laudable Practice

Jeremy Taylor in 'The Descending and Entailed Curse Cut Off', Part II, Sermon IV, from the second volume of the Golden Grove sermons -"then he scatters a blessing round about his habitation":

Then said Judas to the men that were with him, Fear ye not their multitude, neither be ye afraid of their assault.

1 Maccabees 4.8

At Evensong, the 1st reading was from Isaiah 19: "Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands ..."

A reminder in the midst of Advent of the faithful witness of Coptic and Assyrian Christians in ancient lands.

Jeremy Taylor in 'The Descending and Entailed Curse Cut Off', Part II, Sermon IV, from the second volume of the Golden Grove sermons - in this Interregnum sermon, Taylor quotes from the prohibited Book of Common Prayer:

A view over a rural scene dotted with winter trees, as the early winter evening casts a grey sky orange yellow, illuminating hard frozen ploughed fields

Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar, window 9
‘Evening Snow’
Artist: SR Badmin

Anders Andersen-Lundby, 'Wintery Church in the Twilight', 1882. 🇩🇰

They said one to another, Let us restore the decayed estate of our people, and let us fight for our people and the sanctuary.

1 Maccabees 3.43

On a snowy day, a small figure with his dog shines a torch as he walks past a snow-topped barn. This barn has strong echoes of ‘the repair shop’

Ladybird Artists Advent Calendar, window 8
‘Winter Farmyard’
Artist: Ronald Lampitt

Jeremy Taylor in 'The Descending and Entailed Curse Cut Off', Part I, Sermon III, from the second volume of the Golden Grove sermons - Taylor indicates his understanding of Original Sin as an inherited predisposition to sin, rather than inherited guilt:

The collect, in the Prayer Book as proposed in 1928, for the Conception of the BVM. With fitting, necessary reserve and modesty - "commemorate ... Conception ... Mother of the Lord" - it is also rooted in Advent's anticipation of "thy Son" coming to "us in great humility":

Just A Hint Of Sunlight. 8°C with rain approaching. Starlings

Just A Hint Of Sunlight. 8°C with rain approaching. Starlings.

"'For now is our salvation nearer than when we believed' ... therefore doth the church appropriate this Scripture to the celebration of the advent, before the feast of the birth of our Saviour."

John Donne, in a 1619 sermon.

"He has also provided a model for all who in any age have to answer similar ready-made recipes for setting the world right in five weeks. (Travers is dead, the type is perennial.)"

CS Lewis on Hooker

Excellent. We really do need to make much of this relationship in the CofI.

I could not agree more.
🇩🇰 🇳🇴 🇸🇪 🇫🇮

They come against us in much pride and iniquity to destroy us, and our wives and children, and to spoil us: But we fight for our lives and our laws.

1 Maccabees 3.20-21

Early Morning Light. 4°C and in need of wellies. Hares in the valley.

Early Morning Light. 4°C and in need of wellies. Hares in the valley.

There is something very sound about the King of Norway hosting "the country's bishops" - a not insignificant phrase - for dinner at this season. 🇳🇴 ⛪️
H/t @msteele1549.bsky.social

Jeremy Taylor in 'The Descending and Entailed Curse Cut Off', Part I, Sermon III, from the second volume of the Golden Grove sermons - as Taylor continues to comment on Original Sin, an anticipation of the title he gave to his two discourses on the subject, Deus Justificatus:

A Set of Ronald Welch Novels Fast-paced and colourful, Ronald Welch’s novels join up the dots of English history in a remarkably vivid, human way. The gripping plots . . .

There was a nice review essay about this in @slightlyfoxed.bsky.social who have recently republished Ronald Welch’s books

foxedquarterly.com/shop/set-14-...

Absolutely super. Thank you!

From the King's speech at the State Banquet for the President of Germany, rooting the "deeply historic" relationship between the two countries in Christianity. Interestingly, this is set in a context of two northern European churches and cultures. Note also, "preach the Gospel".

Falkland and Hyde, generous to Parliamentarian opponents, dislikes Puritans, and becomes friends with an old, learned, sequestered priest.

It is not mentioned, but surely the bookish Neil - at Cambridge in 1642 - drunk from the wells of Great Tew and the Cambridge Platonists.

I first read a copy this book, found in my school library, when I was 12 or 13. I have re-read it over the past few days, with characters and scenes still remembered. Above all, the book's central character, Neil Carey, is a moderate supporter of the King, an admirer of Lord 1/2

"Now hath pride and rebuke gotten strength, and the time of destruction, and the wrath of indignation."

1 Maccabees 2.49

In the land of Saint Stephen and Saint Elizabeth: Laudian thoughts from Budapest Ye shall pray for Christ’s holy Catholick Church; that is, for the whole Congregation of Christian People dispersed throughout the whole Wor...

"As an Anglican and a subject of the British Crown, it was still the case that this Hungarian Roman Catholic Basilica was 'ours', part of a shared Christian patrimony."
laudablepractice.blogspot.com/2025/12/in-l...

Jeremy Taylor in 'The Descending and Entailed Curse Cut Off', Part I, Sermon III, from the second volume of the Golden Grove sermons - here in 1651 Taylor sets forth his understanding of Original Sin, which would find controversial expression in 'Unum Necessarium' (1655):

"... wherefore was I born to see this misery of my people, and of the holy city, and to dwell there, when it was delivered into the hand of the enemy, and the sanctuary into the hand of strangers?"

1 Maccabees 2.7

At Evensong, the 2nd lesson was from James 2: "Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?"

"Abraham our father" is particularly resonant during Advent, reminding us that the Advent hope is rooted in Israel's Scriptures.

@laudablepractice.bsky.social

The Rev'd William Sherrard makes it plain...

His middle name was "Nassau"