Penitent Presbyterian

Our engagement  Nov. 2009

This is a bit of my history in the American Protestant Church. I hope you find it enjoyable. My family came across the American western frontier from Maryland, first arriving in the British colonies in 1673. I was baptized as a child in the Congregational church before joining the Presbyterian in my early-thirties. I was initially drawn to Presbyterianism for reasons of theonomic or Bible Law government, but, while a Boy Scout, the Presbyterians sponsored my troop whereupon I also received my first study Bible. My experience after that largely had to do with confessional Presbyterianism as defined by the Westminster standards. However, I grew apart from it as I considered remains of Christendom and possibility of a more comprehensive, national church in the USA.

Presbyterian Shock. Fording across River Thames was not so much a repudiation of Presbyterianism as it was the Solemn League and Covenant (SLC). Nonetheless, it was a slow-rowing trip before I hit the shores of continuing Anglicanism. The Solemn League was a military-religious pact between Scottish and English Presbyterians justifying rebellion against ‘disciplinarian’ Bishops in the CoE. Signed by Puritans to extirpate so-called “dregs of papacy”, the Long Parliament called the Westminster Assembly to refine the terms of SLC. This assembly produced a new settlement exclusive to Presbyterianism, known by the Westminster Confession (WCF) as well as its Directory of Worship. The WCF not only lacked royal authority proper to English law, but it contained points of faith or doctrine (RPW) likely contrary to scripture. 

Doubts regarding the feasibility of puritan worship have resonated with other Presbyterians. For example, R. J. Gore Jr.’s recent observation in Covenantal Worship:

 “But not one elder in our session– pastor included– could give a thorough explanation for why we did what we did, why we left out certain expressions of worship, or why we placed the selected particulars in the prescribed order. The invocation and the benediction were easy enough. But it became progressively more difficult to explain our order of worship beyond that. What we did, we did in ignorance of any principle more profound than the conviction that we should be guided by Scripture and the Reformed tradition.” (p. 3)

Scriptural questions in the WCF led me to take a ‘step-backwards’ to the earlier church; hence, my eventual return to Anglicanism or the “Protestant Reformed Church of England”. Consistent treatment of the RPW left Presbyterian worship intellectually untenable. Furthermore, the introduction of extemporaneous prayer often times felt frivolous, carelessly said, and, sometimes, even “politically correct”. These concerns persuaded me to seek out the safety of fixed prayer in the BCP, much shaped by 16th century, etc., divinity.

Coming to Terms. All this confirmed the problematic legacy of the Puritan and Parliamentary struggle of the 1640′s, also known as the Interregnum. Despite the period’s tragic aspect, there is much about Puritanism that I still admire, namely, its emphasis on regular catechism, expository sermons, and a firm historic identity oftentimes held by Presbyterian clergy and lay-people. I also remain fond of the Puritanical quest for holy life exemplified by Christ’s humiliation. The seriousness of Puritanism is remembered as ‘dark’ or ‘dreary’– as if the Puritan divines purposely extended Lent through the whole of the Christian year, making every Sunday a Good Friday. If there’s such a thing as Puritan ritual, then perhaps it’s a perpetual low-mass, or even an eternal requiem– at least, aesthetically?

Rather than reject this legacy in toto, I’ve come to view Puritanism as a laudable aspect of Anglican worship, a legitimate daughter of the mother church, having pre-reformation and even certain monastic precedents. The deeply penitential character of Puritanism arguably has similarities to Franciscan or third-order devotion (which was a similar reaction against worldliness in the church), emphasizing the visible mortification of Christ’s corporate body. The focus on a suffering body seems to have certain Christological peculiarities for the West? In this sense, Chalcedon might be a continued focal point for later monastic and evangelical revival in the Church—Puritanism and Methodism being examples of a genuine Protestant Monkry? Let’s not take this analogy further since the other side of the rugged Cross is exaltation and glory. 

Confirmation Feb. 29th 2010 at  St. Alban’s

Enter Prayer Book. But my journey to Anglicanism was not entirely a reaction to the Solemn League. I was also drawn by the theological depth and historical richness of the prayer book. Not only did I find fixed-prayer wholesome, but the BCP’s occasional ordinances were also attractive. Unlike other Protestants churches, the conservative nature of English Reformation perhaps did more to retain the catholic past. England’s “conservative reformation” not only preserved an organic identity with the past, but it allowed our states of life–  i.e., birth, marriage, and death– to become testimonies for Christ.  Where would we be in these junctures without the well-known words, “Dearly beloved we gather here today…” or “Ashes to Ashes, dust to dust…”? Among these testimonies, I wanted my future marriage (and graveside burial) to be a Christian witness, not just a flat or novel ‘civil ceremony’.

the Pax Aug.14 2010 married at St. Edward’s

By the time I met my Bride, Ms. Amanda Kruse, I was already lapping the beauty of England’s historic common prayer book. Before our marriage, Amanda and I were careful to be confirmed under an historically-minded Bishop, so we presented ourselves for the laying on hands by the Most Reverend Peter Robinson. On March 4, 2010 we were confirmed and called ‘members-at-large’. But confirmation also help prepare us for marriage which happened on August 14, 2010. Ironically, this is the date of the Vigil of Mary’s Assumption– a question about wider Revelation compared to sola scriptura that catholics oftentimes use to vex Protestants. I am open to the veracity of this legend and others. Are even small ‘c’ catholics latently non-cessationists?

Sojourn. Upon the advice of Bishop Peter Robinson, as members-at-large (or non-parochial), we temporarily joined an REC/APA parish under Bishop Richard Boyce. This turned out quite ironic. James Jordan mentions both REC and UEC in the same breath as ‘orthodox bodies’ within modern Anglicanism (Sociology of the Church, p. 130). Bp. Boyce entered the REC on grounds of the APA’s Solemn Declaration, saying in his letter, “My group joined APA because it was open to Anglican unity. We need a united voice, a good seminary or two, a Christian education resource, a national magazine, a profile to help announce the Gospel to a needy nation. We need to be part of a world of inspiring orthodox Anglican leaders”. This was a time of optimism for me. Among contentions with churches, I sincerely believed Benjamin Whichcote’s aphorism (while not knowing how discussion was ultimately frozen)–

Those that differ upon Reason, may come together by Reason

My wife and I continue to be associated with the UECNA, and do what we can to give the UECNA a presence in the San Jose and South Bay areas, Lord willing. I served as a lay-reader for one-year but could not give complete subscription to the 39 articles, as required by the UE, to honestly continue. In our time spent in the continuum, it’s apparent we’ve gone down the candlestick rather than up, allowing full-circle return to certain Puritan convictions. Regardless of my degree of confessional assent, or perceived desire to conform, my family keeps the 1928 BCP, without Missal, which seems Anglican enough. Regarding points of conscience, I recall the Rev. Arthur Sykes: 

But local truth must prevail, till Men will be brought to make Scripture the alone Rule of Faith, and live in Mutual Love and Charity.

Also, when I first joined UE, I saw Bishop Robinson as a “New Josiah” for North American Anglicanism, even British Israel. Indeed, he yet may be. But, given the advance social decay we face, I am also open to a charismatic, or an extraordinary, man who might lack a recognized outward call– maybe like Rev. John Wesley (who called himself a ‘scriptural episkopos’ despite no ordination to that office). I can easily believe we are a very small “residue of thy holy Church” (p. 281, BCP) in an interregnum period of unknown duration until God sees fit to call either a Judge or Prophet, “even from the tribe of Judah”. Our situation is not unlike that of Jethro’s family who awaited Moses. It will certainly take a God-ordained leader to reorganize our broken branches, more likely than not, coming from outside present-day arrangements. Maybe none shall come, but Christ himself, whereupon he will receive his Kingdom?  

  Occasional Lay Reader

Solitary. I continue my studies on matters of worship and also polity at Anglican Rose where the focus shifts away from problematics of Presbyterian iconoclasm toward the general nature of Anglican adiaphora and historical Latitude.  I am especially interested how mature, Stuart episcopalianism translated itself to the Hanoverian era, and its voluntary, private campaigns to finish our Long Reformation by holiness of life. Venerable orders like SPCK/SPG were early promoters of social piety, even preparing the way for Methodistic Revival.

These societies produced volumes of advises (again, a Protestant Monkry) given to homes and families, especially where or when the Church was weak or non-existent, so we avail ourselves of this good repository where situation demands it. As a result, we’ve adopted  Evangelical meetings following a General Rule, or ‘rule of life’, as well as adding many private Collects written by Restoration and Hanoverian divinity to our prayers.

With the decline of the Protestant (even Anglican) churches in modern America, family worship has been our lifeline, yet our baptismal covenant seeks expansion. While we are less optimistic about today’s Holy Church, we are more hopeful about meeting other families destitute like ourselves, maybe covenanting together as “…family clusters or little church communities”. So far, four of our six children have been baptized privately by visiting clergy (one of them a dear friend & Presbyterian, Mr Fargo), and we’d like to keep an example for other solitary Protestants until bright Restoration. Nonetheless, I am hopelessly entangled.with the national church idea, abjuring the League. Yet, the national idea persists by the voluntary Quad. The following poem is from the Bishop of Ireland’s plea over post-establishment.

Poem by the Rt. Rev. RC Trench 1844

My wife, Amanda, and I are financially very poor, but we try to be God’s servants.  Our house is open to any visitors for either meals or the Daily Office, or both. I am very pleased to make new friends, and aspire someday to find a united Protestantism, with the Anglican Church, or its Prayer book, as a spiritual mother— the delightful fruit of our Glastonbury Tree.  I am thankful getting this far.  PAX 

Charles Bartlett currently lives in northern California with his wife and six kids. He is a certificated k-12 instructor and has been an on-and-off lay-reader.  

updated 2.24.21

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