William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury and Martyr (Updated, Jan. 12)

This week, the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia won a major legal victory in their lawsuit to reclaim the property of those parishes that voted to leave the Episcopal Church back in 2006. It was bittersweet news to me, because I have friends on both sides of that conflict. Some friends felt vindicated, others held out the hope of future vindication. Of course, I agree more with my friends who have remained in the Episcopal Church. But are we right about the direction of the Church? I think so, but I may be wrong.

At the Wednesday Eucharist, we remembered William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury and martyr. Laud became the spiritual leader of the Church of England in 1633. England was drifting toward civil war over two issues: whether the Church would be both Catholic and Protestant, and whether the King or the elected Parliament would govern England.

As Archbishop, Laud defended the Book of Common Prayer’s mix of Catholic liturgy and Protestant love of the Bible. As the religious leader of the state church, he defended the supremacy of King Charles the First over the church and Parliament.

As a “High Church” Episcopalian, I like his defense of the Prayer Book against the Puritans who condemned any little thing that smacked to them of “popery,” like set prayers in a book. “The Lord disciplines whomever he loves” (Hebrews 12:6). Such discipline “yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness for those who have been trained by it” (Heb. 12:11). The liturgical customs and daily prayers in our Prayer Book are a holy discipline. If we stick to its training, it will in time, transform us so that the Word of God, Jesus Christ, will live in us and speak through us.

On the other hand, Laud’s support of the King’s supremacy over the elected Parliament put him on the wrong side of history. Civil war came, and eventually the forces of Parliament won, capturing both Laud and the King. The Parliament engineered Laud’s execution in 1645, followed by the King in 1649. That makes Archbishop Laud a martyr in the church, though at least some of what he died for, most of us would consider wrong today.

But isn’t that how it with us saints? We all love God and Christ’s church, but sometimes have very different ideas of what is best for the Church. So we debate and make decisions, which please some and displease others. How do we speak the truth in love, when in truth, we might be wrong? The 20^th-century poet T.S. Eliot had a good answer. Writing about Laud, the King, and those who executed them, Eliot said:

These men, and those who opposed them

And those whom they opposed

Accept the constitution of silence

And are folded in a single party.

In other words; in the long run we’re all dead. Our voices will be silenced, and we will all belong to the same party. I believe that the High Church Laud, and the Low Church parliamentarians, all stand together before the same heavenly throne today. And so shall all of us who are passionate and imperfect disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. Eliot also wrote:

And all shall be well and

All manner of thing shall be well

By the purification of the motive

In the ground of our beseeching.

All is well for Laud and those who opposed him. And all shall be well for us, in our speaking of the truth as best we understand it, and in love. Let that understanding make our motives clean and pure, today and for all time.