'That Church which gives you the best proof of being apostolical': the English Church two decades before the Oxford Movement

An 1817 collection of sermons by Richard Warner - Old Church of England Principles Opposed to "New Light" -  articulated "the principles of the Established Church, as developed in our Prayer Book, and in the theological works of our most Orthodox Divines".  As such, the sermons provide an insight into the Old High mainstream of the English Church less than two decades before the emergence of the Oxford Movement.  

Warner's description of "morning service" - Mattins and sermon - in the parish (which, let us not forget, was the customary main Sunday liturgy in Tractarian parishes for decades after 1834) emphasises how it provided a context for nurturing apostolical, orthodox faith and devotion:

In no other connection of Christians, I may boldly say, is this advantage offered ... upon so great a scale; nor is it untrue, or illiberal to assert, that our Church alone gives the worshipper this large opportunity of drinking the stream of life at the fountainhead; and of proving the truth and orthodoxy of what he hears from the pulpit, by the standard of the word of God. 

Sermons, it must be allowed, are excellent helps to religious knowledge, to devotion of heart, and righteousness of life, when they are rational and faithful expositions of the plain, and merciful, and consolatory doctrines of the Bible, and enforce the practice of its holy and improving commandments: As they are, however, at best, but the productions of human thought, so they may partake of human imperfections, and present false objects of faith, and false rules of conduct: but the Bible cannot lead you astray; the scriptures, which you hear read in the church, are the infallible word of God, and you may be certain, that by listening to them with solemn attention, laying them to your hearts, and applying them to your conduct in life, you will be secured from all spiritual and moral errors, and be led into all truth, and instructed and strengthened in all godliness of living. 

Cleave, then, with faithfulness, my brethren, to that church which gives you the best proof of her being apostolical, by feeding its members, in its Services and its Prayer-Book, constantly, regularly, and largely, with "the bread of life" - the Holy Scriptures: and prove that you are sensible of, and grateful for, the vast advantage, by "receiving meekly the engrafted word which is able to save your souls". Merely to hear or read the Bible, is not sufficient. Its truths must be received into the heart, and their influence shewn in a good, useful, Christian life, in order to render the sacred volume (what it was mercifully intended to be) an instrument of your everlasting salvation. Recollect, my brethren, the many important purposes for which the Apostle assures us the scriptures were vouchsafed to mankind, and humbly endeavour, by an attentive study of them, by hearing, reading, marking, learning, and inwardly digesting them, that (through God's grace) these blessed effects may be produced in yourselves.

His account of Holy Baptism robustly declared, in conventional High Church fashion, the regenerating grace of the Sacrament as the basis for subsequent "renovation" through "practical piety", fundamental to the Anglican pastoral ethos:

So that to deny that spiritual regeneration takes place at baptism, is to deny the declaration of Scripture, and the doctrines of the Established Church; and to open the door to a flood of wild and vain notions about the new birth, conversion, and so forth, which have no foundation in the word of God, or the tenets of the church, of which we are members. Upon the authority of both, we believe and maintain, that, as there can be but "one baptism"; so there can he but one regeneration, taking place at the time of such baptism; effected both by the water and the spirit, which concur, at the same time, to this "new birth"; that, as we are but once born into our natural life, so we are but once born into our spiritual or Christian life; once baptized, and once regenerated; regenerated at the very time when we are baptized; and, consequently, we believe and maintain, that, to speak of a Christian's being regenerated in any other stage of his life; or to apply the term of regeneration, or the new "birth" to the turning from wickedness or holiness; to make it signify repentance or conversion, or that renovation or renewal of the heart of man, which is the duty of every Christian, at all times, to be striving after; is misapplying scripture phrases; confusing words of different meanings; and giving the people false notions of one of our sacraments, and of the light in which the Established Church regards it.

As for the Holy Communion, Warner provides an example of the warm sacramental devotion of the pre-1833 Church:

pouring down his consolations, communicating his grace, and whispering to every humble and timid spirit, "Come unto me, and find rest unto your souls". But more especially is this peace and consolation found at the blessed sacrament of the Saviour's body and blood. The Christian has this blessed and high privilege above the members of the church of the old covenant, that he can, not only like king Hezekiah in his tribulation, "go into the house of the Lord"; but may also go to the table of that crucified Saviour, whose body, broken upon the cross, is a sure pledge to him, that he shall have the might of the Redeemer to save and support him under all his sorrow; and whose blood, shed for the sins of mankind, is an everlasting covenant, that his own sins shall be blotted out for ever, on the conditions of repentance, faith, and obedience to the Gospel. "Oh! taste and see how gracious the Lord is." "Oh! eat and drink, that your souls may live forever."

Orthodoxy, practical piety, sacramental devotion: contrary to the historiography promoted by the Tractarians, such was life in the English Church before the Oxford Movement.

(The painting is William Teulon Blandford Fletcher, 'The Sabbath Day', 1916-17.)