Skip to main content

'Your part and obligation': a Hackney Phalanx sermon on the necessity of holy living

Continuing with the series of extracts from an 1814 collection of sermons by Christopher Wordsworth (senior, d.1846), associated with the Hackney Phalanx, here is a characteristic expression of Old High anti-solifidian teaching and piety, echoing comments elsewhere by Wordsworth in these sermons:

Here then opens upon you your path of duty. Here especially lies your part and obligation: quench not this spirit: follow the example of the holy Jesus: adorn the doctrine of God your Saviour in all things; and walk before him in newness of life. What we before spoke of were the free graces and mercies of Almighty God in Christ Jesus. This now is your part and duty. Unless this be well performed and regarded, all the rest, be assured, must be vain. Ye must be made holy here, in order that ye may be happy hereafter. "If ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye, through the spirit, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live." "If ye live after the flesh," then ye renounce and disclaim all that has been done for you; on the part of God ... It is a faithful saying: thus only does God declare his righteousness in his word: thus only is he displayed as just, and the justifier of them that believe in Jesus: and thus only, in the dispensation of the Gospel, Mercy and Truth are met together; Righteousness and Peace have kissed each other.

We can point to the deep roots of this teaching and piety in, for example, the writings of Jeremy Taylor and the preaching of Tillotson, a tradition summarised in a quite superb phrase by James Wetmore, one of the Yale Converts: "vital Piety and Religion fruitful in solid Virtue and substantial Goodness is ... to be found in the Church of England". Contra the Solifidians, the Old High tradition approached New Testament's teaching on the moral life with seriousness, ensuring that the confession "we are justified by Faith only" cohered with - rather than contradicting - the consistent call in Gospels and Epistles to holy living.

This can have contemporary resonance in a cultural context in which a vision of the good life must surely be integral to the Church's proclamation in post-Christian societies seeking a coherent, meaningful moral vision.
Labels:

Comments

  1. Ed Yates15 September 2023 at 13:05

    By ‘solifidian’ am I right in thinking you mean something akin to what in other contexts is called antinomianism, or would the doctrine of justification as it’s expressed in the major Lutheran and Reformed confessions also be considered forms of solifidianism?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. laudable Practice18 September 2023 at 19:52

      Many thanks for your comment. Those associated with the Hackney Phalanx, like the wider Old High tradition, robustly affirmed the Articles, not least Article XI. The Hackney Phalanx and the Old High tradition were solidly Protestant and unambiguously stood in continuity with Reformation teaching. Alongside this, and cohering with it, they also offered a consistent critique of certain expressions of 18th century revivalism for refusing or being incapable of offering an account of the necessity of good works: this is what was meant by solifidianism.

      Delete
  2. Anonymous18 September 2023 at 00:03

    I recently read elsewhere someone charging the Hackney Phalanx with teaching moralism and that it was at odds with the teaching of the Reformation. I don't see it that way however. In his Apology, Jewel insisted that true faith is lively and can in no wise be idle. Not to mention two homilies in the first book, numbers IV and V, suggest otherwise. No doubt there are many other examples. There may have been different emphases between the Hackney Phalanx and the Reformers to be sure but I see more continuity than disruption.

    Tim

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. laudable Practice18 September 2023 at 19:57

      Many thanks for your comment. I entirely agree. Charging the Hackney Phalanx with teaching moralism - and the charge is, of course, also often applied more widely to 18th century Anglicanism - is not a serious critique. As you point out, it entirely fails to take into account the seriousness with which the Formularies understood the necessity of good works. Homily V in particular comes to mind, discussing the penitent thief: "f hee had liued and not regarded faith *and the workes thereof*, hee should haue lost his saluation againe".

      Delete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Why I support the ordination of women: a High Church reflection

A number of commenters on this blog have asked about my occasional expressions of support for the ordination of women to all three orders.  With some hesitation, I have decided to post a summary of my own views on this matter.  The hesitation is because I have sought on this blog to focus on issues and themes which can unify those who identify with or have respect (grudging or otherwise!) for what we might term 'classical' Anglicanism (the Anglicanism of the Formularies and - yes - of the Old High Church tradition).  Some oppose the ordination of women (and I have friends and colleagues who do so, Anglo-Catholic, High Church, and Reformed Evangelical).  Some of us support it (again, friends and colleagues covering a wide range of theological traditions). Below, I have organised my thinking around 5 points (needless to say, no reference to Dort is implied). 1. The Declaration for Subscription required of clergy in the Church of Ireland states: (6) I promise to submit ...
25 comments
Read more

How the Old High tradition continued

Charles Gore's 1914 letter to the clergy of his diocese, ' The Basis of Anglican Fellowship ', can be regarded as a classical expression of the Prayer Book Catholic tradition.  A key part of the letter - entitled 'Romanizing in the Church of England' - addressed the "Catholic movement", questioning beliefs and practices within it which tended to "a position which makes it very difficult for its extremer representatives to give an intelligible reason why they are not Roman Catholics".  Gore provides the outlines of an alternative account and experience of catholicity within Anglicanism, defined by three characteristics.  What is particularly interesting about these characteristics is their continuity with the older High Church tradition.  Indeed, the central characteristic as set out by Gore was integral to High Church claims over centuries: To accept the Anglican position as valid, in any sense, is to appeal behind the Pope and the authority of t...
19 comments
Read more

Pride, progressive sectarianism, and TEC on Facebook

Let me begin this post with an assumption that will be rejected by some readers of laudable Practice , but affirmed by other readers. Observing Pride is an understandable aspect of the public ministry of TEC.  On previous occasions , I have rather robustly called for TEC to be much more aware and respectful of the social conservatism of the Red states and regions in which it ministers. A failure to do so risks TEC declining yet further into the irrelevance of progressive sectarianism.  At the same time, TEC also obviously ministers in deep Blue states and metropolitan areas - and is the only Mainline Protestant tradition in which a majority of its members vote Democrat .* With Pride now an established civic commemoration, particularly in such contexts, there is a case for TEC affirming those aspects of Pride - the dignity of gay men and lesbian women, their contribution to civic life, and their place in the church's life - which cohere with a Christian moral vision. (I will n...
4 comments
Read more