The present year is the anniversary not only of the death of Mary Tudor but also of the accession of her half-sister Elizabeth I to the throne of England. This opened the way for a Protestant restoration and a somewhat permanent settlement of the religious question. Apart from the Civil War and some regrettable schisms, this settlement has indeed lasted in its main features right up to the present time, and some of its characteristics will repay our closer study.
Elements Of Strength
On the credit side, it may be noticed that a firm doctrinal Protestantism was adopted with the acceptance of a revised version of the original Forty Two Articles of Cranmer. For a time, concessions were made to Lutheran opinion in respect of the Lord’s Supper, but these were abandoned later in the reign; and the final Thirty Nine Articles commit the Church of England to a distinctively Reformed position in all the disputed issues of the time. The wording of the Articles makes it clear that the counter-propositions of Trent were flatly rejected.
Again on the credit side, the liturgical practice readopted by the church was that of the 1552 Book of Common Prayer with its incontestable Reformed presuppositions. In keeping with the policy of Cranmer, a fixed liturgical form was maintained. This was almost inevitable at a time when so many of the available clergy could not be trusted to follow forms of their own devising, and it secured for the church many of the treasures of the past in a manner adapted to serve the edification of the present. Orderly, dignified and deeply spiritual worship was linked with evangelical truth and preaching in a happy combination which is the heart and strength of Anglicanism at its purest and best.
Third, the existing structure of ministry was retained, though with a new orientation in keeping with the new character of the church. Drastic upheaval was prevented by the continuance of ancient offices and organization. But it was made clear that the bishops and presbyters were now to be genuine preachers and pastors exercising a genuinely evangelical ministry no less than their Presbyterian counterparts elsewhere. In ecclesiastical as in liturgical order, there was no hasty discarding or evolutionizing of the past, but the time-honored structure was dedicated to the new purposes of the day.
Fruit Of The Reformers
In other words, Elizabeth brought to fruition the work already attempted by the Edwardian Reformers, and gave to the Church of England the particular impress which it still bears as a church committed to fully Protestant teaching but maintaining much of the traditional order. We thus learn from the settlement that reformation does not have to be revolution; that while changes may be necessary they need not be drastic; that the heritage of the past can be applied to the needs of the present and future; that genuinely spiritual life and vigor are possible even within the framework of that which is older and more stately and formal; and that while certain forms may be preferable to others, what really counts is the theology and spiritual power which finds expression within them.
At the same time there are certain dangers and weaknesses inherent in the settlement which also claim our attention and from which we can learn in the ordering of the church’s life and work and worship. The first is the obvious attempt at over-scrupulous uniformity which may be justifiable in the case of less qualified ministers but which can only lead to revolt and ultimate dissension in the case of others. In point of fact, even in the reign of Elizabeth herself, the ecclesiastical authorities found it impossible to enforce complete uniformity. But to try to do so in any legalistic sense is surely wrong in principle, since it stifles the free subjection of order to the test of Scripture and the constructive moving of the Spirit. Acts of uniformity were almost bound to result in nonconformity; and it is to be remembered in this connection that even today we must not confuse unity with uniformity or legitimate diversity with disunity.
Confusion Injected
Again, at two important points Elizabeth introduced confusion: first, and less seriously, by conflating the sentences used in the administration of Communion; and second, and more seriously, by an Ornaments Rubric which, on the face of it, sanctions far more of the ancient ceremonial than in 1552 book allowed or most Elizabethans were prepared to accept. It might be argued, as some argue today, that more elaborate vestments and ceremonial are not incompatible in principle with full evangelical teaching. But the fact remains that it is under cover of this rubric that Anglo-Catholicism has secured a re-entry into the Church of England and is finally planning an assault upon the Articles themselves. The retention of the old involves a serious risk if it is not brought into full conformity with the dogmatic norm and kept in clear subjection to it.
Finally, Elizabeth as a civil ruler, maintained a typically Tudor integration of her religion into her whole domestic and foreign policy. Whatever her private views—and there can be little doubt that she inclined to a form of Protestantism—she kept steadily before her the temporal welfare of her crown and kingdom, and bent her religious policy to the accomplishment of this final end. We must not be too hard on Elizabeth. She inherited a divided, discordant and defenseless country. Dependent at first upon the help of Spain against France, or France against Spain, she held out hopes of reconversion to Rome while fomenting Reformation in the Netherlands and Scotland to weaken both the French and Spanish positions. Determined to be mistress in her own house, she could not tolerate either Recusants and their incipient treachery on the one side, or Puritans and their independent attitude on the other. The settlement was a form of Protestantism which she found best adapted to the brilliant pursuit of her policies as a whole; and we may be thankful that it did not involve a much greater measure of ambiguity and compromise than was actually the case.
Religious Policy And Civic Policy
The final question remains, however, whether religious policies may rightly or even safely be integrated into civil, or if so, on what terms and in what relationship. The century which followed was vitally occupied with the same question, not only in the Stuart alliance of crown and episcopacy, but in the Puritan alliance with Parliament and the attempt of Independency to break free from all political entanglement. Up to a point there has obviously to be some integration, as even the Independents found when they set up their new order in the New World. Indeed, one of the firmest guarantees of the continued Protestantism of the Church of England is still its rootage in the constitution. But at least we may learn from Elizabeth that the crucial truth and order should not be subjugated to considerations of national policy whether at home or abroad. To do this is not only to be committed to a measure of compromise, but to check the constant work of reformation and to create tensions which can only lead to eventual, and altogether unnecessary, discord and disaster in the religious and civic life.
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Geoffrey W. Bromiley is an Anglican clergyman, author of several books, and co-editor of a forthcoming dictionary of theology. He is currently serving on the faculty of Fuller Theological Seminary as visiting Professor of Church History.
