articles are definitions to which the clergy give assent in writing, professing by their subscription that they will not teach anything in opposition to them, and that they consider the doctrine contained in them and in the Prayer-Book to be agreeable to the word of God. It must be observed that these Articles, though they contain many valuable definitions of Christian truth, are rather 'Articles of Religion' than a Confession of Faith. Their main object from the beginning was the preservation of peace and the elimination of certain kinds of error, 'that every mouth might be stopped' of those who contentiously disputed, and that so our Church might be at peace within itself. Assent to these Articles is not required of our own lay-people nor necessarily of the clergy of the Churches of our communion which may be established in foreign lands. The synods of these Churches are free to establish what rules they think fit in order to secure the orthodoxy of their clergy and the maintenance of union with the general body of the Anglican Communion.

The XXXIX Articles therefore considered and examined in a historical light are a very useful internal bond of union, and are no hindrance to the maintenance of inter-communion and brotherly relations with our fellow Christians of other lands, who have not adopted the errors referred to in these Articles.