By Brandon J. LeTourneau  

The following is an excerpt from Charles Chapman Grafton: Selected Writings, the recently published first installment of the Classics of American Anglicanism series from Nashotah House Press. This series preface was written by student Brandon LeTourneau, who is general editor of the series.  

I was elated when I received the call from the Rev. Ben Jefferies asking if I would be interested in editing a series of American Theologians for Nashotah House Press. The unique voices belonging to the fertile shoots of our own branch of Christ’s Church have been regrettably absent among American Anglicans for quite some time. This is unfortunate considering the recent scurrying among academics for Anglican ressourcement. Though I must say that I understand. It is unsurprising that throughout the formation of the Anglican Church in North America, the unification of the Continuing bodies, the resurgence of several competent theologians in the Episcopal Church, and the Anglican Realignment taking place in GAFCON,  many are now looking to the English architects and expositors of our shared tradition. Even the Presbyterians are translating Hooker and Jewel! I am overjoyed to live in a moment in Church history where both Browne’s Exposition of the Articles of Religion and Hall’s Dogmatic Theology are available from more than a single publisher. There is no doubt in my mind that the present age will result in a renaissance of Anglican thinking and — Lord willing — piety. Still, there are many illustrious names who have been all too forgotten from these newly minted volumes. Many have read Dr. Pusey, but few Dr. DeKoven. Many are familiar with Forbes, Andrewes, and Laud, but few with Seabury, White, and Inglis. We celebrate the “Apostle to the English” but seldom the “Apostle of the Wilderness.” It is quite unfair to our Fathers and Mothers of the Ecclesia Americana who have left to us the Church that we all cherish so highly. At best it is mere ignorance on our part, at worst it is ingratitude: “Forgive our disrespect — Forgive our selfishness towards thee, Forgive our great neglect!” [1]

This tragedy aside, however, there is another imperative particular to the student of theology: orthodoxy. Christian Religion — unlike other credos — is a matter of continuity, of handing over and joyfully receiving. St. Paul tells us that he has delivered what he himself had received. [2] “Contend,” writes St. Jude, “for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.” [3] Thanks be to God that He has supplied us with the writings of myriads of faithful mothers and fathers to trace out the apostolic deposit handed down in succession to this very day, to our very churches. “One generation shall commend your works to another,” O Lord, “and shall declare your mighty acts!” [4] We have much to be thankful for indeed! We say with Bishop Coxe: 

Oh! the duties and privileges which are ours in this ancient communion. In this Church of Bede and Alcuin, of Oswald and of Alfred; of the grand succession of bishops and presbyters who, with faithful laymen, laid the foundation of English and American freedom, and whose lives and characters were reproduced in our Colonial presbyters and laity; in our Washington and Jay, our White and Seabury, in our Hobart and Whittingham, our Ravenscroft and Doane and Atkinson, our Muhlenberg, Breck and Tucker. [5] 

But of course, it must be asked: how many are serious enough to read these figures? Very few I imagine. How many were ever given the opportunity to begin with? Fewer still. Yet, if we do not take the time to familiarize ourselves with the working of God the Holy Spirit in the lives of our predecessors, we prove ourselves to be liars. Monthly in the singing of the Psalms and thrice weekly in the praying of the Great Litany we declare: “O God, we have heard with our ears, and our forebears have declared to us, the noble works that you did in their days, and in the time before them.” [6] Recounting the faithfulness of God in every generation is a Christian obligation. What’s more, the righteous Job instructs us, “For inquire, please, of bygone ages, and consider what the fathers have searched out.” [7] Have we done so? Perhaps we would not feel so much like a “Church without a theology” if we bothered to read what our forebears so carefully recorded for our sakes.  

Now continuity in dogma may be a fascinating exercise for the divinity student, but what about the rest of the faithful who fill our pews? In this regard, I would like to remind us all of our Evangelical duty. As Christians, the Gospel is our chief and most precious endeavor. The heavy responsibility to “stand by the door and wait,” in the words of the Rev. Samuel Shoemaker, “for those who seek it” [8] is by no means limited to the clerical class and those who intend to join her ranks. It is the responsibility of every individual who has found safe haven within the Ark of the Church; we listen intently for cries for rescue amidst the confusing sound of the raging waters outside her walls. Therefore, the exhortation of our Most Reverend Father in God and North American Protoepiscopus Samuel Seabury applies to each and every one of us: 

As long as there are nations to be instructed in the principles of the gospel, or a church to be formed in any part of the in habited world, the successors of the apostles are obliged, by the commission they hold, to contribute as far as they can, or may be required of them, to the propagation of these principles [of the Catholic Faith], and the formation of every church, upon  the most pure and primitive model. [9] 

For us, the Saints are our greatest allies in this work; they have converted us, and they will continue to convert others as well. If we reform our lives after their model, following them “as they follow Christ,” [10] receiving “with meekness the implanted word” [11] as they did, no doubt our lives will accomplish the very same. For instance, we know from history that when St. Anthony the Great set out to live the ascetical life, he first imitated the disciplines of an unnamed hermit from the village over. By following his good example, we come to find that St. Anthony lived a life so faithful to the cross of Christ that St. Athanasius felt that he had to tell the world about it. After roughly one hundred years it was his account of The Life of St. Anthony which cut St. Augustine to the heart and served as the catalyst for his conversion. Fourteen hundred years or so later this work was translated into English by the devout hands of our own Blessed Dr. Pusey. Some two hundred years after that, St. Augustine’s retelling of this event was read in English by myself — a young Jewish boy — in the back of my senior chemistry class. The Confessions had me leave class red-eyed and embarrassed, but ready to follow this Jesus who only made sense to me through the words of men who knew Him a thousand years before I was born. The virtuous life of an anonymous Egyptian hermit, mediated through the example of St. Anthony, expressed and lauded by St. Athanasius, which infected and converted St. Augustine, then translated and promulgated by the saintly Dr. Pusey for the English Church, is what Our Lord used as the ordinary means to bring me to the waters of Baptism. In this providential chain of events, I am just as indebted to Dr. Pusey as I am the Doctor of Grace; I owe them both just as much. And my story is by no means the exception! Blessed Dr. Breck’s missionary zeal and devout churchmanship can be traced to his having attentively read saintly Bishop William Ingraham Kip’s The Double Witness of the Church. How many souls have been saved because this young man read a small volume during his school vacation! Were it not for Bishop Kip’s faithfulness there would be no Nashotah House. Without Nashotah House, you would not be reading this volume. Truly the words of the Saints are not trifles; they continue to conquer “by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” [12] 

We all share a prestigious heritage. The Saints of the Ecclesia Americana are jewels which have been handed down from mouth to mouth and heart to heart. True, they may seem few, but all the more precious! Now, by God’s providence, it is our time to steward the great deposit that we have received from our forefathers. They have fought the good fight, they have run the great race, and now repose in the hope of all those who share in the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Yet, we know that the eyes of the heavenly episcopate remain fixed on us; on you. Their prayers continue to mingle with yours.  Even now the “great cloud of witnesses” [13] contend for your faith before the “throne of God and of the lamb.” [14] With St. Paul they pray: “may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on that day!” [15] It is in great indebtedness to these our heavenly friends, and with even greater joy and thankfulness to Almighty God, that we bring together the notable voices and insights of those come before us. For the salvation of souls, the strengthening of Holy Mother Kirk, and the glory of our Savior; may we — aided by God’s unfailing grace — live up to the measure set by the lives of the Saints. Amen. 

By all your saints still striving 

For all your saints at rest, 

Your holy name, O Jesus, 

Forevermore be blest! 

Brandon LeTourneau is a seminarian in the ACNA Diocese of San Joaquin. After serving as a researcher in the Church of England, Brandon and his wife, Marta, have come to Nashotah House, where he is pursuing his Master of Sacred Theology. In his spare time he writes for The North American Anglican and serves on the board of the Seabury Society.

Charles Chapman Grafton: Selected Writings is available for purchase on Amazon and NashotahHousePress.com.

1. Helen Holcombe Denton, An Apostle of the Wilderness. This poem was read at the translation of the Rev. Dr. James Lloyd Breck’s relics to Nashotah House.

2. 1 Corinthians 11:23

3. Jude 1:3 

4. Psalm 145:4 

5. The Rt. Rev. A. Cleveland Coxe, The Catholic Religion and the American People: A Sermon Preached Before the General Convention, October 2nd, 1895. 

6. Psalm 44:1 

7. Job 8:8

8. The Rev. Samuel Shoemaker, I Stand at the Door. 

9. The Rt. Rev. Samuel Seabury, A Discourse on 2 Timothy 3:16, May 1777

10. 1 Corinthians 11:1 

11. James 1:21

12. Revelation 12:11 

13. Hebrews 12:1

14. Revelation 22:3

15. 2 Timothy 1:18