This history [of Ash Wednesday] can teach us several things, but chiefly it highlights how traditions can be invented and re-invented—and how quickly and thoroughly this can happen. Certainly most laymen assume that the use of ashes is an ancient and unbroken custom, and many a church website advertises it as such. One suspects the situation is not too different among the clergy. In point of fact, the practice is fairly new.

Ash Wednesday is upon us and most people who conduct services on the day also practice the ritual imposition of ashes as a part of the liturgy. This custom is nearly (though not entirely) universal among Anglicans, is very widely practiced among Lutherans, and is becoming more and more common among Presbyterians and other evangelical bodies. Because of this relatively rapid consensus, it is easy to assume that the ritual and the day stand or fall together. To observe Ash Wednesday simply is to impose ashes upon the congregation, we assume. It is also easy to assume that this has always been the Anglican practice.
But the actual history tells another story. To the great surprise of many, the Protestant use of ashes for Ash Wednesday services is a modern phenomenon. The Reformers discontinued the use of ashes in the liturgy, and they would not again become a normal fixture of Protestant liturgies until the late 20th century.
The goal of this essay is to lay out the historical record of Ash Wednesday among Anglicans in both England and North America. It does not intend to render a judgment about the permissibility or prudence of using ashes today. Instead, the greater need is simply to recover the actual history of the church, a history which has been dramatically obscured in a relatively short amount of time. Seeing what was the case will better help us understand what the “Anglican tradition” actually is. Perhaps it will also help us to understand how and why it made its judgments and reforms.
The Earlier History of Ashes
The use of ashes was indeed known in communal demonstrations of humiliation in the ancient world. We see this, for example, in the Old Testament itself, as people sit in or cover themselves with ashes as a symbol of mourning and repentance (Esth. 4:1, 3; Job 2:8, 42:6; Dan. 9:3; Jon. 3:6). No doubt inherited, at least thematically, from the Jewish practice seen in the Old Testament, the ceremonial use of ashes in the Christian church does not arise until much later. We have early fragmentary evidence of the use of ashes for penitential rites, as well as various sorts of consecrations with ashes, but their more normative and uniform use at the beginning of Lent, cannot be documented until after AD 1050. Though this must have had a gradual prior development, it is nonetheless limited to the Western churches. “Ash Wednesday” services, as we know them, were not typically practiced in the East. Pope Urban II standardized them in 1091.
The Protestant Reformation
This use of ashes would continue in the West for four hundred more years until the Protestant Reformation. Within the first decade of that disruption, however, ashes began to be discarded by both the Reformed and Lutheran churches. Bruce Gordon notes that Zwingli did away with the common Lenten accoutrements and accessory rituals in 1524.[1] Luther too, in his 1526 The German Mass and Order of Service, explains that while the fasts and feasts of “Lent, Palm Sunday, and Holy Week shall be retained,” that “this, however, does not include the Lenten veil, throwing of palms, veiling of pictures, and whatever else there is of such tomfoolery.”[2] Ashes are not explicitly mentioned here but would have historically been connected to the palms. Luther sees them as an unnecessary frivolity.
In England, the Reformation would be a bit slower in developing. In 1542, the pro-Reformation theologian Thomas Becon still endorsed the imposition of ashes in the Ash Wednesday service. Five years later, however, Thomas Cranmer ordered the practice to cease.[3] This date is important because the first edition of the Book of Common Prayer had not yet been released. In fact, the imposition of ashes is not included in any Book of Common Prayer until the American 1979 BCP. Instead, the Book of Common Prayer had the Commination Service, explained in more detail here.
The Anglican Tradition
Due to its wide-sweeping changes and reforms, Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer was met with fierce resistance in some parts of England, resulting in a flurry of apologetical works defending these changes. In a 1548 sermon, Hugh Latimer denounced the liturgical use of ashes, along with other supposed Roman abuses. Latimer believed that these ceremonials were too bound up in deadly misunderstandings of the sufficiency of Christ’s own sacrifice. He says, “of these things, every one hath taken away some part of Christ’s sanctification; every one hath robbed some part of Christ’s passion and cross, and hath mingled Christ’s death, and hath been made to be propitiatory and satisfactory, and to put away sin.”[4] Cranmer says much the same thing in his 1549 “Answer to the 15 Articles of the Devonshire Men.” He sees the use of ashes, along with other accretions, as an illegitimate human ordinance:
The water of baptism, and the holy bread and wine of the holy communion, none other person did ordain, but Christ himself. The other, that is called holy bread, holy water, holy ashes, holy palms, and all other like ceremonies ordained the bishops of Rome; adversaries to Christ, and therefore rightly called antichrist. And Christ ordained his bread, and his wine, and his water, to our great comfort, to instruct us and teach us what things we have only by him. But antichrist on the other side hath set up his superstitions, under the name of holiness, to none other intent, but as the devil seeketh all means to draw us from Christ, so doth antichrist advance his holy superstitions, to the intent that we should take him in the stead of Christ, and believe that we have by him such things as we have only by Christ; that is to say, spiritual food, remission of our sins, and salvation.[5]
After the Roman Catholic interval under Mary, the Elizabethan settlement largely returned the English church to its condition under Edward VI. There were certain discontinuities, of course, but ashes were not one of them. Preaching to King James on Ash Wednesday in 1619, Lancelot Andrewes says that there “was wont to be a ceremonie of giving ashes this day,” but that it is “gone.” While one might attempt to say that Andrewes is reminiscing longingly, he does not argue that the ceremony of ashes be brought back but rather that its “substance” be recovered, by which he means true conversion. On the eve of the Civil War, in 1642, conformist minister John Grant can still ridicule the use of ashes as “a mock fast in a bulrushed Popishness or Pharisaicall disfiguredness.”[6] After the restoration, the respected Prayer Book commentator Thomas Comber also condemns them. Explaining the preface to the Commination Service, Comber contrasts the medieval ceremony against that discipline of the ancient church commended by the Prayer Book:
I confess in latter ages, during the corruption of the Roman church, this godly discipline degenerated into a formal and customary confession upon Ash-Wednesday used by all persons; to which, when the substance of true repentance was gone, at last they added the empty ceremony of sprinkling ashes on the heads of all that were present, whether penitents or no, which our church wholly laid aside as a mere shadow, and laments that the long continuance of the Roman maladministration among us in this nation…[7]
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Bruce Gordon, Zwingli (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2022), 107–108. ↑
Martin Luther, Luther’s works, vol. 53: Liturgy and Hymns, ed. J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald, & H. T. Lehmann (Fortress Press), 90. ↑
Thomas Cranmer, “Letter 281, To Boner,” in Miscellaneous Writings and Letters of Thomas Cranmer, (London: Parker Society 1846), 417. ↑
Hugh Latimer, “A Sermon of the Reverend Father Master Hugh Latimer, Preached in the Shrouds at St. Paul’s Church in London, on the Eighteenth Day of January, Anno 1548.” ↑
Thomas Cranmner, “Answer to the 15 Articles of the Devonshire Men” in Miscellaneous Writings and Letters of Thomas Cranmer (London: Parker Society 1846), 176. ↑
John Grant, “Gods deliverance of man by prayer and mans thankefulnesse to God in prayses,” Early English Books Online, accessed February 20th 2023. ↑
Thomas Comber, “The Occasional Offices, 1679,” reprinted in A Companion to the Temple vol. 4 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1841), 504. ↑

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Written by David T. Crum |
Thursday, August 24, 2023
It was the General’s dream to have a Christian praying army. While such a notion was not possible, we can only awe in reverence to the idea. Imagine the sight of an opposing army committed and engaged in prayer, ready to battle its enemy forces. Such a thought should tremble our souls and provide comfort in the Lord’s Providence.

The Scriptures teach that prayer should occur throughout the day, “Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice” (Psalm 55:17). Prayer is our direct communication with the Lord. It should be the cornerstone of our daily living, and a custom so familiar to us that we need not question if we are abounding in our prayers.
Through our prayers, we praise the Lord, seek His will and guidance, ask for understanding, and acknowledge our sins. While several notable Christians served in the U.S. Civil War, Stonewall Jackson stands out when discussing his prayer life. Prayer remained one of the most deciding parts of the general’s fame. He once said, “I have so fixed the habit in my own mind that I never raise a glass of water to my lips without lifting my heart to God in thanks and prayer for the water of life.”[1]
As Jackson grew older and matured in the faith, those who knew Jackson best realized that he never decided his daily affairs without seeking the Lord. Whether it was battle plans, sending a letter in the mail, or seeking wisdom in his Scripture reading, the general remained faithful in prayer. One biographer said praying was like breathing for him.[2] Charles Hodge best described prayer:
“Prayer is the soul’s conversation with God. Therein we manifest or express to Him our reverence and love for His divine perfection, our gratitude for all His mercies, our penitence for our sins, our hope in His forgiving love, our submission to His authority, our confidence in His care, our desires for His favours and for the providential and spiritual blessings needed for ourselves and others.”[3]
The believer knows that prayer underlines our faithfulness and submission to God’s will. The Lord eloquently taught us the standards of prayer (Matthew 6:9-13) so that we may live in constant contact with our Father in heaven. Contrary to modern beliefs, Stonewall sought peace before and during the War Between the States. He constantly prayed for reconciliation and sought the prayers of others, seeking an end to the conflict. While earning a strong, admirable reputation during the Mexican-American War as a great military warrior, by the time the Civil War started, those who knew Jackson often referred to him as a professor of religion, living strictly for the Lord. During the war, accounts emerged of his constant prayer life, even amid intense battle. One biographer wrote:
While the battle was raging and the bullets were flying, Jackson rode by, calm as if he were at home, but his head raised toward heaven, and his lips were moving, evidently in prayer. Meeting a chaplain near the front in the heat of a battle, the general said to him, ‘The rear is your place, sir, now, and prayer your business.‘[4]
In another instance, Presbyterian Rev. R.L. Dabney recalled:
As soon as Jackson uttered his command, he drew up his horse, and dropping the reins upon his neck, raised both his hands toward the heavens while the fire of battle in his face changed into a look of reverential awe. Even while he prayed, the God of battles heard; or ever he had withdrawn his uplifted hands the bridge was gained, and the enemy’s gun was captured.[5]
Such dedication to prayer, even in war, is remarkable and serves as an example for us today. However, such commitment should not surprise the reader if they are aware of the Christian life of Stonewall Jackson. His prayers brought him understanding, comfort, hope, forgiveness, and a growing love of his Savior. Often mocked for seeking God’s will and direction in every aspect of life, his prayer life assisted in the conviction and ultimate conversion of Lt. General Richard S. Ewell.
Prayer should not only be the focal point of our lives; it should also serve as an example to others. Whether it be to your spouse, children, fellow Christians, or unbelievers, the power of prayer is indestructible. William S. Plumer wrote, “But there is no form of religion without prayer, and surely there is no salvation to those who restrain prayer. Our wants as creatures, and our necessities as sinners, can be supplied by Him who is infinite. Prayer is a duty by natural religion.”[6]  Prayer humbles the soul and reminds the believer that the Lord is in control.
It was the General’s dream to have a Christian praying army. While such a notion was not possible, we can only awe in reverence to the idea. Imagine the sight of an opposing army committed and engaged in prayer, ready to battle its enemy forces. Such a thought should tremble our souls and provide comfort in the Lord’s Providence. Rev. John R. Richardson remarked, “Jackson believed that if anyone came before the Searcher of hearts, with sincere motives for light and guidance, he was sure to receive it. It was because he believed so strongly in Providence that he believed so strongly in prayer.”[7]
When struck by friendly fire and succumbing to death a few days later, Jackson’s prayer life impressed those surrounding his bedside. He said to his wife, Anna, “Pray for me, but always remember in your prayers to use the petition, Thy will be done.’”[8] Jackson died shortly after, but his legacy continued. The story goes:
Mr. W.P. St. John, president of the Mercantile Bank of New York relates this incident. He stated that he was in the Shenandoah Valley with Gen. Thomas Jordan and at the close of the day, they found themselves at the foot of the mountains in a wild and lonely place. The only place they could find for rest was a rough shanty. There they found a rough looking, unshaven man. They were amazed when the time came to eat that this rough backwoodsman rapped on the table and bowed his head and prayed. The banker said, “Never did I hear a petition that more evidently came from the heart. It was so simple, so reverent, so tender, so full of humility and penitence, as well as thankfulness. We sat in silence and as soon as we recovered, I whispered to Gen. Jordan, “Who can he be?” To which he answered, “I don’t know, but he must be one of Stonewall Jackson’s old soldiers.” And he was. Asking him “Were you in the war?” “Oh yes,” he said with a smile, “I was with old Stonewall.”[9]
Our prayers can and will influence the lives of others. Prayer should be like breathing, remaining steady in our lives, allowing us to live in everlasting communication with our Lord and Savior. Prayer will radically change our lives if we engage in the practice, and perhaps will even lead others into eternity and the salvation of Christ. While an entire Christian praying military army may not be feasible today, the power, boldness, and faithfulness of the body of Christ in prayer are. Allow us to bring such veneration to the world through our prayers.
David Crum holds a Ph.D. in Historical Theology. He serves as an Assistant Professor of History and Dissertation Chair. His research interests include the history of warfare and Christianity. He and his family attend Trinity Presbyterian Church (ARP) in Bedell, New Brunswick. 

[1] Byron Farwell, A Biography of General Thomas J. Jackson, (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1992), 114.
[2] John Esten Cooke, Stonewall Jackson: A Military Biography, (New York: D. Appleton and Company, 1876), 198.
[3] Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, (Phillipsburg: P&R Publishing, 1988), 498.
[4] J. Williams Jones, Christ in the Camp, (Atlanta: The Martin & Hoyt Co., 1904), 93.
[5] Robert Lewis Dabney, The Life and Campaigns of Stonewall Jackson, (Harrisonburg: Sprinkle Publications, 1983), 413.
[6] William S. Plumer, Theology for the People Or Biblical Doctrine, Plainly Stated, (Harrisonburg: Sprinkle Publications, 2005), 15.
[7] John R. Richardson, The Christian Character of General Stonewall Jackson, (Weaverville: The Southern Presbyterian Journal Company, 1943), 3.
[8] Mary Anna Jackson, Life and Letters of General Thomas J. Jackson, (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1892), 100.
[9] Richardson, The Christian Character of General Stonewall Jackson, 15.
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Ordination is a reminder of the Lord Jesus Christ’s ongoing care for his church. When we attend a service in which men are ordained to office in the church, we are witnessing the faithful love of Christ for his bride. And that is a blessing indeed!

Most Presbyterians have attended an ordination service, but many Presbyterians don’t fully understand what they are witnessing. What exactly is (not) happening when men are ordained to office in the church? What are the benefits and blessings of ordination to the church’s officers?
The PCA’s Book of Church Order defines ordination as “the authoritative admission of one duly called to an office in the Church of God, accompanied with prayer and the laying on of hands, to which it is proper to add the giving of the right hand of fellowship” (BCO 17-2). In the New Testament, we see the church’s officers doing just this. We find both examples of ordination (Acts 6:6, 13:3; 1 Tim 4:14; 2 Tim 1:6) and commands to ordain men to church office (Tit 1:5; 1 Tim 5:22). Ordination is, therefore, a biblical ordinance.
But what does ordination mean? Some might be familiar with the sacrament of holy orders in the Roman Catholic Church. According to Rome, “grace is conferred by sacred ordination” such that “a character is imprinted [upon the soul of the ordinand] that can be neither erased nor taken away.”[1] Such a high claim rightly provoked strong Protestant reaction at the time of the Reformation. In the centuries since, some have feared that practicing ordination in any form invites superstition and ritualism into the life and ministry of the church.
The Presbyterian doctrine of ordination captures the balance reflected in the teaching of the Scripture. As James Bannerman has well stated the point, “ordination is less than a charm, but it is more than a form.”[2] It is, on the one hand, “less than a charm.” The Bible sees ordination neither as a sacrament of the church nor as a transaction in which grace is transmitted from one or more church officer(s) to another. It is, on the other hand, “more than a form.” Ordination is not a rite of human devising that the church is free to disregard. Nor is ordination without significance in the life and ministry of the church.
What exactly, then, is taking place when a man is set apart to the office to which he has been elected and called by the church?
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